Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has begun transferring some of the fuel assemblies stored in the communal fuel storage pool to clear sufficient space for the fuel assemblies  currently held in unit 3's pool.

Hot functional tests have been completed at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced today. The company said preparations have already started for loading fuel into the core of the 1600 MWe pressurised water reactor ahead of its start-up later this year.

Framatome has signed a contract to design, fabricate and supply fuel assemblies using enriched reprocessed uranium to French utility EDF between 2023 and 2032. Framatome noted the project is subject to administrative and regulatory authorisations.

A new long-term contract between Global Nuclear Fuel and Entergy Nuclear will see Entergy become the first customer to take delivery of GNF3 advanced fuel in reload quantities.

A ceremony has been held to welcome the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia's first floating nuclear power plant, following its arrival at Atomflot's berth in the port city of Murmansk in the far northwest part of the country. Fuel will be loaded in to the vessel's two reactors prior to its delivery to Russia's northernmost city of Pevek next year.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has written to Congress informing it that he has effectively ended the project to construct a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The facility, about 70% complete, was intended to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium by turning it into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors.

Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has signed or renewed cooperation agreements with counterparts from five countries: Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The organisation has previously signed such agreements with nuclear waste management organisations in Finland, South Korea and Japan.

The European Commission has launched an investigation into whether public support received by Romania's National Uranium Company is in line with European Union state aid rules. Romania notified the Commission in June last year of a restructuring plan for the company, which has been in financial difficulty since the loss of its main customer, nuclear utility Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica SA.

Swedish utility Vattenfall has signed contracts - the values of which have not been disclosed - for the supply of fuel assemblies for units at the Forsmark and Ringhals nuclear power plants. France's Framatome is to supply fuel for Forsmark 3 and Ringhals 3 and 4, while US-Spanish joint venture GNF Enusa will produce fuel for Forsmark 1 and 2.

The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran and Nuclear Power Production and Development Company of Iran have signed an additional agreement to the current commercial contract for nuclear fuel supply to the Bushehr I nuclear power plant. According to the new document, Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer JSC TVEL will replace the UTVS fuel assemblies it has supplied to the VVER-1000 reactor with its more advanced TVS-2M fuel design.

The loading of fuel assemblies into the core of unit 1 of the Sanmen nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province began today following the issuance of a permit by the country's nuclear regulator. The unit is later this year expected to become the first Westinghouse AP1000 to enter operation.

The US Nuclear Energy Institute reported yesterday that coordination among the various entities involved in the development of accident-tolerant fuels has "progressed to the point that all stakeholders now agree on the feasibility of a 2023 timeline". Citing speakers at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 12 April briefing on ATF, the NEI said US research, development and licensing frameworks "need to undergo a paradigm shift" to accelerate the way innovative nuclear technologies such as ATF are brought to market.