China and Slovakia will cooperate on developing the nuclear fuel cycle supply chain under a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between the two countries.

Tests of the containment vessel of the first AP1000 unit under construction at the Sanmen nuclear power plant in China have been completed, Westinghouse announced yesterday.

 The national nuclear regulators of South Africa and China have signed a bilateral technical cooperation agreement which will see them share information on regulatory activities.

Argentina has signed deals with China for the construction of the Latin American country's fourth and fifth nuclear power plants. The agreements were signed yesterday by the president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (NASA), Jose Luis Antunez, and the head of China's China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Quian Zhimin, on the sidelines of the G20 summit taking place in the Turkish coastal resort of Antalya.

Nuclearelectrica has signed a memorandum of understanding with China General Nuclear for the development, construction, operation and decommissioning of units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The Romanian national nuclear company said a joint venture project company is to be established, with CGN owning at least 51% of the share capital.

A new agreement formalizing nuclear cooperation between China and the USA and establishing the terms for nuclear trade between the countries has entered into force. The agreement replaces a previous version which had been due to expire at the end of the year.

Unit 1 of the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China's southern island province of Hainan has been connected to the electricity grid, China National Nuclear Corporation announced today.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) said today it will prepare a proposal for taking a minority stake in Areva's reactor business. EDF has already agreed to take a stake of at least 51% in Areva NP, which is also responsible for equipment and fuel manufacturing, as well as services for reactors.

Argentina and China have concluded negotiations on the technical and commercial contracts for the construction of Argentina's fourth nuclear power plant. The text of a framework agreement for construction of a fifth plant has also been agreed.

Final performance testing and post-test inspections have been successfully completed for the reactor coolant pump for the first Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, under construction in China. The first two of four such pumps for Sanmen 1 will now be shipped from the USA to China by the end of the year.

Unit 1 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China's Guangxi province was connected to the electricity grid yesterday. The unit is expected to start up by the end of this year.

Lloyd's Register of the UK announced today it has signed a framework agreement with the Nuclear Power Institute of China to support the design and development of a floating nuclear power plant utilizing a small modular reactor (SMR).