Canadian science, health care and nuclear sector organisations have launched an initiative aiming to ensure the country remains a world leader in the production of medical isotopes following the final closure of the National Research Universal reactor. The Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council aims to raise awareness and support long-term policies at the domestic and international level.

The use of small modular reactors (SMRs) for remote communities and mines in northern Ontario will be studied following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Bruce Power, Laurentian University and Mirarco Mining Innovation. The five-year, CAD1 million (USD786,000)  research agreement will create an Industrial Chair position at Mirarco.

Peninsula Energy Limited has formally submitted a request to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to amend its existing permit to allow the use of a low-pH recovery solution at the Lance uranium project in Wyoming, USA. This is expected to increase recovery rates and improve the cost profile of the project. Meanwhile, a study has highlighted the potential of membrane separation to improve economics at GoviEx Uranium's Madouela project in Niger.

Terrestrial Energy USA and Energy Northwest have agreed a memorandum of understanding on the terms of the possible siting, construction and operation of an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) at a site at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho.

An international multi-laboratory and university collaboration has been launched to develop detection hardware and algorithms to improve non-proliferation detector capabilities for remote monitoring of nuclear reactors. Its developers say the initial project will be the first demonstration of remote monitoring of individual reactor operations at a significant distance, using scalable water-based technology.

Unmanned aerial system technology is being developed to fly into the containment vessels of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan to assess their condition. Tokyo Electric Power Company contracted the Southwest Research Institute of the USA to carry out the work.

A pair of autonomous robots, developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute to characterise uranium deposits in process pipes, could save tens of millions of dollars in decommissioning costs at the USA's former gaseous diffusion enrichment plants.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is transforming the way it carries out its business as it adapts to meet new challenges, the agency's annual conference heard last week. The country's nuclear industry is mirroring the regulator's efforts with its own initiative to press for regulatory change.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has issued a request for proposals for the design and construction of a CAD370 million (USD283 million) laboratory research complex that will be the largest single capital investment in the CAD1.2 billion revitalisation of its Chalk River site.

First Light Fusion is investing GBP3.6 million (USD5.0 million) building what it says will be the only pulsed power machine of its scale in the world dedicated to researching fusion energy. The Oxford, England-based company said on 12 March it expects to commission the device - Machine 3 - by the end of this year.

Terrestrial Energy of Canada has signed a contract for technical services with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany. Under the contract, JRC will perform confirmatory studies of the fuel and primary coolant salt mixture for Terrestrial's Integrated Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).

A collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and private company Commonwealth Fusion Systems is aiming for the rapid commercialisation of nuclear fusion energy, with support from Italian energy company Eni.