Japan's nuclear regulator has approved Kansai Electric Power Company's long-term reactor management plan for units 3 and 4 of its Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture, allowing the units to operate beyond 30 years. They become the first reactors to be permitted to operate up to 40 years under new legislation.

The owners of Sweden's Forsmark and Ringhals nuclear power plants are to assess the possibility of extending the operating lifetime of the plants' reactors from 60 to 80 years. This would enable their continued operation into the 2060s.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has completed a review of long-term operational safety at unit 1 of the Angra nuclear power plant in Brazil. 

The government of the Netherlands has said it will consider acquiring a stake in the Borssele nuclear power plant should a decision be made to extend the operation of the single-unit plant beyond 2033.

Argentina's Nuclear Regulatory Authority says that planned upgrades and improvements to allow a 20-year extension to the Atucha I nuclear power unit will "raise the design basis of the facility to a higher level of safety than that with which it was originally licensed".

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has approved the operation of units 3 and 4 at Kansai Electric Power Company's Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture for a further 20 years. Both reactors are currently in operation and will reach their 40th anniversaries in January and June of 2025, respectively.

Unit 4 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China's Guangxi Autonomous Region has entered commercial operation, China General Nuclear announced. The unit is the second of two CGN-designed demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors at the site.

The process of loading fuel assemblies into the core of the Flamanville 3 EPR reactor in France has been completed ahead of its start-up. The 1650 MWe (gross) pressurised water reactor is expected to reach 100% output before the end of the year.

Framatome has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to carry out its first major mitigation of buried condenser feed pipes using its innovative spray-in-place structural pipe liner solution at a three-unit operating nuclear plant in the USA.

Representatives from China and Pakistan formally signed the final acceptance certificate for Karachi unit 2, just over three years after the 1100 MWe unit started up.

Expanding capacity with uprates and new build at existing nuclear plant sites are part of Constellation Energy's plans to meet growing needs for clean energy in the USA - even a restart of Three Mile Island is not ruled out - but extending the operating lives of existing nuclear plants will be vital, CEO Joe Dominguez has told investors.

The return of some former staff, the revamping of training facilities including the control room simulator, the submission of regulatory documents and the ordering of new fuel are all highlighted as part of steps taken towards the repowering of the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in the USA.