GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and BWXT Canada have entered into a teaming agreement to cooperate on engineering and procurement to support the design, manufacturing and commercialisation of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor. The BWRX-300 is one of three SMR designs under consideration for deployment at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington site.

Separate Memoranda of Understanding supporting the future development and deployment of advanced small modular reactors in Canada will see Cameco and Terrestrial Energy investigate opportunities related to Terrestrial's Integrated Molten Salt Reactor, while ARC Clean Energy Canada and Cross River Infrastructure Partners LLC will work together to develop sustainable industrial projects using ARC's SMR technology. Meanwhile, Canada's nuclear regulator has granted a 10-year licence renewal for an Ontario Power Generation site earmarked for possible SMR deployment.

The national secretary of the Australian Workers Union has called for the nation to reconsider its ban on civil nuclear energy and to place small modular reactors at the heart of its decarbonisation plans.

Nuclear power is the required energy source for development of the Russian gold deposit at Kyuchus, the country's minister of natural resources and the environment, Alexander Kozlov made clear as the deposit's development rights were auctioned. The small reactor planned for Ust-Kuyga will supply the mine.

Given the EU's legally binding 2050 comprehensive decarbonisation policy with adequate CO2 pricing, the closure of many large nuclear power plants in Belgium and Germany, and an EU-wide coal power phase out by 2030-2050 and the inability of intermittent renewable energy to supply the scale and quality of energy needed for continent-scale decarbonisation, there is a strong business case to deploy small modular reactors in the EU by 2040, writes Kalev Kallemets, co-founder and CEO of Fermi Energia.

A 2029 start-up for an ARC-100 advanced small modular reactor in New Brunswick is an "aggressive" but achievable target, the CEO of ARC Clean Energy Canada said yesterday. Bill Labbe was speaking at an event hosted by the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries, held as the company prepares to begin the second phase of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's Vendor Design Review process.

With Australia moving to decarbonise, it is time to seriously consider a role for advanced nuclear technologies like small modular reactors, the head of the Minerals Council of Australia said today.

US company Kairos Power has submitted the preliminary safety analysis report for its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as part of its application for a construction permit for the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor, which is to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Terrestrial Energy has signed an agreement with Orano for the supply of nuclear fuel for its Integral Molten Salt Reactor. The agreement is part of Terrestrial's multiple-sourcing strategy and follows the announcement last month of a similar partnership with Westinghouse and the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory.

A full-scale first-of-its kind mock-up of the main vessels of the U-Battery advanced modular reactor, revealed yesterday by U-Battery and Cavendish Nuclear, has demonstrated how the reactor can be built using modular techniques. The project was made possible with funding from the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy under its Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Programme.

NuScale has signed a second agreement to consider its small reactors as a general replacement for coal units in Poland. The US small reactor vendor will support two energy firms, Poland-based Unimot and USA-based Getka, in their joint work to explore the possibility.

Two separate agreements have been announced between Polish companies and North American small modular reactor vendors and suppliers. A memorandum of understanding between Cameco, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, GEH SMR Technologies Canada Ltd and Synthos Green Energy will see those companies evaluate a potential Canadian supply chain for a fleet of BWRX-300 reactors in Poland. Separately, NuScale Power, KGHM Polska Miedź SA and Piela Business Engineering are to explore the deployment of NuScale's SMR technology to repower or repurpose existing coal-fired power plants.