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).

The shareholders of Romanian national nuclear company Nuclearelectrica have approved an agreement with China General Nuclear to develop two units at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. Nuclearelectrica said on 22 October that the November 2013 document had been approved at an extraordinary general meeting.

Yesterday's announcement that China and the UK have completed a financial and commercial agreement that will see a final investment decision on EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C project by the end of the year has been widely welcomed.

The nuclear regulators of the USA and Spain have renewed a bilateral agreement, originally signed in 1979, on cooperation. Meanwhile, a new director has been appointed to head the Spanish regulator.

China has agreed to take a one-third stake in the project to build a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in the UK and to take shares in two further plants. A final investment decision for the Hinkley project by EDF Energy is expected by the end of the year.

A bilateral cooperation agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy has been signed between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Hungary.

Yesterday marked Adoption Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the international agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. All participants in the agreement will now prepare for the implementation of their respective commitments.

The Iranian parliament has today approved a bill on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the international agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. Meanwhile, Japan has pledged to support Iran's implementation of the plan.

Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bolivian ministry of hydrocarbons and energy on cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The document was signed by Sergey Kirienko, Rosatom director general, and Luis Alberto Sanchez, Bolivia's energy minister.

Russia and Armenia have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the exchange of information related to nuclear and radiation safety. The agreement was signed yesterday in Yerevan by Sergey Kirienko, director general of Rosatom, and Yervand Zakharyan, Armenia's energy minister.

The prime ministers of France and Japan attended high-level talks in Tokyo on enhancing nuclear cooperation between the two countries. The talks included cooperation in nuclear safety and research on decommissioning nuclear facilities.