The nuclear industry has many opportunities to build a sustainable and competent workforce to avoid a future skills shortage, Callum Thomas, CEO of recruitment consultants Thomas Thor Associates told delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Symposium in London.
The final used fuel element has been removed from unit 2 of the Oldbury nuclear power plant in the UK, the last of more than 52,000 from the two Magnox reactors there.
The final roof panel of the temporary cover over the damaged reactor building of unit 1 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been removed. The walls of the structure remain around the reactor building.
A cooperation agreement has been signed between Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to promote the exchange of information and experience in decommissioning nuclear facilities.
A consortium led by Westinghouse has been awarded a contract for dismantling the reactor pressure vessel and internals of unit 1 at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant in Germany. The unit shut down in 2011.
Although the co-owners of Sweden's Ringhals nuclear power plant -Vattenfall and EOn - have yet to agree on the early closure of units 1 and 2, majority owner Vattenfall has said it will limit investment in those units which will mean they can only operate until 2020.
Radiation levels have reduced to the point that full-face masks are not needed for 90% of the Fukushima Daiichi site but worker safety remains a high priority following a fatal accident this month.
Cold testing - one of the first stages of the commissioning process - has started at the new Solid Waste Management and Storage Facilities at the shut down Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania.
Vattenfall yesterday submitted an application to decommission and dismantle the Krümmel nuclear power plant in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The installation of a protective cover over unit 3 of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan can start as soon as the removal of rubble from the reactor building is completed, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said.