Utility Xcel Energy has announced plans for its last two remaining coal-fired power plants in the Upper Midwest region of the USA to retire 10 years earlier than previously planned while operation of its Monticello nuclear power plant will be extended by at least a decade.

EDF, the operator of the Golfech nuclear power plant in France, has strengthened operational safety by addressing the findings of an initial International Atomic Energy Agency review in 2016, a follow-up mission has concluded. However, the mission made recommendations to EDF to reinforce some safety measures.

Unit 1 at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd's Kakrapar plant has restarted after the completion of work to replace all of the pressurised heavy water reactor's coolant channel and feeder tubes.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has completed a review of long-term operational safety at unit 1 of the Qinshan nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province.

A critical component for the refurbishment of Ontario Power Generation's Darlington unit 3 has arrived at the reactor site. The stator, which will be installed in 2020, is the largest piece of equipment to arrive at Darlington since the plant's initial construction.

Three Mile Island unit 1 will shut down by 30 September as no state-level policy solution can now be enacted in time to reverse the premature retirement of the Pennsylvania plant, Exelon Generation announced yesterday.

Unit 2 of the Novovoronezh II nuclear power plant in southwest Russia for the first time supplied electricity to the country's grid yesterday, Rosenergoatom, the operator subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has announced. The VVER-1200 reactor was brought to the minimum controlled power level on 22 March and it reached a capacity of 240 MW yesterday.

Cold hydrostatic testing has begun at unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province, the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors under construction at the site. The tests mark the first time the reactor systems are operated together with the auxiliary systems.

The opening of a training facility signals an important step in mobilising Bruce Power's Major Component Replacement project, the Canadian company has announced. The work is due to begin at Bruce unit 6 early next year.

The board of directors of Norway's Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) yesterday decided to permanently cease operations of the JEEP-II research reactor at Kjeller. Earlier this year, IFE said investigations had shown "extensive and costly improvements" were needed to keep JEEP-II - Norway's last reactor - in operation.

Framatome has been awarded a contract by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken to modernise the reactor protection system at the Gösgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland.

Unit 4 of the Shin Kori nuclear power plant was connected to the electricity grid on 22 April, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power announced today. Unit 3 of the South Korean plant became the first APR-1400 to begin supplying electricity to the grid in January 2016.