A group of US electric utilities has formally expressed interest in Lightbridge Corporation's novel metallic fuel design to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Rosenergoatom has reportedly postponed construction of the BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant "indefinitely" on the need to improve fuel for the reactor and amid speculation about the cost-effectiveness of the project.

Porvair Filtration Group has announced its role in the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor currently being developed at Tsinghua University in China. The British company said the technology has the potential to create affordable and reliable energy in some of the world's poorest and most remote countries.

At the heart of the modern energy debate is a struggle between the need for more energy globally, while simultaneously achieving lower emissions. Nuclear energy is uniquely positioned to help respond to these duelling necessities, but innovative advancements must overcome considerable barriers, writes Todd Allen.

NuScale Power has completed fabrication and assembly of a full-scale upper module mock-up of its NuScale small modular reactor.

The underground tunnel in which the Full-scale Emplacement Experiment will be carried out at the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland has been sealed and monitoring has begun. The experiment aims to simulate the conditions within a repository containing high-level radioactive waste.

Researchers from General Atomics and the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have made a major breakthrough in understanding how potentially damaging heat bursts inside a fusion reactor can be controlled.

State-owned R&D companies from Argentina and Saudi Arabia have set up a joint venture company, Invania, to develop nuclear technology for Saudi Arabia's nuclear power program.

Rusatom Overseas is aiming to sell desalination facilities integrated with large capacity nuclear power plants to Russia's export markets.

The UK can only be a competitive player in the global nuclear market if the government commits to a program of research and development (R&D) aimed at advanced reactor and fuel cycle technologies, as well as developing a skilled workforce, the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board suggests.

Scientists have for the first time actually observed an increase in carbon dioxide's greenhouse effect at the Earth's surface. They attributed this upward trend to rising emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

US federal research policy should recognize the nuclear sector as a national asset and treat it equally with other non-greenhouse gas emitting energy sources, R Street - a Washington DC-headquartered public policy research institute - says in a new report.