Chinese and South African parties have signed several nuclear accords including a memorandum of understanding on a nuclear fuel cycle partnership, a financing framework agreement for the construction of a new nuclear power plant in South Africa, and an agreement on nuclear personnel training.

Fortum would be ready to participate with a minority - maximum 15% - stake in the Fennovoima nuclear power plant project, provided that Fortum obtains a 75% or more ownership in the hydro assets of Russian territorial generating company TGC-1, the Finnish power producer said in a stock exchange release today.

The UK government has signed a cooperation agreement with NuGen "to promote external financing" for the Moorside nuclear power plant in Cumbria.

Westinghouse Electric Company, China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation and Turkish power company Elektrik Üretim AŞ have signed an agreement to begin exclusive negotiations to develop and construct a four-unit nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Two South Korean municipalities have each agreed to host two new nuclear power reactors. Ulchin County has approved construction of units 3 and 4 at the existing San Hanul plant, while Yeongdeok County has approved a new two-unit plant.

The regulatory authorities of Sweden, Norway and Ukraine have agreed to cooperate in making improvements to the regulatory guidelines of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine as well as establishing more robust safety systems at nuclear power plants in the country.

The prime ministers of India and Australia have underlined their commitment to implementing agreements that will enable Australian uranium to be exported to India.

Russia's foreign ministry said yesterday that the circumstances surrounding the arrest in the USA of Russian citizen Vadim Mikerin and the actions of US intelligence and law enforcement agencies "raise serious questions."

The US-based Electric Power Research Institute and Japan's Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry have agreed to extend their collaborative research agreement for a further five years.

The USA and China have jointly announced separate targets for greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10-15 years. They hope other countries will follow their lead so that a global climate agreement can be reached next year.

UPDATED Russia has agreed to build up to eight new nuclear power reactor units in Iran - four at Bushehr and four at another, yet to be determined site.

South Africa and China have signed an intergovernmental framework agreement on nuclear cooperation. It follows the recent signing of similar accords with France and Russia.