US President Joseph Biden yesterday announced a USD2 trillion jobs, infrastructure and clean energy plan to reshape the country's economy. Among the proposed investments to tackle climate change, the American Jobs Plan calls for funding for the development of advanced nuclear reactors and for a clean electricity standard to leverage and incentivise more efficient use of the USA's existing fleet of reactors.

Petrojet - an Egyptian petroleum sector company - is boosting cooperation with South Korean companies including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Kepco E&C, Hyundai E&C and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction to participate in Egypt's first nuclear power plant project. The El Dabaa plant is to be built by Russia's JSC Atomstroyexport as the general contractor for the project. Petrojet Chairman Waleed Lotfy signed a teaming agreement with representatives of the South Korean companies, who visited Petrojet's headquarters in Cairo on 16 March.

Becoming a more modern, risk-informed regulator remains a key goal of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, its chairman Christopher Hanson said during his opening address to the regulator's 33rd Regulatory Information Conference. Hanson, who was sworn in as a commissioner in June 2020, was designated chairman of the NRC by President Joe Biden in January this year.

The nuclear energy industry will continue to innovate and adopt advanced technologies to constantly improve the way nuclear power plants generate efficient, reliable and carbon-free electricity to power an increasingly interconnected world, writes Catherine Cornand, senior executive vice president of the Installed Base Business Unit at Framatome.

Virginia's nuclear industry will focus on four key areas of advanced generation technologies, economic development, workforce education, and research and development in order to help meet its carbon-free goals, according to a newly released strategic plan which has been drawn up at the direction of the Virginia government.

Effective leadership has always been the key differentiator between marginal and exceptional performance. Now more than ever, those in management roles from first line to senior managers across every key function at nuclear plants and facilities worldwide, need to provide strong, inspirational leadership and a clear direction for their workforce, writes Ingemar Engkvist, CEO of the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that Rosatom Technical Academy has become the first IAEA Collaborating Centre to extend its work with the Vienna-based agency into three different programmatic areas: nuclear sciences and applications, nuclear security and nuclear energy.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics has become the seventh university in the world to offer a programme as part of the International Nuclear Management Academy, which is endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. During a webinar hosted by the IAEA last week, Professor Attila Aszódi, BME programme executive, described the importance of this achievement.

France's EDF has issued an initial progress report on the status of its excell plan, saying commitments made under the plan have now been met or are close to being so. The plan aims to enhance the French nuclear industry's manufacturing quality, boost skills and tighten governance of major nuclear projects.

The socioeconomic impacts of nuclear power plant closures are swift, severe and lasting, and the effects are felt more deeply in rural communities where most plants are located, a new report from the Nuclear Decommissioning Collaborative has found.

Education and training policy in the European Union must do more to ensure there is a sufficient number of people with the right skills in the nuclear field, according to a new position paper issued by Foratom. The European nuclear trade body suggests a number of actions that the industry and policymakers can take to avoid a skills shortage in the nuclear sector.

The development of a national nuclear industry facilitates a country's economic growth while at the same time keeping in harmony with low-carbon and sustainable development, Yaroslav Mozdakov, director for communications and international affairs at Rusatom Energy International, said last week during a webinar hosted by the Expert Group on Resource Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. REIN is a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.