Georgia Power has received the final major permit needed for its new nuclear units under construction at Vogtle with the issuance of a water discharge permit from state environmental regulators.

Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control yesterday announced it had approved the restart of the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 nuclear power plant units. Operator of the plants, Electrabel, said the regulator had concluded that "it is totally safe" to bring the reactors back into operation, following investigations into manufacturing flaws in their pressure vessels.

Completion of Japan's Rokkasho reprocessing plant and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel factory have been postponed by around two years as work continues to comply with new safety requirements.

 The national nuclear regulators of South Africa and China have signed a bilateral technical cooperation agreement which will see them share information on regulatory activities.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) could license a non-light water reactor under its current regulatory framework, but needs input from the nuclear industry and the US Department of Energy (DOE) to optimize its planning and resources, commission chairman Stephen Burns has told the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

A revised environmental permit has been issued to LLW Repository Limited allowing the continued disposal of low-level radioactive wastes at the UK's national repository for such wastes at Drigg in Cumbria.

Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy has reached a regulatory milestone in its progress towards deployment of the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, following confirmation that British regulators will move to the final step of the Generic Design Assessment. The GDA process for the UK ABWR is on schedule for completion by the end of 2017.

US utility Exelon will defer any decision about the future operations of its Clinton nuclear power plant for a year after the Midcontinent Independent System Operator regional transmission organization acknowledged the need for changes to the design of the southern Illinois electricity market.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) program to analyse earthquake risk at US nuclear plants will be completed sooner than planned after the regulator found that in-depth studies are needed at fewer plants than originally thought.

The nuclear regulators of the USA and Spain have renewed a bilateral agreement, originally signed in 1979, on cooperation. Meanwhile, a new director has been appointed to head the Spanish regulator.

Unit 2 of the Sendai nuclear power plant in Japan's Kagoshima prefecture was restarted today, plant owner Kyushu Electric Power Company announced. It becomes the second Japanese reactor to resume operation after the country idled its entire fleet following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The restart of units 3 and 4 of Kansai Electric Power Company's Takahama nuclear power plant moved a step closer today with Japan's nuclear regulator confirming the units meet new safety requirements.