An application to build the containment building of the first new unit at Hungary's Paks II nuclear power plant has been submitted. Project company Atomerőmű Zrt said it should be approved within 150 days. Meanwhile, Hungary's nuclear regulator has assumed a new, more independent, legal status.

The first concrete has been poured for the basemat of Changjiang unit 4, China National Nuclear Corporation and China Huaneng Group have announced. Two Hualong One units are now under construction as the second phase of the plant in Hainan province.

The seaside towns of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in Poland's Choczewo municipality have been named as the preferred location for the country's first large nuclear power plant.

Nuclear fuel is being loaded into the second reactor at Belarus's Ostrovets nuclear power plant. The plant's first reactor has already taken a significant role in the country's energy mix, said Minister of Energy Viktor Karankevich.

Finland's fifth nuclear reactor, Olkiluoto 3, has reached first criticality. The EPR is the first new nuclear unit to be commissioned in Finland in over 40 years, and will eventually produce some 14% of the country's electricity.

First concrete has been poured for the latest reactor at India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Work is now underway there on two pairs of Russian export reactors.

The demonstration High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor - Pebble-bed Module at the Shidaowan site in Shandong province of China has been connected to the grid, the partners in the consortium building the plant have announced.

The US Trade and Development Agency announced it will support Ukrainian authorities to assess NuScale's small reactor technology, with a view to future exports. A gap analysis will compare the technology to the Ukrainian regulatory system to identify potential problems and make recommendations.

Kazakhstan has begun to investigate the deployment of small reactors with a memorandum of cooperation signed between NuScale and Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants, a branch of the government's Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has today received permission from the country's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority to bring the Olkiluoto 3 EPR to first criticality and conduct low-power tests. The unit is expected to begin generating electricity at the end of January, with regular electricity production starting in June 2022.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, BWXT Canada and Poland's Synthos Green Energy yesterday signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate in deploying BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Poland. SGE, together with its partners, plans to deploy at least 10 BWRX-300 SMRs in Poland by the early 2030s.

CORRECTED The High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module at the Shidaowan plant in China's Shandong province is preparing to be connected to the grid for the first time, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit's twin reactors achieved first criticality in September and November, respectively.