The UK's generic design assessment (GDA) of the AP1000 reactor has entered the "closeout phase", Westinghouse announced today. The GDA process is scheduled to be completed in January 2017.

The UK is one of the two key markets for Areva, together with China, as it is "where the group sees growth", the French engineering company's UK chief executive officer Robert Davies told World Nuclear News in an interview yesterday.

The Urenco group posted a net income of €404.5 million ($439.3 million) for 2014, 20.2% up on the previous year. The company plans to slow the rate of installation of new capacity at its US plant from 2016, while the start date for a UK facility for deconversion has been pushed back to 2017.

The estimated cost of decommissioning and cleaning up the Sellafield site in the UK has increased to GBP53 billion ($81 billion), the National Audit Office has noted. The increase has been attributed to a better understanding of the tasks involved.

The UK's Magnox Limited and Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL) are being merged into a single site licence company as part of changes being introduced by the new parent body organization Cavendish Fluor Partnership.

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.

The removal of two million litres of liquid radioactive waste from silos used to store swarf waste from Magnox fuel reprocessing at the UK's Sellafield site marks a significant hazard reduction milestone, according to Sellafield Ltd.

A memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the development of a skilled workforce for the UK's nuclear power industry has been signed between the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board and the Nuclear Institute.

UK regulators have confirmed that Sizewell A is completely fuel free. The decommissioning milestone marks the removal of 99% of the radioactive hazard from the former Magnox nuclear power station.

The UK has agreed to extend the secondment of a senior nuclear inspector to Vietnam's Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety as part of their continued cooperation. Meanwhile, US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has agreed to cooperate in training for nuclear safety analysis while Russia will help promote nuclear energy in the country.

EDF Energy expects to make a final investment decision on its Hinkley Point C project within months, the UK-based company announced in its financial report for 2014.

The UK's only operating pressurized water reactor - Sizewell B - will be able to continue generating electricity until 2025 after the UK nuclear regulator approved the plant's latest periodic safety review.