First concrete was poured for unit 3 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China's Guangxi province on 24 December, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced. The event was attended by Zhang Xiaoqin, vice-chairman of Guangxi, who officially launched Phase II of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant project.

Bangladesh and Russia have reportedly agreed to invest $12.65 billion in a project to build two 1200 MWe nuclear power units at Rooppur. According to Reuters, the agreement was signed on 25 December by Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and Russia's Rosatom.

Tests of the containment vessel of the first AP1000 unit under construction at the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China have been completed, Westinghouse announced yesterday. The tests were completed two days ahead of schedule.

A licence for the construction and operation of a very low-level radioactive waste disposal facility near the Ignalina nuclear power plant has been issued by the Lithuanian nuclear regulator.

Construction has started on the second Hualong One reactor at the site of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province.

AEM Technology said today that it has completed welding of the upper half of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel for unit 2 of the Belarus nuclear power plant, in Ostrovets, in the Grodno region. Based in Volgodonsk, Russia, AEM-Technology is part of Atomenergomash (AEM), itself a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

China's State Council yesterday approved the construction of two more units at each of the Tianwan and Fangchenggang nuclear power plant sites.

French nuclear regulators have approved Areva's proposed program of tests to investigate the mechanical properties of the vessel head and vessel bottom of Flamanville 3's reactor pressure vessel.

The first of three containment vessel rings has been lowered into place at Vogtle unit 4, Georgia Power has announced.

General Electric (GE) has formally started arbitration action against Taiwan Power Company. The US company is seeking to resolve a payment dispute related to work carried out during construction of the Lungmen nuclear power plant.

The steel of the reactor pressure vessel for the EPR under construction at Finland's Olkiluoto nuclear power plant site does not have any anomalies similar to those found in that for the EPR being built at France's Flamanville site, Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority has concluded.

Bangladesh plans to "build a nuclear city" in Rooppur using Russian reactors designed with 'post-Fukushima' safety features, Anwar Hossain of the country's Ministry of Science and Technology said this week. Hossain headed a delegation on a technical tour of Russia's Novovoronezh nuclear power plant on 1-3 December.