Germany's Federal Constitutional Court today ruled that, although the country's 2011 phase-out legislation is essentially in compliance with the constitution, power utilities are entitled to "reasonable" compensation for the early shut down of their nuclear power reactors.

The French nuclear safety authority has accepted analyses submitted by EDF on the serviceability of ten of its 900 MWe reactors in which some steam generator parts were found to contain high concentrations of carbon. The utility will soon submit analyses for two 1450 MWe units.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been given 30 days to pay a $140,000 civil penalty proposed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for fire watch violations at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama.

A multi-disciplinary US Nuclear Regulatory Commission team has begun a 'top-to-bottom' review at Entergy's Pilgrim nuclear power plant. The review will take a total of three weeks and is the third and largest NRC inspection conducted as part of the regulator's heightened scrutiny of the Massachusetts plant.

Cold hydrostatic testing has been started at unit 3 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province, China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Limited has announced. The Russian-supplied VVER-1000 is scheduled to start up in 2018.

The head of Energoatom has described the World Association of Nuclear Operators' first cross-regional review, which is taking place at the Rovno nuclear power plant in Ukraine, as a "very useful" exercise that reflects changes to WANO's approach following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

Tepco found no "abnormalities" at its Fukushima plants following an off-shore earthquake on Tuesday morning. The cooling system in the used fuel pool of Tepco's Fukushima Daini unit 3 automatically shut but was subsequently restarted. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued tsunami warnings following the magnitude 7.4 quake.

Swiss utility Axpo said yesterday it has submitted "verifiable proof" to the country's nuclear safety regulator that aluminium oxide inclusions in the reactor vessel of unit 1 at its Beznau nuclear power plant do not affect the unit's safety.

Cold hydrostatic testing has been completed at unit 1 of the Shin Hanul nuclear power plant in South Korea's North Gyeongsang province, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power announced today. The APR-1400 reactor is scheduled to start up in early 2018.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has approved an extension to the operating period for Kansai Electric Power's Mihama unit 3, enabling the plant to operate for up to 60 years.

Russia's Atomtechenergo has received a licence to provide services involving nuclear energy and sources of ionizing radiation in Belarus. The Moscow-based company is a subsidiary of Atomenergoprom, the part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom that unites Russia's civilian nuclear industry.

French nuclear power plant operator EDF has improved operational safety over the past two years, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, it noted that more time is needed for further enhancements to be made.