China took a step towards full resumption of its nuclear power program with preliminary approval for a post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan.

Areva's EPR reactor is unlikely to receive design certification by the US nuclear regulator before the end of 2014, the agency has told the reactor vendor. Design certification for the EPR had earlier been targeted for June 2013.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has agreed to extend the operating licence of the single-unit Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts for a further 20 years. Meanwhile, the expected completion of the NRC's review of Progress Energy's combined construction and operating licence application (COLA) for its Levy plant in Florida has been revised.

The operating licence for Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station in Washington state has been extended for a further 20 years by the US nuclear regulator.

Draft legislation to reform the UK's electricity market to ensure secure, clean and affordable energy endeavours to secure the necessary investment for a low-carbon energy mix including new nuclear.

Moves to partially revoke an order to close the Garoña nuclear power plant in 2013 have formally begun.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided to allow uranium captured in water treatment filters to be processed by uranium recovery operations - without the need for any licence amendment.

 Nuclear operators in Europe have taken "significant steps to improve the safety of their plants" as a result of stress tests, said regulators from the continent in a review of each others' work on the program.

The US nuclear regulator has issued a fine to Florida Power & Light (FPL) for failing to report that the ventilation system for the emergency response facility at its Turkey Point nuclear power plant had been taken out of service on two occasions.

Members of the Japanese cabinet have met publicly to discuss restarting reactors while the country's crisis of confidence in nuclear safety continues. At the centre of debate is the potential restart of two reactors at the Ohi plant.

India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has become the 11^th member of the Multinational Design Evaluation Program, which pools resources of national regulators for reviewing new nuclear power reactor designs.