Nuclear plant operator Electrabel has reacted with dismay to a government announcement that two of the country's seven nuclear units will not get a previously promised ten-year licence extension.

Japan has generated its first nuclear electricity in two months after unit 3 of the Ohi plant began supplying power to the grid today. While unit 4 of the plant is expected to resume operation by the end of the month, it is not yet known when the country's other idled reactors will restart.

The faults of every player in last year's Fukushima crisis have been laid out by a parliamentary commission. No organisation was singled-out as responsible - but rather Japanese culture itself. For the continuation of nuclear power in the country, regulation must go through an "essential transformation process."

The attorney general of the state of Massachusetts has filed an appeal with a US court against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) decision to relicense the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, environmental groups are calling on the NRC to delay final reactor licensing decisions until it has studied the environmental impacts of its policy for on-site used fuel storage.

Permission to restart the first two of Japan's idled fleet of nuclear power reactors has been given by the prime minister following approvals from local municipal and prefectural authorities. Units 3 and 4 of the Ohi plant are both expected to be back at full power by the end of next month.

The US nuclear regulator has informed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that a final ruling on design certification of its Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (APWR) is now likely to be made in 2015 and not in 2014, as previously expected. The delay follows structural changes made to the design by the vendor.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) did not conduct a sufficiently detailed analysis of issues related to its decision to extend the time that used nuclear fuel can be temporarily stored onsite at power plants, an appeals court has ruled. The NRC must now conduct additional environmental studies and reissue the ruling.

An additional $10 million in funding has been approved for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to complete its review of the licence application for the Yucca Mountain repository. Last year, the NRC shelved the review after funding was slashed.

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.