The preparatory stage of the project to complete units 3 and 4 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been completed and construction work has resumed, Piotr Kotin, acting president of Energoatom, announced last week. The project is part of a Ukrainian presidential decree of 22 September.

Unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province was today connected to the grid for the first time, at 00:41 local time, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit - the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site - had attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time on 21 October.

India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has given its consent for the pouring of first concrete for the first two 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactors to be built at Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna in the Fatehabad district of Haryana. The indigenously designed units are to be built by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.

Ontario Power Generation has committed to being a net-zero carbon company by 2040, and to help the markets where it operates to achieve net-zero carbon economies by 2050. These are the two major goals established in its newly released Climate Change Plan that aims to drive efficient, economy-wide decarbonisation and economic renewal, while protecting the environment. Siting a small modular reactor at its Darlington site is one of the actions to achieve its aims.

The UK Treasury said yesterday it is important to consider large-scale nuclear projects in addition to Hinkley Point C if the country is to meet its net-zero by 2050 target. This assessment rejects the advice of the National Infrastructure Commission two years ago that the government should not agree support for more than one nuclear power station beyond HPC, before 2025.

EDF has published an Expression of Interest document for a direct air capture demonstrator project at Sizewell C, the nuclear power plant it plans to build in Suffolk, England. The work will support NNB GenCo in: the supply and development of DAC technology, the design, engineering and construction of a DAC unit; the development of opportunities for scalability and cost reductions; and project management services.

The European Commission should include nuclear among the clean energy technologies that will be financed under the Green Deal low-carbon policy, EDF chairman and CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy said today in an online chat with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol. Several European countries, he noted, are relying on nuclear generation to help them meet their energy and climate goals.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa is inviting public comment on the government's plans for the procurement of 2500 MW of new nuclear generation capacity. The regulator has published a 21-page consultation paper on which the public has until 5 February to comment. It will then hold public hearings through online platforms.

The Hungarian Energy and Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has approved Atomerőmű Zrt's plan to construct two VVER-1200 reactors at the existing Paks nuclear power plant site. A construction licence for the Paks II project is required from the nuclear regulator, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, before building work can start.

Building nuclear power plants based on existing designs actually costs more, rather than less, than building plants based on new designs, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rethinking engineering from the outset can help to avoid increased indirect costs.

Turkey's nuclear regulatory authority (Nükleer Düzenleme Kurumu - NDK) has issued a construction licence to Russian-owned JSC Akkuyu Nuclear for unit 3 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin province, in southern Turkey.
 

The UK's Nuclear Industry Association has welcomed the government's confirmation yesterday that nuclear power will play a role in achieving the country's net zero by 2050 target, but says clarity is still needed on large-scale projects. In its Ten Point Plan, the government refers to such support as being "subject to value-for-money".