Workers yesterday completed hot tests at the EPR under construction as unit 3 of the Flamanville nuclear power plant in France. The tests - which began on 21 September last year - aim to simulate the temperatures and pressures which the reactor's systems will be subjected to during normal operation.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation subsidiary Nawah Energy Company is preparing to load fuel into Barakah unit 1 following an announcement by the United Arab Emirates Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation that it has today issued an operating licence which authorises Nawah to commission and operate the unit.

Industrial engineering firm Bilfinger has been awarded a balance of plant contract - worth about GBP58 million (USD76 million) - by EDF Energy. The contract involves the design, pre-fabrication and supply of around 56km of specialised piping systems that support the operation of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, under construction in Somerset, UK.

The agreement between the Czech government and utility ČEZ on the construction of a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant will be published within a few weeks, Minister of Industry Karel Havlíček said on 11 February. Havlíček was speaking to journalists during his visit to the plant, and his comments were reported by ČTK news agency the same day.

Installation of the first tier of the outer protective shell around the first reactor of the Kursk II nuclear power plant under construction in western Russia has been completed ahead of schedule. The unit will be the first to use the VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) design.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency have completed Step 3 - "overall design, safety case and security arguments review" - in their scrutiny of the UK HPR1000 reactor design. They will now start the fourth and final stage in the Generic Design Assessment process - "detailed design, safety case, and security evidence assessment".

Workers have completed the final concrete placement inside the containment vessel of unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Georgia Power said this allows for the installation of machinery that will be used to load fuel into the AP1000 reactor, which is scheduled to enter service in November 2021.

AEM Technology, part of Russia's Atomenergomash, has completed the welding together of the two halves of the reactor vessel for the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant which is under construction in Mersin province, in southern Turkey.

Rosatom says the automated process control system installed at Leningrad II unit 2 is ready for hot tests on the reactor equipment. Hot tests mark the final stage of pre-commissioning work on a reactor unit.

Atommash has completed welding of the lower half of the reactor pressure vessel for the Kursk II nuclear power plant under construction in Western Russia, which will be the first to use the VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) design. Atommash is part of Atomenergomash, the engineering division of state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

A team from the World Association of Nuclear Operators has concluded that unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi is ready to start up. The Pre-Start Up Review - a globally recognised nuclear industry assessment conducted in line with international industry standards set by WANO - took place in November.

Ministers from the UK's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy visited Hinkley Point C on 23 January to see progress at the new nuclear power plant. HPC, under construction in Somerset, England, will be the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK in almost 20 years and will provide about 7% of the country's electricity.