China wants to promote nuclear energy cooperation in the 'Belt and Road', and is focusing on new technology deployment and completing its radioactive waste management strategy, a conference in Beijing heard. The Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organisations.

A research centre to support China's push for nuclear fusion power has been approved. It will be able to test large superconducting magnets and filters under operational conditions. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that having an integrated research facility for key systems of fusion reactors is "one of the major scientific engineering projects" in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.

WNN - The Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA), bipartisan draft legislation which aims to accelerate the development of advanced nuclear technologies and re-establish US leadership in nuclear energy has been re-introduced to the US Senate.

WNN - The UK and the European Commission signed a contract extension today for the world’s largest fusion research facility, Joint European Torus (JET). The extension secures at least EUR100 million (USD112 million) in additional inward investment from the EU over the next two years and "brings reassurance" for the more than 500 staff at the site in Culham, near Oxford, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said.

Nuclear is the largest source of clean energy in the USA, and the nation's nuclear plants are working more efficiently than ever, Korsnick said, adding they are "economic engines" for the communities they serve.

Twelve of the US' 98 operating nuclear generating units "are slated to close," and "to keep today's reactors running, we must pursue policy that gives innovators and investors confidence that there will be a market for their new nuclear technologies,"

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed common goals for nuclear power and the fight against climate change in bilateral talks held on 25 March during Xi’s three-day state visit to France. Macron's statement specifically mentioned the long-awaited project for cooperation to build a plant to reprocess China's used nuclear fuel.

Qatar called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to intervene in a dispute over a $24 billion nuclear power plant which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is building.

South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma has defended his lobby for a proposed R1tn nuclear energy deal with Russia, saying it would have solved the country’s electricity crisis.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has finalised further federal loan guarantees of USD3.7 billion for the continued construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4, Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced today during a visit to the construction site near Waynesboro, Georgia.