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All the basic conditions are now in place for remediation work to begin at several uranium legacy sites in Kyrgyzstan after the country ratified a framework agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The European Union is to provide an initial contribution of €16.5 million ($19.4 million) for the work.

Southern California Edison has notified the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that the parties in the San Onofre nuclear plant closure settlement were unable to reach agreement on possible changes the CPUC had unanimously approved in 2014. SCE has urged the commission to "affirm the existing settlement of issues related to the premature retirement of San Onofre in 2013 and bring closure to this protracted proceeding".

The USA's Holtec International has announced the early completion of all major civil construction work associated with the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) expansion project at Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The facility is undergoing complete defueling of its pool as a prelude to decommissioning.

Vítkovice Heavy Machinery and TSP Engineering have signed an agreement to cooperate in the decommissioning of British nuclear power plants and the supply of components for nuclear-powered submarines. Czech engineering company VHM said yesterday the contract is worth about CZK3.5 billion ($158 million) over the next five years.

Companies are being invited to bid for a contract to demolish the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor in Scotland. A contract notice will appear in the Official Journal of the European Union for the project estimated to be worth around £7 million ($9 million) over three years. A contractor is expected to be appointed in the first half of 2018.

The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of UkraineÌýhas approved integrated systems testing of the interim used fuel storage facilityÌýat the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The approval means the facility has officially entered the post-construction phase, the USA's Holtec International said yesterday.

The Spanish government has denied the renewal of Nuclenor's operating licence for the Garoña nuclear power plant. The decision means the reactor - which has been offline for more than four years - will now enter the decommissioning phase.

Demolition of the main processing facility of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) at the US Department of Energy's Hanford site has begun. The building is the last of the PFP's four main facilities to be demolished after two decades of preparation.

EDF recorded a 3.7% year-on-year fall in net income and a 2.6% dip in sales in the first half of this year - to €2 billion and €35.7 billion - with its nuclear power generation impacted by unplanned outages. The French state-owned group said the results were in line with expectations, despite the launch earlier this year of a €4 billion capital increase.

UPDATED Tokyo Electric Power Company has confirmed the presence of what could be melted fuelÌýand fallen debris within the lower part of the flooded primary containment vesselÌýof unit 3 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Similar surveys using robots have already been carried out at units 1 and 2 of the plant.

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority received more than GBP1.0 billion ($1.3 billion) of commercial income in the 2016/2017 financial year, which it says reduced the "net impact on the public purse" to GBP2.2 billion. According to its annual report and accounts, published yesterday, the exact figure was GBP1.025 billion, which was down from GBP1.094 billion in 2015/2016. Around 85% of its income, GBP612 million, came from the reprocessing and management of used fuel and waste.

Italy is committed to the safe and effective decommissioning of nuclear sites and management of associated radioactive waste, an International Atomic Energy Agency mission has concluded. However, it noted areas for potential improvement.