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The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency announced today they are progressing to the next phase of their Generic Design Assessment of the UK HPR1000 reactor. This is the Hualong One design that General Nuclear Services - a subsidiary of EDF and China General Nuclear - proposes to use at a prospective new nuclear power plant in England.

Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Jordan Atomic Energy Commission to conduct a technical feasibility study for the construction of a Rolls-Royce small modular reactor in the Middle Eastern country. The signing took place at the British Embassy in Paris between Alan Woods, strategy and business development director at Rolls-Royce, and Kamal Araj, JAEC vice chairman.

The UK government's top priority is to agree arrangements with the European Union related to energy - particularly nuclear energy - that are as close as possible to current arrangements, the country's energy minister has said. Richard Harrington last week addressed a parliamentary inquiry into Brexit and the UK's energy security.

The UK government's top priority is to agree arrangements with the European Union related to energy - particularly nuclear energy - that are as close as possible to current arrangements, the country's energy minister last week told a parliamentary inquiry into Brexit and the UK's energy security.

The UK government should take a "significant stake" in new nuclear power plant projects, according to the Final Report of the Industrial Strategy Commission published today. The country urgently needs to replace its existing nuclear generating capacity because, of the existing fleet amounting to 8.9 GWe of capacity, all but 1.2 GWe will need to be retired by 2030, it adds.

A new project aimed at gaining a better understanding of the factors influencing the cost of nuclear power plant projects has been launched by the UK's Energy Technologies Institute. The study could help identify potential cost reductions for future projects.

The UK may, like Switzerland, have to accept limited influence in EU energy policy post Brexit, Jean-Christophe Füeg, head of international energy affairs at the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, told British parliamentarians last week. SFOE is part of Switzerland's Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications.

Foratom, the European nuclear trade body, yesterday published the priorities for Brexit negotiations in relation to the nuclear industry. The organisation said the European Union and UK should immediately start negotiating their post-Brexit relationship and, if necessary, transitional arrangements in order to avoid any disruption to the nuclear fuel cycle.

Nuclear power plays a key role in the UK government's Clean Growth Strategy, published today, which defines how it aims to reduce carbon emissions across the whole economy. As part of the Climate Change Act, the government needs to cut CO2 emissions by 57% from 1990 levels by 2050.

The UK government has published in parliament its Nuclear Safeguards Bill to establish a domestic nuclear safeguards regime in preparation for the country's departure from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The bill was introduced to the House of Commons and given its first reading yesterday. This stage is formal and takes place without any debate. MPs will next consider the bill at second reading on 16 October.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's ability to manage large procurements has been called into question by the National Audit Office. In its report on the 'Magnox contract', issued today, the NAO assesses the competitive procurement exercise for services to decommission two nuclear research sites and 10 Magnox sites that the NDA ran between 2012 and 2014.

A robot has been sent into Sellafield's most hazardous nuclear waste store for the first time. The Avexis will help dislodge and clear waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, Sellafield Sites announced today.