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The UK and the European Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Community (Euratom) have signed a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. This is separate from the wider UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement that was also announced on 24 December and which has since been approved by ambassadors from the 27 EU Member States, paving the way for it to take effect on 1 January. UK lawmakers will tomorrow return to the House of Commons, the lower chamber of parliament, to vote on the so-called post-Brexit trade deal.

The European Commission aims to be a model for promoting sustainable development, building on its demonstrated success in being a low-carbon region among developed countries, but the EU Taxonomy could damage that ambition, writes Philippe Costes, senior adviser at ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Nuclear Association.

Nuclear-produced hydrogen, using electrolyser technology, could have a "sizeable contribution" to make in the development of the hydrogen economy, according to a new report from the New Nuclear Watch Institute think-tank. However, it says the realisation of those benefits will depend on the adoption of technology-neutral policies, which do not discriminate against nuclear power.

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 ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß 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 European Commission will consider hydrogen produced from nuclear power as "low-carbon", Paula Abreu Marques, head of unit for renewables and CCS policy at the European Commission's energy directorate told the European Parliament on 16 November.

The European Union's clean energy transition "leaves a number of legacy technologies on the side" with an approach that is "more political economy than market economy", an analyst from S&P Global Ratings’ Infrastructure and Utilities practice said this week.

The European Union has expressed its "resolute commitment to and continued support for" the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in a statement to the International Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Agency's Board of Governors. It expressed concern about Iran's continued accumulation of low enriched uranium in excess of JCPoA thresholds.

China General Nuclear's Hualong One (HPR1000) reactor design has been formally certified as compliant by the European Utility Requirements organisation - a technical advisory group for European utilities on nuclear power plants. CGN said EUR's assessment shows the design has a high degree of compliance with its criteria and meets the latest European nuclear power requirements.

A new EU-funded project aims to improve confidence in nuclear safety by advancing the approach to seismic safety assessments for nuclear power plants. The 'methods and tools innovations for seismic risk assessment' (METIS) Horizon 2020 project is being led by France's EDF Group.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Agency, today reiterated that all clean technologies, including nuclear, will be needed for a low-carbon economic recovery, while Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, stressed that the Commission “would not stand in the way” of EU Member States that support nuclear power. Timmermans was speaking as Birol's guest in the latest edition of the IEA's Big Ideas speaker series

The lifting of economic sanctions against Iran remains an essential part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) and its signatories are committed to expanding the special purpose vehicle that enables European businesses to maintain trade with the country, according to the European Commission's foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano.

Poland will ask the European Commission to approve state aid for the construction of what will be the country's first nuclear power plants, Secretary of State for Strategic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Infrastructure Piotr Naimski told reporters in Warsaw yesterday, according to Reuters. "It is impossible these days to build a nuclear power plant without state support," Naimski said.