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A US consortium of Bechtel, Southern Company and Westinghouse is in talks with the British government about reviving the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant project in north Wales by building AP1000 reactors at the site on Anglesey. Citing an unnamed source, the Financial Times said today that discussions about Wylfa began after the US consortium contacted the British government in September, expressing its wish to take over the project.

British engineering company Rolls-Royce and Czech utility ÄŒEZ have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the potential for small modular reactors in the Czech Republic. Rolls-Royce is leading the UK SMR Consortium, which also includes Assystem, Atkins, BAM Nuttall, Jacobs, Laing O’Rourke, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and TWI. ÄŒEZ has already entered into similar agreements with NuScale and GE Hitachi.

The UK Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Authority's fusion energy experiment - the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade tokamak at Culham Science Centre - has achieved first plasma for the first time. MAST Upgrade will be the forerunner of the UK's prototype fusion power plant - Spherical Tokamak for ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Production (STEP) - due for completion by 2040. It will also aid preparations for Iter - the world's largest science megaproject, under construction in the South of France, which intends to demonstrate fusion power on an industrial scale.

Nuclear - including advanced and small modular reactors - can play a positive role in helping to rebuild the post-COVID economy while also helping combat climate change, Urenco and U-Battery Ltd have said in a submission to the UK Business, ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß and Industrial Strategy Select Committee inquiry on post-pandemic economic growth.

Nuclear energy could help the UK achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, not only through the generation of low-carbon electricity but also by fully utilising the generated heat, according to a policy briefing published yesterday by the Royal Society. This heat could be used to heat homes, produce hydrogen and decarbonise industry, it says.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is unlikely to be improved or replaced before the US president is sworn in early next year, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said yesterday. Raab was responding to questions from the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee in a session held to discuss the work of the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Harworth Group plc has announced the completion of the UK Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Authority's new nuclear fusion technology research facility at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. When it opens later this year, the 2500-square-metre facility will develop and test joining technologies for fusion materials and components, including novel metals and ceramics.

A decision on planning consent for the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant project on Anglesey that was due to be made yesterday has been delayed until 31 December, as requested by Horizon Nuclear Power, the UK project developer owned by Japan’s Hitachi.

Carolina Schmidt and Alok Sharma - respectively, COP25 president and COP26 president-designate - yesterday issued a joint plea for new and enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions and net-zero targets ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The UK government has launched a COP26 ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Transition Council to bring together leaders of the global power sector, to accelerate the transition from coal to clean power. Announcing the initiative at a Clean ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Ministerial side event, Martin Callanan said this new partnership would "speed progress" for the next round of UN climate talks, in November 2020. Callanan, a life peer, delivered a keynote speech on behalf of COP President Designate Alok Sharma, at the CEM11 discussion Passing the Tipping Point: the next decade of clean energy cooperation held on 21 September.

The European Court of Justice has rejected Austria's appeal against the European Commission's 2014 decision to approve the UK's support for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which is under construction in Somerset, England. The Court of Justice, the supreme court of the European Union in matters of EU law, agreed with the Commission that the project is in line with EU state aid rules.

Hitachi announced today it will end its business operations on the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant construction project, which it had suspended in January 2019 "because it was clear that further time was needed to decide on a financing structure". Horizon Nuclear Power, the UK project developer that Hitachi acquired in November 2012, said it will now take steps for the "orderly closing down" of all its current development activities, but will "keep the lines of communication open" with government and other key stakeholders regarding future options at both its sites, which in addition to Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey, include Oldbury on Severn in South Gloucestershire.