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Positive actions have resulted in more stable supplies of key medical isotopes in 2017 than predicted three years ago, but vulnerabilities remain, a side event at the International Atomic Energy Agency's 61st General Conference in Vienna heard last week.

Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachov has explained the Russian state nuclear corporation's "long-range agenda" at the 61st Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference being held this week in Vienna. During the event, Rosatom signed a number of agreements with its international partners.

The NuScale Power Module design has "some unique features that help with alternative uses of nuclear power", Thomas Bergman, NuScale's vice president for regulatory affairs, told the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ's Symposium, held in London last week. The company has completed five collaborative studies on non-power applications of its small modular reactor (SMR) technology, he said.

China is moving rapidly towards using nuclear power as an industrial heat source and as a direct replacement for coal, Yulong Wu, CEO of Chinergy, told a side event at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) General Conference today.

Australia has formally acceded to the Framework Agreement of the Generation IV International Forum, an international task force set up to develop and design the next generation of nuclear energy systems. Accession allows Australia, which has no nuclear power program of its own, to become actively engaged in R&D projects related to Generation IV systems.

Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov yesterday visited the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which the Russian state nuclear corporation said has now entered the "full-scale practical implementation phase". Rosatom also announced that it has sent the latest batch of six trailers with high-current busbars for the power supply systems of Iter's superconducting magnet.

The UK government must give the country's nuclear industry clarity on the potential development and deployment of small modular reactors, Rolls-Royce and its partners in the UK SMR consortium said today. There is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for Britain to design, manufacture and operate such reactors, they added.

Rosatom and Kinetics Corporation are to supply a cyclotron complex with radiochemical laboratories to the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology. Their cooperation follows the award of a turnkey contract to Kinetics, a Thai engineering and scientific equipment supplier, via a tender held by TINT. Rusatom Healthcare, a subsidiary of the Russian state nuclear corporation, will act as the technology provider.

Japan and Russia have signed a memorandum on the exchange of information on reactor physics experiments for minor actinoid transmutation for radioactive waste processing and management. The document was signed on 6 September in Vladivostok, Russia, during the Eastern Economic Forum by Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov and Japan Atomic Energy Agency President Toshio Kodama.

Two separate innovative nuclear fuels are closer to deployment thanks to agreements signed yesterday. Lightbridge Corporation and Areva NP signed a binding agreement to set up a joint venture to develop, manufacture and commercialise Lightbridge's advanced metallic fuel technology, while a memorandum of understanding between X-energy and Centrus Energy will see the companies work toward the development of a facility to fabricate Triso fuel.

Irradiation tests on a mixture of lithium and thorium fluoride salts are under way at the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands. The results will yield new data on the safe operation of molten salt reactors.

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has signed contracts with several domestic companies to develop technologies for decommissioning Kori unit 1, which was permanently shut down in June. It is the first South Korean reactor to enter decommissioning.