News of the world

This article gathers information from the nuclear industry throughout the world. The most significant are the following. According to the ASN (French authority for nuclear safety) the 2012 was a satisfactory year concerning nuclear safety and radiation protection in France (149 events graded 1 at INES scale and 4 graded 2). Ukraine has received 600 millions euros for upgrading the safety level of its 15 reactors. AREVA has recently signed various contracts concerning nuclear fuels: contract for supplying the nuclear fuel for the EPR number 1 of Taishan, contract for supplying nuclear fuels to the American nuclear power plant operator Exelon and contract for supplying the nuclear fuel to the Jordanian research reactor JRTR. The Belgian federal agency for nuclear control (AFCN) has allowed the restart of the reactors Doel 3 and Tihange 2, which were shutdown in 2012 when hints for defects were discovered on the pressure vessels. The British Nuclear National Laboratory (NNL) has become the 11. partner for the Jules Horowitz research reactor project, reactor that is being built on the Cadarache Cea center. (A.C.)