12 – 18 October 2026. The week’s nuclear industry and regulatory news, strongest first, each story written from the original announcement, filing or decision.

Top stories

• NRC renews Westinghouse AP1000 design certification through 2066

  Updated design folds in lessons from Vogtle Units 3 and 4, where the NRC reviewed and approved nearly 200 license amendments.

  ▲US Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNRCRegulation14 Oct 2026
  

• NRC approves Palisades request to move tilted fuel assembly

  License amendment covers custom equipment and procedures for moving the assembly from the reactor core to the spent fuel pool.

  ▲US Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNRCRegulation14 Oct 2026
  

• ČEZ to disconnect Temelín Unit 1 for outage of 19,000 tasks

  66 fuel assemblies will be replaced and about 1,000 people, half from contractor firms, will work on the unit during the roughly two-month outage.

  ▲ČEZOperations16 Oct 2026
  

• Slovenské elektrárne connects 471 MWe Mochovce 4 to Slovak grid

  Phasing-in took place at 20% power at 20:41 on October 15, two days later than planned after a fault in non-nuclear voltage measurement circuits.

  ▲Slovenské elektrárneReactors16 Oct 2026
  

• Bangladesh's Rooppur 1 achieves criticality

  Regulator's go-ahead came three days earlier; power start-up is scheduled for November 20, per Rosatom's Strana Rosatom.

  ▲World Nuclear NewsWNNOperations12 Oct 2026
  

Tracker milestones All trackers

1. 16 Oct 2026Halden and Kjeller used fuel managementSigns used fuel management agreementGovernment funding · SEK3-4 billion
2. 15 Oct 2026Molten Chloride Reactor ExperimentDOE approves cost-shared funding for final stageSMRs and advanced reactors
3. 15 Oct 2026Molten Chloride Reactor ExperimentDOE approves cost-shared funding for final stageGovernment funding
4. 15 Oct 2026BWRX-300 at PątnówJoint venture agreed to develop BWRX-300 plantSMRs and advanced reactors · 1,800 MWe
5. 15 Oct 2026FASTER MOX fuel testing centreOpens EUR10 million MOX fuel testing centreSMRs and advanced reactors · EUR10 million
6. 15 Oct 2026Norrsundet reactor parkBoard presents proposed site plan for Norrsundet parkSMRs and advanced reactors · 330 MW
7. 14 Oct 2026KP-FHROpens automated fuel pebble inspection facilitySMRs and advanced reactors
8. 14 Oct 2026ACP100 at ChangjiangHot functional testing under waySMRs and advanced reactors · 125 MWe
9. 13 Oct 2026Rolls-Royce SMR at TemelínEIA submitted to ministry for Temelín SMRSMRs and advanced reactors · 470 MWe

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