The evacuation order for the town of Kawamata in Fukushima prefecture will be lifted next March, allowing residents to permanently return to their homes there, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced. world-nuclear-news.org

Lightbridge Corporation and Areva NP announced they have agreed key terms for the creation of a 50-50 joint venture to develop, manufacture and commercialize fuel assemblies based on Lightbridge’s “next generation” metallic nuclear fuel technology. world-nuclear-news.org

Power Magazine in Tuesday named its top power plants for nuclear generation, naming the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian Province, China and the recently commissioned Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4 in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, as the best of the year 2016. nuclearstreet.com

The French government has balked on the mandate to name nuclear power plants that would be tagged for premature decommissioning to comply with the country’s mandate of reducing its dependence on nuclear power from 75 percent to 50 percent. nuclearstreet.com