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At the Japan–UK bilateral summit in London on June 14, 2026, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae and Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued the "Japan–UK Leaders' Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation," committing to deepen collaboration on critical minerals supply-chain diversification (mining, refining, processing, recycling, stockpiling), a focused battery-materials and recycling dialogue, and semiconductor technology cooperation through the Japan–UK Frontier Technology Partnership. The two leaders expressed grave concerns over economic coercion and arbitrary export restrictions on critical minerals and other materials that could affect global supply chains. The declaration preceded and informed the G7 Évian critical-minerals alliance announced three days later on June 17, 2026.

The DRC Council of Ministers, at its 87th extraordinary session on 29 May 2026, adopted decrees expanding the list of strategic mineral substances from 3 (cobalt, germanium, coltan) to 9, adding lithium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, uranium, and rare earth elements. Under the 2018 Mining Code framework, strategic minerals attract a 10% royalty versus the standard 3.5% for base metals, representing a nearly threefold increase in the state's royalty take on the newly classified substances. The measure was presented by Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba and confirmed by RTNC state broadcaster and Bloomberg reporting (31 May 2026). DRC produces an estimated 60–70% of global tantalum supply; the reclassification extends upstream royalty escalation to six additional high-value critical materials — including Manono lithium deposit output, tantalum refinery streams, and any tungsten, niobium, uranium, or REE operations active or under development.

Peru's executive branch issued Decreto Supremo N° 006-2026-EM (published in El Peruano, 29 May 2026), formally recognising uranium and lithium as critical and strategic minerals of growing international relevance on the basis of their role in energy transition, electromobility, clean energy storage, and smart-city development. The decree simultaneously declares the inaugural International Forum "Uranium and Lithium: Pillars of Energy Leadership for Mining, Technological and Smart City Development in Peru and the World" (7–8 July 2026, Lima) to be of national importance, mandating MINEM and the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation (MVCS) to jointly organise the event. The focal resource zone is the Macusani Plateau in Puno (estimated 4.6 Mt LCE lithium resources plus uranium deposits), home to American Lithium Corp's Falchani and Macusani projects.

Russia and Kazakhstan signed three intergovernmental agreements on 28 May 2026 during President Putin's state visit to Astana, formalising construction of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant at Ulken village on Lake Balkhash. The plant will comprise two VVER-1200 power units (total ~2.4 GW capacity); Russia will provide a state export credit financing ~85% of the estimated USD 14.4 billion construction cost. The IGAs cover: (1) basic principles and conditions of cooperation for construction of the "Balkhash" NPP; (2) state export credit terms; and (3) cooperation in nuclear and radiological safety regulation. Construction is targeted to commence in 2027, with the first unit operational by 2034.

On 23 May 2026 President Javier Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni announced the "Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones en Nuevas Industrias" (Super RIGI), and on 26 May 2026 submitted the bill (Mensaje 181/2026, expediente 0005-PE-2026) to the Cámara de Diputados — pending Congressional approval as of filing. The regime applies a US$1 billion minimum investment threshold (with ≥20% committed in the first two years), a 15% corporate income tax rate (vs 25% under the base 2024 RIGI), accelerated depreciation of 60%/20%/20% over three years, immediate export-duty exemption (vs year 3 under RIGI), import-tariff exemption, and 30-year regulatory stability across tax, customs, social security, and FX matters. A progressive FX-liberalisation schedule allows 20% / 40% / 100% free disposal of export-generated foreign currency in years 1 / 2 / 3+. Target sectors are industries that "do not currently exist or are in experimental/pilot phase in Argentina," including semiconductors, AI data centres, advanced biotech, 100% electric vehicles, lithium value chain (downstream processing, cathode, battery), green hydrogen, solar panels, wind turbines, onshore LNG, SMR nuclear, aerospace, uranium value chain, potassium and phosphorus fertilisers, and new petrochemicals.

DGFT Notification No. 12/2026-27 (Gazette S.O. 2222(E)), issued 17 April 2026 under sections 3 and 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992 and the Foreign Trade Policy 2023, reclassifies high-grade Baryte (Natural Barium Sulphate, ITC(HS) 2511 10 00) Grade A (specific gravity ≥4.2, code 25111010) and Grade B (specific gravity 4.10–4.20, code 25111020) from "Free" to "Restricted" export status, requiring DGFT prior authorisation for all exports in lumps, powder, or other forms. Grade CDW (specific gravity <4.0, code 25111090) remains freely exportable. India produces approximately 80% of global baryte output and the restriction is aimed at ensuring adequate domestic availability for oil-and-gas drilling fluids, radiation shielding, and high-density industrial applications.

President Tokayev signed Decree U2600001233 on 15 April 2026, formally adopting the Strategy for the Development of the Nuclear Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2050. The 30-year framework marks a structural pivot for the world's largest uranium producer (~45% of global mined supply) from a raw-ore export model toward domestic nuclear-energy sovereignty, targeting at least three operational NPPs by 2050 (a fourth under assessment), 5% of national electricity from nuclear by 2035, and 50% combined nuclear and renewables by 2050. The strategy mandates SMR evaluation for regional deployment, a 1% R&D levy on uranium miners' production costs through 2030, and the development of a Kazakh "nuclear cluster" producing high-value fuel-cycle goods and services rather than raw uranium concentrate alone.

On 2 April 2026 President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ("Adjusting Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Ingredients into the United States") imposing a 100% ad valorem tariff on imports of patented pharmaceutical products listed in the FDA Orange Book and Purple Book, together with the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key starting materials used to make them. The base rate takes effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 31 July 2026 for the 17 manufacturers identified in Annex III, and on 29 September 2026 for all other companies. The proclamation adopts findings of the Section 232 investigation initiated by the Department of Commerce on 14 April 2025 into pharmaceuticals and APIs as a national- security supply-chain risk. The instrument is structured around a multi-tier rate ladder rather than a flat tariff: concessionary 15% rates for EU/Japan/South Korea/Switzerland/Liechtenstein under reciprocal-deal tracks, 10% for the UK with a pathway to 0% under the pending UK pharmaceutical agreement, a "+20%" surcharge for companies operating under a Commerce-approved onshoring plan (until 2 April 2030), and a 0% pathway for companies that combine an approved onshoring plan with an MFN-pricing agreement with HHS (until 20 January 2029). Generics, biosimilars and their ingredients, orphan drugs, nuclear medicines, plasma-derived therapies, fertility treatments, and cell/gene therapies are carved out.

Peru's Congress enacted Ley N° 32560 on 22 March 2026, establishing the country's first legal framework for nuclear electricity generation and the deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The law tasks MINEM, MINAM, and the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN) with jointly assessing SMR viability across Peruvian departments, explicitly aiming to use domestic uranium resources as feedstock. Private investment in nuclear power is permitted under a free-competition regime, with mandatory National Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) review and citizen participation required at all project phases.

Kazakhstan's Department of Atomic Energy signed a new Subsoil Use Agreement (SUA) for production at the Akdala uranium deposit, effective 29 March 2026, replacing the expired March 2001 contract. Subsoil rights are held by YUGHK LLP (South Mining and Chemical Company Joint Venture), in which Uranium One (a Rosatom subsidiary) owns 70% and Kazatomprom 30%. The deposit holds approximately 1,500 tonnes of uranium reserves and is expected to operate through 2030, after which the asset is subject to trust management transfer to Kazatomprom as the national company. The renewal was signed expressly to prevent disruption to the technological process and maintain social stability in the region, preserving Rosatom's controlling stake in a single producing Kazakhstani deposit at a time when Kazakhstan is otherwise tightening state control over strategic mineral assets.

South Korea's 13th National Strategic Technology Special Committee (chaired by MSIT) adopted the 2026 Annual Implementation Plan for the First Basic Plan for National Strategic Technology Development (2024–2028), committing KRW 8.6 trillion in 2026 R&D investment — a ~30% YoY increase from KRW 6.5 trillion in 2025 — across 19 NEXT strategic-technology fields encompassing AI, semiconductors, quantum, displays, and secondary batteries, coordinated across 23 ministries. The plan is supplemented by KRW 46.6 trillion in policy finance delivered through Korea Development Bank (KDB), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF), and Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), providing the horizontal funding-coordination architecture that operationalises all sector-specific Korean strategic-technology legislative instruments.

France's third Programmation Pluriannuelle de l'Énergie (PPE3), adopted by Décret n° 2026-76 of 12 February 2026 and published in the Journal Officiel on 13 February 2026, sets the framework for public energy policy in metropolitan continental France from 2026 to 2035. The decree codifies a 60% decarbonised-energy-consumption target by 2030 (from 42% in 2023), a 34% electrification share (585 TWh), and a reduction of fossil fuels to 40% of final energy consumption by 2030 (from 58% in 2023). It also formalises the EPR2 new-build programme (6 + 8 optional reactors) within the long-range generation-mix architecture, pairs with the Stratégie Nationale Bas-Carbone (SNBC3) for a net-zero-2050 trajectory, and includes an annex on clean-mobility development (SDMP).

On 2 February 2026 Kazatomprom disclosed in its 4Q25 Operations and Trading Update that it had amended multiple Subsoil Use Agreements (SUAs) to reduce the total 2026 licensed annual production ceiling from 32,777 tU to 29,697 tU — a reduction of approximately 3,080 tU (~9.4%). The primary driver is construction and commissioning delays at the Budenovskoye uranium deposit (JV with Uranium Energy Corp / UrAsia, Kazatomprom 51%), preventing the planned ramp-up. Revised 2026 production guidance of 27,500–29,000 tU on a 100% basis sits below the revised licensed ceiling, indicating that actual deliveries will be further constrained; force-majeure notices were issued to long-term offtake counterparties affected by the Budenovskoye shortfall. Kazakhstan accounts for approximately 43% of global primary uranium mine supply, making even a licensed-capacity adjustment a material signal for the global U3O8 and UF6 supply curve.

On 1 February 2026 India's Ministry of Finance tabled the Finance Bill 2026 alongside Customs Notifications 01/2026 to 03/2026-Customs, restructuring the customs tariff schedule across hundreds of HS lines. Duty rates rise on a range of consumer and finished-goods lines (e.g. umbrellas: 20% to "20% or ₹60/piece, whichever is higher"; potassium hydroxide: 0% to 7.5%; INVAR steel: 5% to 7.5%; radio-trunking parts: 5% to 15%; video-game parts: 5% to 20%) while falling on nuclear and renewable-energy inputs (fuel elements and control/absorber rods for nuclear reactors: 7.5% to 0%; sodium antimonate for solar glass: 7.5% to 0%) and on personal-use dutiable imports under heading 9804 (20% to 10%, effective 1 April 2026). Roughly 80 exemptions previously granted by standalone notification are being written into the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act at unchanged rates, effective 1 May 2026 — converting administratively-reversible exemptions into statutory ones.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India's primary nuclear research organisation, published an engineering-procurement- construction (EPC) tender (Tender ID BARC(V)/CES/IPR/EPC/208) on 6 January 2026 for an isotopes production reactor at Visakhapatnam that embeds a domestic-supplier local-content requirement and bid-evaluation preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day. This follows the same pattern as the register's other single-tender DPIIT Make-in-India filings (NHAI, NHIDCL, NEEPCO, UPMRC, BMRCL, NHPC, MPPKVVCL), applied here to nuclear infrastructure procurement.

The US Department of Energy announced $2.7 billion in task-order funding over ten years to rebuild domestic uranium enrichment capacity: $900 million each to American Centrifuge Operating and General Matter to develop high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capacity, $900 million to Orano Federal Services to expand low-enriched uranium (LEU) enrichment capacity, and $28 million to Global Laser Enrichment for next-generation enrichment technology. DOE frames the awards as reducing US reliance on foreign — chiefly Russian — enriched uranium supply and securing fuel for the country's 94 commercial reactors and future advanced-reactor deployment, with funds distributed under a milestone-based accountability framework.

Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget on 26 December 2025, under which METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) funds a new financial-grant line, the "Decarbonized Power Source Regional Contribution Investment Promotion Project" (脱炭素電源地域貢献型 投資促進事業), for the fiscal year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. The programme subsidizes large-scale capital investment by electricity consumers -- prioritising data centres and industrial facilities -- that agree to site near decarbonized power sources (nuclear, renewables) and contribute economically to the host municipality, as one of four designated tracks under Japan's GX Strategy Area system. ANRE opened its solicitation for the executing body that will administer FY2026 disbursements via a public offer published 5 February 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which allocates JPY 122.0 billion (~USD 800m) to the "Next-Generation Innovative Reactor Technology Development and Industrial Base Strengthening Support Project" (次世代革新炉の技術開発・産業基盤強化支援事業), up from JPY 88.9 billion in the FY2025 initial budget plus a JPY 6.0 billion FY2025 supplementary allocation. The programme, administered by ANRE under METI's GX (Green Transformation) Promotion budget, funds technology development and supply-chain build-out for Japan's "innovative light-water reactors" (revised BWR/PWR designs with enhanced passive safety) and small modular reactors under the government's GX2040 Vision. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

On 26 December 2025 the President of Kazakhstan signed a law amending the Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" with respect to the hydrocarbon and uranium sectors, followed on 30 December 2025 by a parallel set of amendments implementing presidential instructions on broader subsoil-use governance. Both packages take effect on 2 March 2026. The uranium amendments grant the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom (KAP) a statutory priority right to obtain exploration licences over prospective uranium areas listed in the State Subsoil Fund Management Programme, and to reserve blocks containing uranium mineralisation or deposits. Where uranium mineralisation is discovered on a solid-mineral block held by a third-party subsoil-user, an extension of that licence is conditional on the licensee surrendering the uranium-bearing block to the State; private subsoil-users no longer obtain priority production rights for uranium they discover. The amendments also raise the minimum direct or indirect Kazatomprom interest in any uranium mining project from 50% to 75%, and permit subsequent transfer to investors or joint-venture partners only subject to that 75% floor. The 30 December 2025 package establishes the National Geological Service as a non-privatisable national operator subordinate to the authorised subsoil-exploration agency and as the operator responsible for managing geological information; it also creates a Unified Subsoil Use Platform digital infrastructure (open geological-information database integrated with the Unified State System for Management of the Fuel and Energy Complex). The hydrocarbon track of the law shortens block-reservation periods and pushes unallocated plots into electronic-auction allocation to accelerate competitive exploration. The amendments accompany an announced USD 500m state geological-exploration programme.

The European Commission cleared a EUR 172 million Dutch state-aid measure to fund preparatory activities of Nucleaire Energie Organisatie Nederland B.V. ("NEO NL"), the state-owned holding company the Dutch cabinet is establishing to develop two new nuclear power plants. The financing — provided as a state loan/capital contribution against a cabinet-requested ceiling of up to EUR 222 million for 2026-27 — covers technology-vendor selection, licensing work and other pre-construction preparation, and does not itself cover plant construction or operation. The Commission found the measure compatible with EU state-aid rules as contributing to decarbonisation of the Dutch energy mix.

The US Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, via its Idaho Operations Office, issued Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003538 on 15 December 2025, making USD 57 million available for the Fiscal Year 2026 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) program. Individual awards range from a USD 3.1 million floor up to several million dollars, open to US universities, national laboratories, and US industry, with a companion FY2026 Phase II Continuation NOFO for previously-funded university teams. Research areas span continued operation of the existing US reactor fleet, deployment of advanced reactors, next-generation nuclear fuel cycles, and maintaining US nuclear-technology leadership.

On December 9, 2025 in Niamey, Niger's state uranium company TNUC and Uranium One Group JSC (a Rosatom State Corporation subsidiary) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to jointly obtain permits for new uranium deposits, conduct geological exploration of prospective sites, and establish new uranium mining operations in Niger. The agreement completes Niger's post-coup pivot from French-controlled uranium channels (Orano/SOMAÏR expelled 2024–2025) to Russian-aligned supply, routing future NE yellowcake production through the Rosatom global enrichment network. A companion Rosatom–Niger MoU on peaceful nuclear energy cooperation (NPP feasibility and reactor construction) was signed in the same period.

The US Department of Energy selected the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to receive up to $800 million in combined federal cost-shared funding — $400 million each — to accelerate deployment of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs). TVA's award backs a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 unit at the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, targeted to be the nation's first commercial SMR (commercial operation targeted early 2030s), with domestic supply-chain partners Scot Forge, North American Forgemasters, BWX Technologies and Aecon. Holtec's award backs deployment of two SMR-300 units at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station site in Covert, Michigan. The program is intended to expand US SMR manufacturing capacity and seed follow-on domestic and export supply chains.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care, delivered via Innovate UK, awarded more than GBP 54 million in government funding across eight R&D projects on 18 November 2025 through the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme, matched by more than GBP 20 million from industry (combined GBP 74m+). The programme is funded through the GBP 400 million VPAG Investment Programme, agreed under the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG), and supports the manufacturing pillar of the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy Life Sciences Sector Plan. Funded projects include anaesthetic gas recovery/recycling (targeting ~GBP 5m annual NHS savings), converting spent nuclear fuel into radionuclide cancer therapies, CAR-T cell manufacturing scale-up (Royal Free Hospital), engineered bacteriophages for antibiotic resistance, and an AstraZeneca-led "Sustainable Future Factory" AI/robotics initiative.

DOE's Loan Programs Office concurrently finalized a conditional loan commitment and financial close on a USD 1 billion interest-bearing loan to Constellation Energy Generation, LLC, funded under the newly created Energy Dominance Financing Program, to help restart the 835 MW Crane Clean Energy Center (formerly Three Mile Island Unit 1) on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania. The reactor shut down in 2019 for market reasons (not safety) and was never fully decommissioned; restart is pending NRC licensing approval and is expected to power roughly 800,000 Mid-Atlantic homes, supporting domestic manufacturing and AI-datacenter power demand. A Pennsylvania Building & Construction Trades Council economic-impact study cited in the DOE release estimates ~3,400 direct/indirect jobs, over USD 16 billion in state GDP, and more than USD 3 billion in state/federal tax revenue over the project life.

On 18 November 2025, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's White House visit (17-19 November 2025), the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Framework for Cooperation on Securing Uranium, Metals, Permanent Magnets, and Critical Minerals Supply Chains. The framework was signed by US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Saudi Minister of Energy H.R.H. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and positions Saudi Arabia (via Ma'aden + Public Investment Fund vehicles) as a regional hub for processing rare earths and producing permanent magnets, supports a US-backed rare-earths refinery in the Kingdom, and channels Saudi capital — alongside the broader USD ~1 trillion Saudi investment commitment in the US announced the same week — into US and allied critical-mineral projects. It is paired with a separate joint declaration on civil nuclear cooperation (Section 123 Agreement contemplated) and was operationalised one day later by the 19 November 2025 binding term sheet between MP Materials, the US Department of War, and Ma'aden to develop a rare-earth refinery in Saudi Arabia (Department of War financing the US side's 49% stake; Ma'aden retaining ≥51%).

The UK government confirmed Wylfa on Anglesey, North Wales as the site for the country's first government-backed small modular reactor (SMR) power station, committing over GBP 2.5 billion (~USD 3.3bn) to the programme via state-owned developer Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N). GBE-N named Rolls-Royce SMR as preferred bidder, with an initial three-reactor deployment (scope for five more) targeting grid connection by the mid-2030s and up to 1.5GW of capacity — enough to power roughly three million homes. Site work is set to begin in 2026, subject to final government approvals and contract signature.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 32 individuals and entities based in Iran, the UAE, Turkiye, China, Hong Kong, India, Germany and Ukraine for operating procurement networks that supply Iran's ballistic missile and UAV programmes, including missile propellant precursors and UAV components. The action is Treasury's second round of nonproliferation sanctions since the 27 September 2025 reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran ("snapback") over its non-compliance with international nuclear and missile commitments. Designated entities include Iran-based Kimia Part Sivan Company (KIPAS), which Treasury says has worked with the IRGC-Qods Force to advance Iran's UAV programme. All property and interests of the designated parties subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from transacting with them.

On 6 November 2025, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) released the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals under the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. § 1606), expanding the designation from 50 to 60 minerals. The final list adds 10 newly designated commodities — boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium — based on updated supply-chain disruption modelling, public comment, and interagency recommendations. The list constitutes the foundational statutory anchor for downstream US critical-minerals policy instruments including DPA Title III awards, DOE LPO Title 17 loan eligibility, IRA Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit eligibility, Section 30D FEOC determinations, BIS export-control predicate assessments, Section 232 trade-investigation predicates, and CFIUS critical-technology triggers under 31 CFR § 800.215.

On 5 November 2025 the Riksdag voted in favour of the Government's proposal to repeal Sweden's 2018 moratorium on uranium mining and exploration. The decision amends the Environmental Code (Miljöbalken) and the Minerals Act (Minerallagen) to reclassify uranium as a "concession mineral" — a mineral "especially useful for society" — allowing bedrock exploration and full mining-concession applications under Sweden's existing mineral-rights framework. The new rules enter into force on 1 January 2026. Sweden hosts an estimated 27% of Europe's known uranium reserves (per the Geological Survey of Sweden, SGU); the reversal is the first European uranium-mining policy opening of the post-Chernobyl era and complements the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (which lists uranium as a strategic raw material) and the emerging EU Nuclear Common Industrial Agenda.

Bpifrance Assurance Export, France's state export credit agency, guaranteed GBP 5 billion (~EUR 5.68bn) of lending arranged by a pool of 13 international banks (HSBC Corporate and Institutional Banking as lead/coordinator) to support the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, England. The guarantee covers up to 95% of the non-payment risk on export contracts held by French companies (led by EDF, a Sizewell C equity partner) involved in the project. It was announced alongside the project's financial close on 4 November 2025, complementing a GBP 36.6bn term loan facility from the UK's National Wealth Fund that forms the bulk of the project's debt financing.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 90 million loan agreement with Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) on 22 October 2025 (press release published 30 October 2025) to finance safety and modernisation upgrades at the Olkiluoto 1 and 2 nuclear reactors in Finland, including automation and control-system updates and replacement of steam-separator components. The improvements are required under Finnish and EU nuclear-safety legislation and will be implemented progressively over a multi-year timeline. Olkiluoto supplies about 28% of Finland's electricity.

On 23 October 2025, Canada's federal Canada Growth Fund (CGF) and the Government of Ontario's Building Ontario Fund (BOF) announced an equity commitment agreement to finance the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) small modular reactor (SMR) build, led by Ontario Power Generation (OPG). CGF committed up to CAD 2 billion (USD 1.43bn) for a 15% minority stake and BOF committed up to CAD 1 billion (USD 713.5m) for a 7.5% minority stake, with OPG remaining majority owner and operator. The combined CAD 3 billion package funds construction of four grid-scale SMRs — the first commercial SMR deployment among G7 nations — targeting first-unit grid connection by end-2030.

China's Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs and State Taxation Administration jointly issued Announcement 2025 No. 10, restructuring VAT refund support across the power-generation sector effective 1 November 2025. Offshore wind power producers gain a new 50% immediate VAT refund running through 31 December 2027, while the prior immediate-refund policy for onshore wind power (in force since 2015 under Cai Shui [2015] No. 74) is repealed outright. Nuclear plants approved but not yet commercially operating as of 31 October 2025 receive a 50% collected-then-refunded VAT rebate for ten years from first commercial operation, but nuclear projects approved after 1 November 2025 receive no VAT refund at all. The measure reallocates state fiscal support within China's power sector toward offshore wind and legacy-pipeline nuclear capacity while withdrawing it from onshore wind and future nuclear approvals.

On 10 October 2025 Vietnam's Government issued Decree No. 259/2025/NĐ-CP, establishing the country's first comprehensive statutory framework for strategic trade control — covering the export, temporary import for re-export, transshipment, transit, and cross-border trade of strategic goods defined as: (a) WMD-related items, (b) conventional weapons, and (c) dual-use goods spanning nuclear, electronics, telecommunications, sensors, aviation, maritime, aerospace, biochemical, metals, and chemical categories. The decree creates a Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) licensing regime with an ICP (Internal Compliance Programme) fast-track for certified exporters of two or more years' standing, and includes catch-all provisions requiring licensing even for unlisted goods where WMD end-use or a designated end-user is suspected. Structurally, the decree represents Vietnam's transition from ad-hoc export-management provisions under legacy Decree 69/2018/NĐ-CP to a unified strategic-trade-control architecture analytically aligned with the Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group, and MTCR control-list architecture. It positions Vietnam as a compliant strategic-goods manufacturing hub within the US-led friend-shoring supply chain, directly preceding the US announcement in February 2026 of Vietnam's removal from EAR Country Groups D:1–D:3.

Namibia's Cabinet at its 22nd meeting on 23 September 2025 approved a Nuclear Industry Strategy mandating uranium value-addition (conversion and fuel fabrication objectives), pre-feasibility studies for Small Modular Reactors, radioisotope production, and industrial irradiation facilities. The strategy establishes the Nuclear Institute of Namibia (NIN) to drive implementation and coordinates with the IAEA on the 19 infrastructure milestones required for nuclear-power-developing countries. Cabinet simultaneously approved amendments to the Atomic Energy and Radiation Protection Act (Act No. 5 of 2005) to create an independent nuclear regulatory authority, a four-stage reactor-licensing framework, and Namibia's first statutory provisions for radioactive waste management; oversight transfers from the Ministry of Mines and Energy to the National Planning Commission (Office of the President).

On 17 September 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufubangui [2025] No. 8, a five-year (26 September 2025 - 25 September 2030) state-aid framework to accelerate frontier-technology innovation and cultivate "future industries" across six domains — future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future energy, future space and future health. Targeted technology areas include cell and gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces, biomanufacturing, embodied intelligence (humanoid robotics/AI hardware), fourth-generation semiconductors, silicon photonics, 6G, neuromorphic computing, quantum technology, controlled nuclear fusion and regenerative medicine. Support is disbursed as tiered direct subsidies rather than tax relief, with named ceilings up to CNY 30 million per proof-of-concept/R&D platform and CNY 20 million per high-quality incubator or first-product/batch innovation award.

On 15 September 2025, the Government of Ontario announced a CAD 18 million (USD 12.97m) grant to McMaster University to expand medical isotope production at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor in Hamilton. The funding moves the reactor to 24/7 operation, adds 16 jobs, and is projected to raise custom-isotope output from roughly 70,000 to up to 84,000 patient treatments annually (Holmium-166 for liver cancer, Iodine-125 for prostate-cancer and ocular/brain tumour therapy). The investment follows Ontario's July 2025 launch of the Nuclear Isotope Innovation Council of Ontario (NIICO), which aims to double provincial isotope output within four years.

The MoEFCC Impact Assessment Division issued an Office Memorandum on 8 September 2025 categorically exempting all mining projects involving atomic minerals (uranium, thorium and the 12 minerals under the Atomic Energy Act 1962), the 30 critical minerals notified by the Ministry of Mines on 28 June 2023, and separately designated strategic minerals from the mandatory public-consultation stage (para 7(i)) of the EIA Notification 2006, invoking the existing national-defence and strategic-considerations clause. Exempted projects will instead undergo comprehensive appraisal by the relevant Sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC/EAC) at the central level regardless of project size, bypassing the standard Category-A/B thresholding architecture. The measure was issued in response to formal requests from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and directly accelerates the approval pipeline for the National Critical Mineral Mission (Rs 34,300 crore, 2025-2031).

On 8 August 2025, Ukraine's President signed Decree No. 595/2025, enacting an NSDC decision "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)" against Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and its international corporate network. Sanctions were applied to 18 individuals and 17 legal entities identified as involved in attempts to integrate the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into Russia's grid, participation in the seizure of the Chornobyl NPP, production and servicing of dual-use nuclear equipment, and export of enriched uranium through Rosatom subsidiaries registered in Switzerland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Finland. Named entities include Uranium One Holding N.V. (Netherlands), Rosatom Finance Ltd (Cyprus), and JSC Kirov-Energomash (Russia).

On 27 July 2025, President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached political agreement at Turnberry, Scotland, on a Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade. The framework was formalised in a Joint Statement published on 21 August 2025 by the White House and DG TRADE. The deal establishes a 15% all-inclusive (MFN + Section 232) US tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU originating goods — including autos, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, and chemicals — replacing the threatened 20-30% reciprocal tariff trajectory under EO 14257 (April 2025). Steel and aluminium are excluded from the 15% ceiling and remain at the 50% Section 232 rate pending negotiation of a quota solution. In return, the EU commits to: (i) eliminate tariffs on all US industrial goods, (ii) preferential market access for a wide range of US agricultural and seafood products, (iii) suspension of its rebalancing countermeasures under Reg 2025/778 (suspension effective 7 August 2025), (iv) expected energy offtake of $750bn (LNG, oil, nuclear) through 2028, (v) at least $40bn in US AI chip purchases, and (vi) facilitation of $600bn in additional EU corporate investment into the US through 2028. Effective from 1 September 2025, the US applies MFN-only treatment (no 15% top-up) to: aircraft and parts, generic pharmaceuticals and ingredients, chemical precursors, cork, and certain unavailable natural resources. The framework is not legally binding but anchors the bilateral architecture; it is the largest-economy ART-programme deal alongside US-UK, US-Japan, US-Korea, US-Taiwan, and US-Indonesia.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company (also known as Sobaeksu United Corporation) and three associated individuals — Kim Se Un, Jo Kyong Hun, and Myong Chol Min — for evading US and UN sanctions and clandestinely generating revenue for the DPRK government, including through fraudulent information-technology worker schemes. Sobaeksu operates as a front company for the US-designated Munitions Industry Department, which oversees North Korea's nuclear program and ballistic-missile development. The action was coordinated with a Department of Justice unsealing of indictments against seven DPRK nationals over counterfeit- cigarette sanctions evasion, and State Department reward offers of up to USD 7 million for information on the individuals involved. Designations block all US-jurisdiction property of the four parties and bar US persons from transacting with them.

The UK's National Wealth Fund, the state-owned investment bank, committed a term loan facility of up to GBP 36.6 billion to finance construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk. The facility forms the bulk of the project's construction-phase debt, alongside a GBP 5bn Bpifrance Assurance Export-guaranteed loan tranche from a French bank pool. It was announced on 22 July 2025 alongside the UK government's 44.9% equity stake in the project as its largest shareholder.

Kazakhstan's Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII ZRK ("On Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget"), signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 18 July 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, replaces the 2017 Tax Code (Code No. 120-VI ZRK) with a wholesale recodification of the Kazakh tax regime. The most consequential IPTM-relevant provision restructures the uranium mineral extraction tax (MET) from a flat 6% rate to a differentiated schedule of 4–18% tiered by annual production volume per subsoil use agreement, supplemented by uranium-price-band surcharges of 0.5–2.5% above $70–$110/lb thresholds. The code also introduces a tenfold MET reduction for processing man-made mineral formations (mining waste / tailings reclamation) to incentivise circular-economy mineral recovery, and for exploration or production licenses issued after 31 December 2026, replaces MET with a tiered royalty regime — ore 13%, concentrate 10%, refined metals 7% — grandfathering existing operating projects under MET. The processing-grade discount (ore → concentrate → metal) is an explicit incentive to push value-added steps onshore within Kazakhstan. Directly material to Kazatomprom (NAC Kazatomprom JSC), the world's largest uranium producer supplying approximately 43% of global output, and to all solid-mineral operators (chromium, copper, zinc, gold) commencing new subsoil use agreements after January 2027.

On 19 June 2025 the Council of Ministers of Niger, presided over by the head of the CNSP transition government, adopted a draft ordonnance nationalising the Société des Mines de l'Aïr (SOMAÏR SA), the joint venture that operates Niger's only currently producing uranium mine at Arlit. The communiqué transfers all SOMAÏR shares and assets to the Nigerien State and provides for compensation to existing shareholders net of legal obligations including mining-site rehabilitation costs. SOMAÏR was 63.40% owned by Orano (the French state-controlled nuclear fuel-cycle company, ex-AREVA) and 36.60% by state-owned SOPAMIN; the government cited "irresponsible, illegal and disloyal" conduct by Orano, the expiry of the prior mining convention on 31 December 2023, and a finding that Orano had taken 86.3% of cumulative production between 1971 and 2024 versus its 63.4% shareholding. The same Council of Ministers also nationalised the electricity utility NIGELEC. Orano announced the same day that it would seek full compensation through arbitration and reserved criminal-action rights against third parties acquiring SOMAÏR uranium stock.

In the Spending Review 2025 (delivered 11 June 2025), HM Treasury committed "over £2.5 billion" for nuclear fusion, explicitly including support for the UK's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme to design and build a prototype fusion power plant on the site of the former West Burton A coal power station in Nottinghamshire. The commitment covers the multi-year Spending Review period and is administered through the UK Atomic Energy Authority. STEP construction is expected to begin in the 2030s, with first operations targeted for 2040, and the government cites over 10,000 jobs supported by the programme.