This paper presents the mostortant developments implemented in the APOLLO2 spectral code since its last general presentation at the 1999 M&C conference in Madrid. APOLLO2 has been provided with new capabilities in the domain of cross section self-shielding, including mixture effects and transfer matrix self-shielding, new or improved flux solvers (CPM for RZ geometry, heterogeneous cells for short MOC and the linear-surface scheme for long MOC), improved acceleration techniques ($DP_1$), that are also applied to thermal and external iterations, and a number of sophisticated modules and tools to help user calculations. The method of characteristics, which took over the collision probability method as the main flux solver of the code, allows for whole core two-dimensional heterogeneous calculations. A flux reconstruction technique leads to fast albeit accurate solutions used for industrial applications. The APOLLO2 code has been integrated (APOLLO2-A) within the $ARCADIA^{(R)}$ reactor code system of AREVA as cross section generator for PWR and BWR fuel assemblies. APOLLO2 is also extensively used by Electricite de France within its reactor calculation chain. A number of numerical examples are presented to illustrate APOLLO2 accuracy by comparison to Monte Carlo reference calculations. Results of the validation program are compared to the measured values on power plants and critical experiments.