International

President Obama yesterday signed into law a two-year extension to current civil nuclear agreement with South Korea, which now will be set to expire on March 19, 2016. The extension was needed because the Administration and Korea needed more time to work out sensitive issues, including potential restrictions on reprocessing and enrichment technologies, before the […]

Rose Gottemoeller, the acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, emphasized late last week that a review of potential Russian cheating on a key arms control treaty had not been concluded. Speaking at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit Friday, Gottemoeller said a “very active compliance review process” was ongoing and that the […]

The next step in the Canadian government’s procurement for a contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s nuclear laboratories is still experiencing delays. There had been some expectation that the Request for Response Evaluation, the next step in the process, would be issued last week, but that proved premature as the government continues to […]

Brian McKeon, the Obama Administration’s nominee to be the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, is likely to face tough questions from Republicans at his confirmation hearing Tuesday on what is believed to be Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. In a Feb. 20 letter to McKeon, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and […]

President Obama yesterday signed a new civil nuclear agreement with Vietnam that has raised questions because of a lack of legally binding restrictions on enrichment and reprocessing, according to reports. The deal with Vietnam that was finalized last October has instead a nonbinding commitment from Vietnam to rely on existing fuel services rather than developing […]

Three new members have joined the Board of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority after being appointed by the U.K Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the NDA announced yesterday. Ken McCallum, previously the NDA’s Shareholder Executive’s Director, has been appointed as a non-executive director. Peter Lutwyche, the new Sellafield Programme Director, has been […]

After delays because of snowy weather in Washington, D.C., the Senate could take up the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, in the coming days. Gottemoeller’s nomination has languished in the Senate for more than a year, but Senate Majority Leader Harry […]

The next step in the Canadian government’s procurement for a contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s nuclear laboratories began late last week, as Natural Resources Canada put out a Request for Response Evaluation on the government’s Government Electronic Tendering Service. The RFRE is aimed at suppliers who are interested in participating in the […]

United States and Russian tensions over Ukraine are threatening to spill over into arms control efforts by the two countries. According to Russian news reports, Russia is considering disallowing nuclear weapons inspections that are part of arms control treaties with the United States, including the New START Treaty, in response to potential U.S. sanctions against […]

Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and reported threats from Moscow that it might bar arms control inspectors from the country over concerns about potential sanctions, the two countries are continuing to cooperate in the lead-up to the Nuclear Security Summit, a senior White House official said yesterday. Scheduled for the Netherlands […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is planning to eliminate its commercial director position as the Magnox competition comes to a close and create a new post for Sellafield director, WC Monitor has learned. NDA Chief Executive Officer John Clarke is reorganizing his executive team following the departure of Chief Operating Officer Mark Lesinski and the […]

B&W has officially announced its intent to compete for the new contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s Chalk River nuclear laboratories in a team with Battelle and the U.K. firm Cavendish Nuclear. The team was unveiled at a reception held in Petawawa, Ontario, on Nov. 19. “We believe this team has the vast […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority yesterday released its draft 2014 to 2017 business plan for comment, outlining the cleanup agency’s budgets and objectives for the coming years. The Authority plans to spend £3.2 billion ($5.2 billion) in 2014/2015, of which £1.8 billion ($3 billion) will go to work at the Sellafield site. “As I have […]

A truck carrying a surplus radioactive medical source was stolen in Mexico earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. Mexico’s National Commission on Nuclear Safety and Safeguards (NCNSS) informed the IAEA that the truck carrying a cobalt-60 teletherapy source from a hospital in Tijuana to a radioactive waste storage center was stolen […]

Russian and U.S. officials yesterday announced several collaborative nuclear safety and cooperative initiatives following the off-loading this week in Baltimore of the final shipment of low-enriched uranium from Russia under the Megatons to Megawatts program. Over 20 years the program converted about 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium from Russian warheads into LEU for […]

Career foreign service officer Robert Wood was nominated late last week to serve as the United States’ Representative to the Conference on Department. Wood has been serving as the top U.S. official at the CD in an acting capacity, and the Friday nomination would make him the permanent representative, with the rank of ambassador. Wood […]

A bill that would require the Administration to gain Congressional approval for international nuclear cooperation agreements that do not meet certain nonproliferation standards was reintroduced late last week by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). With civil nuclear cooperation agreements being negotiated with countries including South Korea, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, some lawmakers […]

The Department of Energy and China have entered into a proposed agreement that would allow the exchange and joint development of a Traveling Wave Reactor design, according to a notice in the Federal Register yesterday. The agreement, advocated by the Chinese government and the industry, would allow U.S. companies to engage the Chinese government agencies […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced two weeks ago that it would form a new internal company responsible for the decommissioning of the Units 5 and 6 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The main objectives of creating the new organization, which will begin operations in April 2014, is to better plan and organize […]

Kurion has entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory to provide vitrification waste treatment at the NNL’s Central Laboratory at the Sellafield site, according to a release issued by the NNL yesterday. The joint project will use Kurion’s GeoMelt waste treatment technology as the basis for an In-Container Vitrification plant. “The […]

A new civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Taiwan was sent to Congress yesterday by President Obama. The agreement between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Culture Representative Office is the result of a renegotiation of a previous agreement with Taiwan, and will enter into force after it sits before Congress for […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is launching next month a four-year research effort on waste treatment with Sellafield Limited, the National Nuclear Laboratory, numerous U.K. universities and other partners, the NDA announced yesterday. The program is expected to cost £8 million to £9 million ($13.2 million to $14.8 million) and will be partially funded by […]

Lassina Zerbo, the new head of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, has been named the “2013 Arms Control Person of the Year” by the Arms Control Association. Zerbo was selected through online voting conducted by the ACA, besting nine other candidates picked by the arms control group. Zerbo was lauded for helping persuade China […]

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ famed Doomsday Clock remains at five minutes until midnight, the group said yesterday as it chose to keep the hands of the clock still for the second year in a row. The group’s Science and Security Board and its Board of Sponsors hasn’t moved the hands of the clock since […]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday voted out legislation authorizing a two-year extension of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and South Korea. The current agreement is scheduled to expire on March 19, and the Administration has asked Congress for a simple extension of the deal to allow time to work out […]

U.K. cleanup contractor Sellafield Limited Friday lost an appeal to a £700,000 ($1.1 million) fine levied against the company for sending contaminated waste to a regular landfill. The company pleaded guilty in January to sending four bags of mixed waste from normal operations in controlled areas to a regular landfill instead of a low level […]

The White House officially announced yesterday that President Obama would attend the third Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands in March. The announcement comes as no surprise considering it was Obama that established the Nuclear Security Summit process in 2010 when the United States hosted the inaugural event. Obama attended the second summit in 2012 […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has concluded that reusing its separated plutonium stock as fuel for potential new reactor technology remains the preferred disposition option, according to a position paper released by the NDA this week. The position paper outlines three possibilities for possible re-use, including incorporation as MOX fuel, reuse in CANDU EC6 […]

The United States and Russia should focus less on nuclear warhead reduction targets and more on other areas to build the relationship between the two countries, a former Bush Administration arms control and nonproliferation expert said yesterday. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, former National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation chief William Tobey suggested that working on […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is planning on granting an extension to the Nuclear Management Partners contract to manage the Sellafield site that will include “more onerous terms,” according to a report in the Financial Times yesterday. The report did not include details on the length of the extension to URS-led NMP’s contract or what […]