Archive

International

Coverage of allied nuclear programs, non-proliferation efforts, arms control developments, and foreign nuclear competition relevant to U.S. policy and industry.

  • Kremlin says drones hit Russia’s biggest nuclear plant on Ukraine’s independence day

    The Kursk nuclear power plant experienced a fire due to an attack by Ukrainian drones Aug. 24, the day Ukraine celebrated its independence from the then-Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow officials said. The Kursk region’s governor and the operators at the nuclear plant said on messaging app Telegram that the Ukrainian drone was shot down […]

  • Oppenheimer’s grandson urges ‘peaceful nuclear renaissance’ in Times article

    The international community can abandon fear of nuclear weapons by harnessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes instead, Charles Oppenheimer wrote in Times magazine Aug. 17. Charles Oppenheimer is the grandson of the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project and the widely-called “father of the atomic bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer.  Charles […]

  • U.S. remains atop global nuclear sector in 2025

    The United States still leads the world in nuclear energy generation but China and Russia are seeing rapid growth in their respective nuclear fleets, according to a recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis. As of June 2025, the U.S. nuclear fleet of 94 operating reactors has a generating capacity of 97 gigawatts, which amounts to […]

  • Wrap-up: Hiroshima 80th anniversary and Gaza; Navy nuclear reactor solicitation; NNSA increase communities’ security; Italy nuclear tech and more; Obituary

    In memory of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 80 years ago on Aug. 6, 1945, Ghasson Shahrour, a medical expert at the Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, wrote that “we cannot stop future Hiroshimas if we’ve allowed today’s Gazas to burn.” “Every August 6, the world is asked to pause—for memory, for reflection, for […]

  • Russia exits nuclear treaty with U.S.

    Russia “no longer considers itself bound” to a self-imposed treaty between the United States and Moscow that prohibits deploying intermediate-range missiles, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was a pact made in 1987, during the Cold War, which banned ballistic and cruise missiles launched from land with […]

  • Russia exits nuclear treaty with U.S.

    Russia “no longer considers itself bound” to a self-imposed treaty between the United States and Moscow that prohibits deploying intermediate-range missiles, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was a pact made in 1987, during the Cold War, which banned ballistic and cruise missiles launched from land with […]

  • Trump orders nuclear subs to near Russia, Kremlin urges caution with ‘nuclear rhetoric’

    After President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines moved near Russian waters, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded with a warning in the Russian state news agency Tass Monday. Trump’s submarine repositioning was in response to former Russian president and current Russian deputy chair of the security council Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev was responding to what […]

  • Ontario Power’s Pickering waste storage site OK’d by CNSC

    Ontario Power Generation has received approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to construct and operate the Pickering Component Storage Structure at the Pickering Waste Management Facility. The Pickering nuclear plant is located near Toronto.  The Pickering Component Storage unit is required for storage of low- intermediate-level waste that results from refurbishment of Pickering Nuclear […]

  • Round Up: TVA chief nuclear officer resigning; Last Energy moves forward in UK; Fermi America, Hyundai E&C signs MOU; X-Energy purchases new testing facility

    Chief Nuclear Officer Tim Rausch has announced his resignation from Tennessee Valley Authority, effective by March 1, 2026, according to a July 14 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.  In his role as chief nuclear officer, Rausch is overseeing seven TVA nuclear reactors at: Browns Ferry in Alabama, Sequoyah in Tennessee, and Watts Bar in Tennessee. […]

  • Westinghouse, United Arab Emirates look to team up on AP1000 deployment

    Westinghouse and Emirates Nuclear Energy Company recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore speeding up deployment of AP1000 reactors in the United States. Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, signed the agreement with Westinghouse in Washington, D.C. on Friday July 25. Westinghouse said the MOU supports President Donald Trump’s goal […]

  • Australia, UK sign treaty to advance AUKUS and nuclear sub development

    Australia and the United Kingdom signed a treaty July 26 with aims to deepen long-term cooperation on developing nuclear-power submarines under the AUKUS agreement, a statement by both defence ministries said. The Geelong Treaty, which Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and U.K.’s Secretary of State for Defense signed in Victoria, puts a 50-year commitment to collaborate […]

  • Wrap-up: IAEA to visit Iran in coming weeks; second B-21; DoD acquisition chief supports HASC’s reform proposal; more

    Iran agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Tehran in the coming weeks to discuss relations between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iran’s deputy foreign minister told reporters last week. The IAEA told Reuters that IAEA director general Rafael Grossi was “actively engaging with all parties involved in the Iran nuclear […]

  • Ontario Power’s Pickering waste storage site OK’d by CNSC

    Ontario Power Generation has received approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to construct and operate the Pickering Component Storage Structure at the Pickering Waste Management Facility. The Pickering nuclear plant is located near Toronto.  The Pickering Component Storage unit is required for storage of low- intermediate-level waste that results from refurbishment of Pickering Nuclear […]

  • Australia, UK sign treaty to advance AUKUS and nuclear sub development

    Australia and the United Kingdom signed a treaty July 26 with aims to deepen long-term cooperation on developing nuclear-power submarines under the AUKUS agreement, a statement by both defence ministries said. The Geelong Treaty, which Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and U.K.’s Secretary of State for Defense signed in Victoria, puts a 50-year commitment to collaborate […]

  • Westinghouse, United Arab Emirates look to team up on AP1000 deployment

    Westinghouse and Emirates Nuclear Energy Company recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore speeding up deployment of AP1000 reactors in the United States. Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, signed the agreement with Westinghouse in Washington, D.C. on Friday July 25. Westinghouse said the MOU supports President Donald Trump’s goal […]

  • Round Up: UK approves £38 billion for Sizewell C project; Rolls-Royce SMR, ČEZ begin site work for Czech SMR; BWXT works on TRISO fuel

    The United Kingdom government has approved £38 billion ($51 billion USD) for the Sizewell C Nuclear Power Plant project. The final investment decision from the UK government has given the green to Sizewell C plant. The approval marks the first time since 1995 that the UK has opened a nuclear plant as the existing nuclear […]

  • NEA outlines the spread of SMR projects internationally

    The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency released its third edition of its Small Modular Reactor Dashboard on Tuesday and its newest edition identified 127 SMR technologies being developed around the globe.  As NEA officials said last week, out of the 127 SMR technologies cited, 74 of them are in active development and are given comprehensive overviews […]

  • Wrap-up: Lohmeier confirmed; MOUs with Malaysia and Bahrain; NRC public meetings; new AFGSC commander; More

    On a 52 to 46 party line vote on Thursday, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Matthew Lohmeier as the 29th Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force–the service’s number two civilian. In written answers to Senate Armed Services Committee questions before Lohmeier’s nomination hearing on May 1, he said that nuclear modernization, including the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A […]

  • E3 nuclear meetup with Iran after China and Russia meeting

    Iran met with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, or the E3 nations, on Friday in Istanbul to discuss nuclear matters, a spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry said in state media. This is Iran’s second meeting concerning nuclear matters this week, as Iran met with China and Russia Tuesday to discuss its nuclear program […]

  • IAEA says inspectors ‘safely’ depart from Iran, power still cut at Zaporizhzhia

    Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency departed from Iran on July 4 to return to headquarters in Vienna, the agency said on website X that day. The inspectors had been in Tehran “throughout the recent military conflict,” the post said. The agency’s director general Rafael Grossi also “reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA […]

  • Rolls-Royce SMR, ČEZ begin site work for Czech SMR

    Rolls-Royce SMR and ČEZ signed an early works agreement last week to initiate site work at the Temelin Nuclear Power Station in the Czech Republic. Rolls Royce SMR, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings, and ČEZ, a Czech utility, plan to deploy a small modular reactor at the Temelin site. Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the […]

  • Japan starts post-Fukushima survey for possible new reactor

    An electric utility in Japan will resume what it describes as a voluntary on-site survey that could lead to construction of the nation’s first new nuclear power plant since the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in March 2011. Kansai Electric Power Company announced in a Tuesday July 22 press release it will resume the survey work on […]

  • NEA tracking 74 SMRs under development worldwide

    The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency is monitoring 74 small modular reactors across the globe that are under active development and not merely paper projects, officials said Wednesday. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), a branch of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), used an online webinar and press conference to show off its new […]

  • NEA outlines the spread of SMR projects internationally

    The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency released its third edition of its Small Modular Reactor Dashboard on Tuesday and its newest edition identified 127 SMR technologies being developed around the globe.  As NEA officials said last week, out of the 127 SMR technologies cited, 74 of them are in active development and are given comprehensive overviews […]

  • Trilateral meeting set between Iran, China and Russia ahead of E3 nuclear meetup

    Iran will meet with China and Russia Tuesday to discuss its nuclear program and potential snapback sanctions, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday in a briefing. The meeting will come ahead of a meeting in Istanbul between Iran and France, Germany and the United Kingdom, or the E3 nations, on Friday. The E3 nations, […]

  • Rolls-Royce SMR, ČEZ begin site work for Czech SMR

    Rolls-Royce SMR and ČEZ signed an early works agreement last week to initiate site work at the Temelin Nuclear Power Station in the Czech Republic. Rolls Royce SMR, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings, and ČEZ, a Czech utility, plan to deploy a small modular reactor at the Temelin site. Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the […]

  • IAEA does full-scope review of China’s nuclear facilities

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, recently concluded a 12-day mission to China where it conducted a full-scope review of all of China’s nuclear facilities, activities and safety framework. This review is the first of its kind in almost a decade, according to the Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) publication. The […]

  • NEA tracking 74 SMRs under development worldwide

    The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency is monitoring 74 small modular reactors across the globe that are under active development and not merely paper projects, officials said Wednesday. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), a branch of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), used an online webinar and press conference to show off its new […]

  • Wrap-up: Iran update; Trinity test 80th anniversary; Sandia-Aeva collab for nuclear reactor security and more; Obituary

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio and foreign ministers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom have agreed that Iran will face greater sanctions if it does not reach a nuclear deal with the United States by August, Axios reported. If a deal is not reached, the European powers would reimpose all of the United Nations […]

  • IAEA does full-scope review of China’s nuclear facilities

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, recently concluded a 12-day mission to China where it conducted a full-scope review of all of China’s nuclear facilities, activities and safety framework. This review is the first of its kind in almost a decade, according to the Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) publication. The […]