International

Australia will buy three U.S.-built Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines beginning in the 2030s as part of the tripartite AUKUS deal, the parties said Monday. AUKUS aims both to create an Australian nuclear submarine force and industrial base and recapitalize the U.S. submarine building industry. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister […]

The Nuclear Waste Administration Act is all set and ready to go for this session of Congress, the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said Thursday in a hearing — it just hasn’t been filed yet. “We have a text ready to go,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) said during the hearing, in […]

A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the National Nuclear Security Administration found that technical limitations and exceptions for some nuclear warheads do not hamper the Defense Department’s planning or operations. Published March 90, the report highlights 90 technical nuclear weapons exceptions and limitations in six categories: Safety, operational considerations, reliability, performance, aircraft […]

The Department of Energy on Friday marked the anniversary of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine with a list of the agency’s contributions to Kyiv during the conflict. Both the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Nuclear Energy merited callouts in Friday’s press release for showing Ukrainian personnel how to identify radiation releases, conduct unspecified […]

A State Department spokesperson confirmed this week that Russia officially suspended its participation in the world’s biggest bilateral nuclear-weapons treaty. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also mentioned the treaty to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New Delhi, India, during what the spokesperson called a “rather brief encounter” between the two at the Quad Foreign […]

Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was set to testify Tuesday in Washington during a hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The hearing, “The United States, China and the Fight for Global Leadership: Building a U.S. National Science and Technology Strategy,” was on the slate for 10:00 a.m. Eastern […]

Russia’s suspension last week of the world’s biggest bilateral nuclear-weapons treaty is not official yet and Moscow was still talking to the State Department about the treaty as of Monday, a senior agency official said. “The suspension hasn’t been officially effected yet, in the sense that we’re still receiving notifications as recently as today under […]

The Department of Energy on Friday marked the anniversary of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine with a list of the agency’s contributions to Kyiv during the conflict. Both the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Nuclear Energy merited callouts in Friday’s press release for showing Ukrainian personnel how to identify radiation releases, […]

During a congressional visit to Japan this week, one of the House’s most politically-progressive members took to social media to talk about the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle — in particular, recycling spent nuclear fuel. “When we discuss the risk and controversial parts of nuclear, a lot of it centers on nuclear waste […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said this week Russia will “suspend” its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty but adhere to the treaty’s limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons. Media widely reported Putin’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Putin announced the suspension during a Tuesday address to Russian lawmakers in […]

Happy Friday, nuke watchers! Your RadWaste reporter is Phoenix-bound for the annual Waste Management Symposium, and will have the new season of Netflix’s Formula One documentary prepped for the flight. Before that, though, here are a few more stories from around the civilian nuclear-power space we were tracking this week. A train derailment in Ohio […]

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited expects to kick off a competitive bidding process this spring and host interested suitors next month for a new long-term management contract for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Since September 2015, the Canadian labs have been run by Canadian National Energy Alliance, a team made up of SNC-Lavalin, Jacobs and Fluor, said […]

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited expects to kick off a competitive bidding process this spring and host interested suitors next month for a new long-term management contract for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Since September 2015, the Canadian labs have been run by Canadian National Energy Alliance, a team made up of SNC-Lavalin, Jacobs and Fluor, said […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said Tuesday Russia will “suspend” its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty but adhere to the treaty’s limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons. Media widely reported Putin’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Putin announced the suspension during an address to Russian lawmakers in Moscow. According […]

The U.S. believes Russia violated the New START nuclear-arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow by blocking inspections in August, the Wall Street Journal reported this week, citing a State Department report to Congress delivered Jan. 24. “Two years ago, the Biden Administration naively agreed to an unconditional five-year extension of the New START Treaty […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we head off into the last weekend in January, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. The ranking member of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee this week pressured the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a letter to explain […]

Citing “unprecedented danger” arising from Russia’s nearly year-long war against Ukraine, the peace-advocating Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on Tuesday set its Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds until midnight. It is the closest the long-running, metaphorical clock — a consensus gut-check among dove-like experts — has ever been to the symbolic midnight hour that marks the […]

Russia has manufactured the nuclear munitions for its Poseidon nuclear torpedo and planned to deliver them soon to a Belgorod-class nuclear submarine, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, media including Reuters reported. Poseidon torpedoes are meant to create radioactive ocean swells that can wash over and contaminate coastal cities and ports, Moscow has said. […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Your rad waste reporter is slowly recovering from a COVID-19 infection. Before we head off into the weekend, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Holtec International this week claimed that it became the nation’s largest owner of nuclear decommissioning sites […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers, and happy holidays. Thanks for your attention to the world of civilian nuclear power this year (and congrats to Argentina's Lionel Messi for securing his GOAT status last week). Before we head off to close out 2022, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the industry this week. […]

The U.S. and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding about civilian nuclear cooperation, the U.S. State Department announced late last week. The two countries now have what is formally known as a “Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Strategic Civil Nuclear Cooperation,” according to State’s press release, dated Thursday. The memorandum does not indicate any immediate transfer […]

The U.S. will not allow Australia’s submarine forces to have “capability gap” between the time the island nation retires its diesel-powered submarines and deploys nuclear-powered subs powered by technology provided by the U.K. and the U.S., the Secretary of Defense said this week. “[W]e will not allow Australia to have a capability gap going forward,” […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority wrapped up most spent fuel reprocessing during 2022, one of the major advances for the agency charged with cleaning up the kingdom’s early nuclear sites, according to a new report. The U.K. National Decommissioning Authority (NDA) “strategy is to bring the reprocessing programme to an end,” according to the […]

The U.S. will not allow Australia’s submarine forces to have “capability gap” between the time the island nation retires its diesel-powered submarines and deploys nuclear-powered subs powered by technology provided by the U.K. and the U.S.  “[W]e will not allow Australia to have a capability gap going forward,” Austin said at a press conference after […]

China will “basically complete modernization” of its military capabilities by 2035, by which time it may have a stockpile of 1,500 nuclear warheads, the Pentagon said in a report released Tuesday. The latest congressionally mandated “China Military Power” report covers developments through the end of 2021. In it, the Pentagon said that China likely accelerated […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Although you may have noticed the sudden appearance of Formula One content in recent RadWaste Monitor wraps, that ends this weekend with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — the last of the season. Before we head off into this last weekend before Thanksgiving, though, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. With Halloween behind us and the holiday season spooling up, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. The California congressman at the forefront of nuclear waste policy on Capitol Hill introduced legislation this week that would require the Nuclear Regulatory […]

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration was scheduled to discuss arms control Thursday at a major nuclear-policy conference in Washington. Agency Administrator Jill Hruby was set to speak alongside Bonnie Jenkins, under secretary for arms control and international security, in an evening session at the biennial Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference. The session, […]

WASHINGTON — The Secretary of Energy told attendees at an international nuclear power conference Wednesday that the U.S. aims to keep nuclear at the center of its energy mixture in the long term. “[W]e are committed to maintaining and modernizing our existing fleet, and we are committed to developing a secure and diverse supply chain […]

The heads of both the U.S. Department of Energy and the United Nations’ nuclear power authority were scheduled Wednesday to speak with reporters at an international conference held in Washington, D.C. Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are set to hold a joint press conference following […]