International

In an announcement with implications for a wide cross section of nuclear policy professionals and the nuclear industry, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Australia will acquire nuclear attack submarines — of origin and fuel type yet to be determined — as part of a new trilateral accord with the U.S. and the U.K. After […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest-ranking career executive is leaving the agency next month, according to a press release this week. Margaret Doane, who currently serves as NRC’s executive director of operations, will leave her post effective Oct. 8, the agency said in a statement Monday. Doane is headed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) […]

The Secretary of Energy will head off to Europe next week to lead the U.S. delegation at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference, the Department of Energy announced Thursday. At the annual conference in Vienna, Austria, Secretary Jennifer Granholm will give a speech “underscoring the use of nuclear to combat climate change, advance medical […]

The Secretary of Energy will head off to Europe next week to lead the U.S. delegation at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference, the Department of Energy announced Thursday. At the annual conference in Vienna, Austria, Secretary Jennifer Granholm will give a speech “underscoring the use of nuclear to combat climate change, advance medical […]

In an announcement with implications for a wide cross section of nuclear policy professionals and the nuclear industry, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Australia will acquire nuclear attack submarines — of origin and fuel type yet to be determined — as part of a new trilateral accord with the U.S. and the U.K. After […]

New nuclear arms-control agreements should focus on all Russian nuclear weapons, including those unrestricted by the New START treaty, and “pursue new risk reduction measures” with China to address Beijing’s “rapid and opaque nuclear buildup,” the new U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security said this week. Bonnie Jenkins, confirmed to […]

New nuclear arms-control agreements should focus on all Russian nuclear weapons, including those unrestricted by the New START treaty, and “pursue new risk reduction measures” with China to address Beijing’s “rapid and opaque nuclear buildup,” the new U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security said this week. Bonnie Jenkins, confirmed to […]

With the COVID-19 pandemic making telecommuting more routine, the Department of Energy might terminate the lease for office space it secured last year in Albuquerque, N.M., to accommodate certain staff for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an agency spokesperson said by email. “Due to COVID-19 restrictions,” the Carlsbad Field Office was not able to use […]

Bechtel Cavendish Nuclear Solutions said recently it has received a two-year extension on its existing contract to continue work at a 1950s nuclear waste silo on the United Kingdom’s Sellafield Site in northern England. Since 2012 the team led by Virginia-based Bechtel has been designing and installing access doors and remote-handling equipment to help retrieve […]

The United Kingdom was scheduled to renationalize management of its nuclear weapons production complex this week after almost 30 years of letting industry hold the reins. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) was to become a wholly-owned arms-length body controlled by the U.K. Ministry of Defence on Thursday, ending 20-plus years of management under the Jacobs-led […]

The United Kingdom was scheduled to renationalize management of its nuclear weapons production complex Thursday after almost 30 years of letting industry hold the reins. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) was to become a wholly-owned arms-length body controlled by the U.K. Ministry of Defence, taking over from the Jacobs-led AWE Management Ltd. team made up […]

Later this year and sometime next year, the Savannah River Site will install a crucial pair of upgrades at the H-Canyon chemical separations facility to help site personnel prepare plutonium from a Japanese reactor for on-site solidification and, eventually, deep-geologic disposal elsewhere. H-Canyon will get a new tank later this year and a new electrolytic […]

Later this year and sometime next year, the Savannah River Site will install a crucial pair of upgrades at the H-Canyon chemical separations facility to help site personnel prepare plutonium from a Japanese reactor for on-site solidification and, eventually, deep-geologic disposal elsewhere. H-Canyon will get a new tank later this year and a new electrolytic […]

The United States and Russia seek to “lay the groundwork for future arms control” with bilateral talks that will start “in the near future,” the presidents of both countries said in a joint statement this week following talks in Geneva. In the English-language statement released Wednesday by the White House, President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, […]

In a budget hearing that was mostly a best-of, a couple Senators asked the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration about alternative means of meeting the mission objectives of the day, including by producing pits at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory or buying, instead of enriching, uranium needed to produce weapons-tritium in the […]

California-based radioactive waste disposal company Deep Isolation is expanding its search for clients to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The company this week announced it is teaming with Dominion Engineering Inc. of Reston, Va., to combine their nuclear-fuel-disposal technologies with an initial focus on Latin American. “This is potentially a good market,” said Deep Isolation’s chief […]

Reducing the political space for dialogue with Russia was a “critical error” in U.S. foreign policy and will hamper efforts to negotiate a new strategic arms limitation treaty with Moscow, a former energy secretary said during a webinar this week. There’s “a lot of interest” in a new arms control treaty on both sides of […]

Reducing the political space for dialogue with Russia was a “critical error” in U.S. foreign policy and will hamper efforts to negotiate a new strategic arms limitation treaty with Moscow, a former energy secretary said during a webinar Tuesday. There’s “a lot of interest” in a new arms control treaty on both sides of the […]

The United Kingdom will plow ahead with its new submarine-launched warhead no matter what happens this year with the planned W93 in the U.S., and the warhead replacement program has nothing to do with the Kingdom’s recent decision to increase its warhead cap, an official with the Ministry of Defence said this week. The U.K. […]

The United Kingdom will plow ahead with its new submarine-launched warhead no matter what happens this year with the planned W93 in the U.S., and the warhead replacement program has nothing to do with the Kingdom’s recent decision to increase its warhead cap, an official with the Ministry of Defence said this week. The U.K. […]

Russia has over 100 more strategic nuclear warheads deployed than it had at this time last year, according to the latest data shared by the State Department from the recently renewed New START Nuclear Arms Control Treaty. On Feb. 3, the U.S. and Russia officially extended New START until Feb. 5, 2026. The Joe Biden […]

Russia has over 100 more strategic nuclear warheads deployed than it had at this time last year, according to the latest data shared by the State Department from the recently renewed New START Nuclear Arms Control Treaty. On Feb. 3, the U.S. and Russia officially extended New START until Feb. 5, 2026. The Joe Biden […]

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken this week said that the U.S. and its allies must strengthen their militaries, improve readiness and maintain an effective nuclear deterrent as part of efforts to modernize alliances and respond to changing threats, China and Russia. U.S. nuclear forces, Blinken told an audience at NATO headquarters in Belgium, must be […]

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday said that the U.S. and its allies must strengthen their militaries, improve readiness and maintain an effective nuclear deterrent as part of efforts to modernize alliances and respond to changing threats, China and Russia. U.S. nuclear forces, Blinken told an audience at NATO headquarters in Belgium, must be […]

The United Kingdom officially announced Tuesday that it will raise the cap on its nuclear arsenal to 260 submarine-launched ballistic-missile warheads from the previous target of 180 warheads. “In 2010 the Government stated an intent to reduce our overall nuclear warhead stockpile ceiling from not more than 225 to not more than 180 by the […]

Amentum- and Jacobs-led teams each recently clinched new cleanup contracts at the United Kingdom’s Dounreay site in Scotland. Site prime Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd., a consortium of Cavendish Nuclear, Jacobs and Amentum, awarded both contracts. The Amentum-led team had by far the bigger win, beating out five competitors, including a Jacobs-led team, to clinch a […]

Institutions formed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster “serve to strengthen” the entire nuclear industry, the former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said at an international nuclear energy commission panel this week. At the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) panel on Wednesday, George W. Bush-era NRC head Richard Meserve said that new institutions formed […]

The U.S. and Iran planned no meeting at deadline about whether to let Washington back in to the politically binding Iran nuclear deal, though U.N. inspectors did clinch a last-minute technical understanding with the Islamic Republic to preserve some record keeping about Tehran’s controversial nuclear program. On Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the […]

A last-minute technical understanding with Iran over the weekend will preserve international record keeping about the country’s controversial nuclear program over the next three months, but little else, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said in a webcast Tuesday. “We got a temporary, technical, bilateral understanding,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic […]

The New START nuclear arms-control treaty is officially extended through Feb. 5, 2026, giving the U.S. time to pursue more arms control agreements with Russia, and possibly with China, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this week in a press release. “The United States will use the time provided by a five-year extension of the […]