International

Matthew Beinart Defense Daily Officials from the State Department and Pentagon briefed international partners last month on the potential U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia, with the U.S. delegation citing support from NATO and ally officials on the decision. Andrea Thompson, the State Department under secretary for arms control and […]

The manager of the United Kingdom’s Sellafield site on Wednesday announced the formal closure of one of the world’s two remaining spent fuel reprocessing facilities. The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, better known as Thorp, recycled 9,331 metric tons of used fuel from 30 clients in nine nations over 24 years, according to a press release […]

Former government officials suggested this week that the Donald Trump administration could reach for either the retired W84 warhead or the workhorse W80 if it wants a nuclear-tipped missile after walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Trump announced Saturday, and reaffirmed Monday, that his administration would cease complying with the 1987 accord that forbids […]

Withdrawing unilaterally for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty “threatens a nuclear arms race” with Russia, the top Democrats on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees wrote in a Wednesday letter to members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. The INF Treaty, “alongside New START Treaty, forms the basis for our strategic relationship with Russia,” according […]

Former government officials suggested Mondayy the Donald Trump administration could reach for either the retired W84 warhead or the workhorse W80 if it wants a nuclear-tipped missile after walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Trump announced Saturday — and reaffirmed Monday — his administration would cease complying with the 1987 accord, which forbids the […]

President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States will cease compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because of Russia’s violation of the landmark Cold War-era accord that prohibited an entire class of nuclear weapons and sent the W84 warhead into storage. Trump spoke to reporters a day after The New York Times reported that […]

One of two Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board resident inspectors at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant has left to join the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, a board spokesperson said Thursday. “Ramsey Arnold left the Board on September 21,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “He will be working for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). […]

Walking back her remarks from earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday she did not mean to suggest the United States would pre-emptively attack any Russian missiles it believes could operate in the range prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “I was not talking about preemptively striking Russia,” […]

Walking back her remarks from earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday she did not mean to suggest the United States would pre-emptively attack any Russian missiles it believes could operate in the range prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “I was not talking about preemptively striking Russia,” […]

The Senate this week confirmed Jackie Wolcott as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and as the U.S. representative to the Vienna, Austria, office of the United Nations. Senators approved Wolcott’s nomination Monday by a vote of 75-19. Trump nominated Wolcott, a longtime Washington hand and a seasoned diplomat with […]

The Senate late Monday confirmed Jackie Wolcott as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and as the U.S. representative to the Vienna, Austria, office of the United Nations. Senators approved Wolcott’s nomination by a vote of 75-19. Trump nominated Wolcott, a longtime Washington hand and a seasoned diplomat with previous […]

The Donald Trump administration still has not decided whether to extend beyond 2021 a pivotal arms control treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons the United States and Russia may deploy, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Wednesday in a Senate hearing. “A decision has not been made at this […]

The Port Hope Area Initiative has completed transport of radioactively contaminated soil from the Center Pier in Port Hope, Ontario, to a nearby long-term holding facility. The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories-managed cleanup program last week tweeted before and after photos of the pier – the first showing the tarp that previously covered the soil and the […]

The Port Hope Area Initiative has completed transport of radioactively contaminated soil from the Center Pier in Port Hope, Ontario, to a nearby long-term holding facility. The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories radioactive contamination cleanup program last week tweeted before and after photos of the pier – the first showing the tarp that previously covered the soil […]

A recent meeting between senior U.S. and South Korean officials ended with a pledge to cooperate on dealing with used nuclear reactor fuel and other atomic operations, according to the Department of Energy. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Friday led the second plenary of the High […]

A recent meeting between senior U.S. and South Korean officials ended with a pledge to cooperate on dealing with used nuclear reactor fuel and other atomic operations, according to the Department of Energy. U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Friday led the second plenary of the […]

A committee of the United Kingdom Parliament on Tuesday declined to rule out construction of a geologic repository for nuclear waste under one of the nation’s nuclear parks. The House of Commons’ Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee published its findings regarding the government’s draft national policy statement for geologic disposal infrastructure, issued in January. […]

A committee of the United Kingdom Parliament on Tuesday declined to rule out construction of a geologic repository for nuclear waste under one of the nation’s nuclear parks. The House of Commons’ Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee published its findings regarding the government’s draft national policy statement for geologic disposal infrastructure, issued in January. […]

A court in the United Kingdom is scheduled on Aug. 17 to hear a government agency’s prosecution of the manager of the Sellafield nuclear site over a 2017 worker accident. On July 20, the Workington Magistrates Court directed the case to the Carlisle Crown Court, according to a notice from the U.K.’s Office of Nuclear […]

A court in the United Kingdom is scheduled on Aug. 17 to hear a government agency’s prosecution of the manager of the Sellafield nuclear site over a 2017 worker accident. On July 20, the Workington Magistrates Court directed the case to the Carlisle Crown Court, according to a notice from the U.K.’s Office of Nuclear […]

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the importance of nuclear arms control in a joint press conference following their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki Monday, though neither committed to an extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Of the two heads of state, Putin came the closest to actually addressing the state […]

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the importance of nuclear arms control in a joint press conference following their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki Monday, though neither committed to an extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Of the two heads of state, Putin came the closest to actually addressing the state […]

By John Stang The United Kingdom needs a community willing to host its permanent deep geologic repository for nuclear waste. So far, no one has volunteered. That’s the dilemma the House of Commons’ Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee faced Tuesday when it sought feedback from experts on a proposed national policy statement to build […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it will next year formally take over management of the now privately operated contractor for cleanup of the nation’s retired Magnox reactors. The government announced in March 2017 that it would cancel Cavendish Fluor Partnership’s contract to manage Magnox Ltd. as of Aug. 31, 2019, nine years […]

The first of three piles of radioactively contaminated soil in Port Hope, Ontario, is being moved from temporary holding sites into long-term storage. “The first load of historic waste was safely moved from the Centre Pier in Port Hope and placed into long-term storage on June 28,” Bill Daly, spokesman for the Port Hope Area […]

Orano TN on Wednesday sealed a contract worth millions of dollars to refurbish and maintain three radioactive waste containers, and provide other services, to the United Kingdom’s LLW Repository Ltd. The specific value of the contract is not being released for commercial reasons, an Orano spokesperson said by email Thursday. LLW Repository Ltd. is charged […]

Orano TN on Wednesday sealed a contract worth millions of dollars to refurbish and maintain three radioactive waste containers, and provide other services, to the United Kingdom’s LLW Repository Ltd. The total value of the contract was not released in announcements from Orano and the U.K. government. Along with the container upgrades, the contract covers […]

French nuclear fuel company Orano said Monday it is moving ahead with operations to prepare for construction of a used nuclear fuel processing and recycling facility in China. Orano engineering subsidiary Orano Projets sealed a deal with China National Nuclear Corp. branch CNLA to move ahead with the work. The agreement “marks a new step […]

U.S. and Russian arms reductions under the New START treaty led an overall trickling down of deployed nuclear forces in 2017, and North Korea might have anywhere from 10 to 20 nuclear weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s latest annual yearbook on nuclear weapons and arms control. Including deployed and nondeployed forces, […]

BWXT Technologies said Wednesday that a subsidiary of Canadian utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG) would provide irradiation services for a new medical isotope production program. In May, the Lynchburg, Va.-based company announced commercial development of generators for technetium-99m, an isotope used each year in more than 30 million medical procedures globally, including medical imaging for […]