International

By Wayne Barber Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna this week again requested more information from Ontario Power Generation on its proposed deep geologic repository for low-and-intermediate-level radioactive waste in Kincardine, Ontario. This comes almost two months after Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) seemed ready to move ahead with a draft report that […]

British engineering consulting firm Amec Foster Wheeler said Wednesday it had been awarded two contracts worth a total of 4 million pounds ($5.1 million) from the company that manages the United Kingdom’s Low Level Waste Repository. Each contract is worth roughly 2 million pounds and will last roughly four years, according to an Amec Foster […]

The Australian government today began the next phase of considering two sites in South Australia to house the planned National Radioactive Waste Management Facility. Two property owners close to the rural town of Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula, in January separately proposed using their land for the facility. The National Radioactive Waste Management Facility Project […]

A United Nations treaty that seeks to ban nuclear weapons is legally unsound and would make the world less safe, a senior White House nuclear-security official said Tuesday during an unapologetically blunt address to domestic and international policy wonks at a Washington think-tank. The United Nations voted July 7 to adopt the Treaty on the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing the Energy Department to send Belgium only about half the highly enriched uranium by weight the country sought for production of medical isotopes, according to a letter the commission sent to a group of nonproliferation advocates who opposed the transfer. An export license filed by DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear […]

The contractor in charge of cleanup of the retired fast-reactor research and development facility at Dounreay, Scotland, said Friday it expects next year to select a subcontractor to demolish the country’s oldest nuclear reactor. A formal notice for bids to manage teardown of the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) will be posted in the Official Journal […]

International Isotopes said last week it has secured multiple contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy and the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency retrieve and ship disused radioactive sources for storage. The radiological field services operations will be conducted in the United States and South America and are scheduled for completion by the end of […]

Bruce Power and AREVA NP have agreed to advance their efforts at joint commercial production of medical radioisotopes at the Bruce nuclear power station in Ontario. The two companies’ memorandum of understanding, signed Tuesday, follows from their December 2014 agreement to evaluate the feasibility of developing online radioisotope production capabilities at the power plant. Radioisotopes […]

Scottish lawmaker Roseanna Cunningham on Sunday raised concerns about the state of environmental cleanup and personnel at the former Dounreay fast-reactor research and development site. “There continues to be cause for concern in Dounreay’s environmental performance, with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) having to take action. In addition, the recently published [Nuclear Decommissioning Authority] […]

Swedish nuclear technology company Studsvik said a deal inked Monday should open the door for deployment of its fluid bed steam reforming (FBSR) radioactive waste treatment system at multiple nuclear power plants in China. A new framework agreement gives Beijing Dynatech Co. the exclusive license to employ the technology in the nation, according to a […]

A “tit-for-tat” response to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty may not be the best option for the United States, Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters during the Deterrence Symposium in Omaha, Neb. U.S. officials have concluded that Russia deployed a ground-launched nuclear-capable […]

A “tit-for-tat” response to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty may not be the best option for the United States, Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters during the STRATCOM Deterrence Symposium in Omaha, Neb. U.S. officials have concluded that Russia deployed a ground-launched […]

In a recent prank call with a pair of Russian jokers posing as Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the United States wants to help Ukraine on civilian nuclear power issues. During the call staged by Vladimir Kuznetsov (aka Vovan) and Alexei Stolyarov (aka Lexus), Perry lumped “the civil nuclear side” into […]

Swedish nuclear technology company Studsvik said a deal inked Monday should open the door for deployment of its fluid bed steam reforming (FBSR) radioactive waste treatment system at multiple nuclear power plants in China. A new framework agreement gives Beijing Dynatech Co. the exclusive license to employ the technology in the nation, according to a […]

The House Appropriations Committee approved Wednesday its fiscal 2018 State Department funding bill, which would cut overall agency funding while making more modest changes to the accounts related to arms control and international security. The bill in total provides $47.4 billion for the State Department in discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations funding – $10 billion […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium. The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Wednesday it spent £3.2 billion ($4.2 billion) through its 2016-2017 fiscal year in carrying out its mission to clean up 17 nuclear sites around the country. Milestones during the year included extracting all bulk stocks of nuclear fuel from the Pile Fuel Storage Pond at the Sellafield site […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium. The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to […]

Senior U.S. and Russian diplomats on Monday pledged the nations to additional meetings of the Bilateral Consultative Commission for the bilateral New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the State Department said Tuesday. U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon Jr. and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov “committed to holding future New START Bilateral Consultative Commission and […]

The European Commission last week gave five nations two months to provide overdue information regarding their domestic programs for management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Should they fail to meet their commitment, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Portugal could be directed to the European Union Court of Justice, the commission said […]

Several nuclear-weapon states vowed not to support or sign a new nuclear weapon ban treaty after it was adopted by a United Nations conference last week. The U.N. conference on July 7 adopted its final text of the legally binding global prohibition on nuclear weapons following months of negotiations, with 122 nations voting in favor, […]

The House Appropriations Committee released Wednesday its fiscal 2018 funding bill for the State Department, featuring a more modest cut than the 30 percent decrease the administration proposed in its May budget request. The bill provides $47.4 billion for the State Department in discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations funding, a $10 billion drop from its currently […]

The House Appropriations Committee released Wednesday its fiscal 2018 funding bill for the State Department, featuring a more modest cut than the 30 percent decrease the administration proposed in its May budget request. The bill provides $47.4 billion for the State Department in discretionary and Overseas Contingency Operations funding, a $10 billion drop from its currently […]

Several nuclear-weapon states vowed not to support or sign a new nuclear weapon ban treaty after it was adopted by a United Nations conference Friday. The U.N. conference on Friday adopted its final text of the legally binding global nuclear weapons ban following months of negotiations, with 122 nations voting in favor, the Netherlands voting […]

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) last week received grants totaling 19 million euros ($21.7 million) from the European Union for a fund used to support waste management operations at the long-shuttered Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The bank’s 24-year-old Nuclear Safety Account provides financing for safety and security activities at Soviet-era nuclear power […]

A United Nations conference today adopted its final text of a legally binding global nuclear weapons prohibition following months of negotiations on the document. One hundred and twenty-two nations voted to adopt the treaty, while the Netherlands posted the sole vote in opposition and Singapore abstained. Participants in the negotiations broke into applause after the […]

The U.S. State Department this week released additional details about the types of ballistic missiles, launchers, and bombers being counted under the latest New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) aggregate data. The treaty requires the United States and Russia by next February to each cap its nuclear arsenal at 700 deployed ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic […]

A United Nations conference on Monday released its final draft text of a legally binding global nuclear weapons prohibition as it concludes its final negotiating session on the document. The U.N. General Assembly last month resumed negotiations on the proposed treaty, after releasing in May a first draft that outlined prohibitions on the use, production, transfer, and […]

The State Department released Monday additional details about the types of ballistic missiles, launchers, and bombers being counted under the latest New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) aggregate data. The treaty requires each country by next February to cap its nuclear arsenal at 700 deployed ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers; 1,550 fielded […]

As they look to reduce bilateral tensions, the United States and Russia could begin by issuing a joint presidential declaration that a nuclear war is unwinnable and must be avoided at all costs, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and onetime top officials from three nations said this week in an open letter to Presidents […]