International

Delegates to the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, last week pledged to address the dangers posed by greenhouse gases and climate change as part of their work to guide sustainable development of the world’s cities. The four-day event, more formally known as the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, drew roughly 36,000 participants from […]

Algeria, Turkmenistan, and Uruguay last week deposited their instruments of ratification for the Paris Agreement, bringing total membership in the climate change accord to 84, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement’s entry into force was triggered earlier this month when it hit the 55/55 threshold — 55 member nations […]

A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy warns of dire financial consequences, including millions of lost jobs, of instituting energy policies already enacted in European Union nations. The report notes that former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and various individuals and interest groups have cited value […]

The full-year averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere was for the first time above 400 parts per million in 2015, the World Meteorological Organization said Monday. Levels have spiked even further for 2016 due to a particularly strong El Niño system, according to a WMO press release. “CO2 levels had previously reached the 400 […]

Areva is touting the performance of its Areva TN Americas NUHOMS used nuclear fuel storage systems at four nuclear sites following Hurricane Matthew, which produced 100-mph winds and wreaked havoc along the East Coast in early October. Operators took special precautions for the storm at Florida’s St. Lucie Nuclear Plant and Turkey Point Nuclear Generating […]

Frank Rose, U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, will travel to Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel starting this week for a series of arms control and international security events, the State Department said Friday. From Oct. 25-29, Rose will visit with his counterparts in Tokyo and Seoul, […]

Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) said Wednesday it is accepting public input on an updated plan for storage of radioactive waste at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) revamped project description for the Near Surface Disposal Facility now involves management of a small amount of intermediate-level and mixed waste, rather than […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month issued a license for export of weapon-grade uranium to France to refuel a research reactor. The agency is considering several similar license applications from the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Each draws scrutiny from nongovernmental nonproliferation advocates who fear terrorists could obtain the highly enriched […]

Two senior members of the House of Representatives this week said Russia is in “material breach” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and that the Obama administration has failed to respond with sufficient strength to the threat. “It has become apparent to us that the situation regarding Russia’s violation has worsened and Russia is […]

The Russian State Duma on Wednesday passed legislation suspending the bilateral agreement with the United States through which each country committed to disposing of 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree early this month officially halting his nation’s participation in the deal. Putin signed a decree on Oct. 3 […]

Meeting in Bangkok this week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change approved the outline for its upcoming report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The IPCC is preparing the report at the request of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, parties to which pledged in the international […]

Meetings held in Marrakesh, Morocco, this week in preparation for the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), wrapped up Thursday as delegates made some last-minute conference planning decisions, the UNFCCC said in a press release. COP22 will kick off in Marrakesh on Nov. […]

A majority of Canadians would like to see the nation abandon coal-fired energy generation by 2030, according to a recent survey conducted by Nanos Research for climate think tank Clean Energy Canada. The survey found that 73 percent of the 1,000 Canadians contacted support the prompt closure of the nation’s coal plants. “Canada’s last coal-fired […]

The Russian State Duma on Wednesday passed legislation suspending the bilateral agreement with the United States through which each country had planned to dispose of 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree early this month officially halting his nation’s participation in the deal. Putin signed a decree on Oct. […]

Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) said Wednesday it is accepting public input on an updated plan for storage of radioactive waste at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ revamped project plan for the Near Surface Disposal Facility now involves management of a small amount of intermediate-level and mixed waste, rather than just […]

The United States Department of Energy said Tuesday it has partnered with Natural Resources Canada to open a new 1-megawatt thermal (MWth) pilot plant to test oxy-fired pressurized fluidized bed combustion (oxy-PFBC) carbon capture. “This project is a major step forward for CCUS,” Douglas Hollett, principal deputy energy assistant secretary for fossil energy, said in […]

The first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change (CMA) will kick off on Nov. 15 during the 22nd session of the Conference of Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco, the UNFCCC announced Tuesday. The Paris Agreement’s entry into force was triggered […]

Breaking a 16-month trend of record warmth, September 2016 was the second warmest September on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. “September was 1.60 degrees F above the 20th-century average, missing last year’s record for the month by just 0.07 degrees,” the Commerce Department branch said in a press release. “For the […]

While a Canadian carbon price could only reduce carbon emissions within the country’s borders, an innovation-based national climate policy holds the potential to curb emissions around the world, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Tuesday. “We need to focus on technological solutions,” Wall said during an event hosted by the province’s Chamber of Commerce. “Even if […]

More than half of the nations that made climate change mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement stated an intention to use some form of carbon price to meet those pledges. If they cooperate the cost of carbon mitigation could be reduced by 32 percent, the World Bank said in a report Tuesday. Development of an […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month issued a license for export of weapon-grade uranium to France to refuel a research reactor. The agency is considering several similar license applications from the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Each draws scrutiny from nongovernmental nonproliferation advocates who fear terrorists could obtain the highly enriched uranium […]

September was the warmest September on record, NASA said Monday. According to NASA data, the month was 1.13 degrees Celsius (2.03 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average September. NASA’s temperature data stretches back to 1880. In more recent history, last month was .91 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean September temperature from 1951-1980, according to […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it had successfully delivered four flasks of vitrified highly active waste to Würenlingen, Switzerland, on Thursday. Delivered to Swiss utilities AXPO AG and BKW Energie, the material represents the second and final shipment of vitrified waste between the two countries under the U.K.’s vitrified residue returns program. According to transport […]

United States Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing will be in Marrakesh, Morocco, this week to participate in an informal preparatory meeting in advance of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “Next week’s pre-COP meeting offers an opportunity for Special Envoy […]

The Paris Agreement now has 81 member parties after the Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Greece, Paraguay, and Sweden joined last week. Until recently, entry into force of the accord, which nearly 200 nations adopted last December at the last 21st session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate […]

The United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) as of Wednesday has complied with a 2015 regulatory demand that it improve management of higher-active radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site in Berkshire. The U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) issued the improvement notice in July 2015 because the Defense Ministry contractor had not met the terms […]

Australian Howard Bamsey, a veteran of climate change issues and former director general of the Global Green Growth Institute, has been named executive director of the Green Climate Fund. Bamsey takes the reins from Javier Manzanares, the fund’s chief financial officer, who has served as interim executive director since the resignation of Hela Cheikhrouhou in […]

If the United Kingdom wants to reach net-zero emissions, at the government has indicated, it will need negative carbon technologies, the advisory Committee on Climate Change said in a report Thursday. “Even with full deployment of known low-carbon measures some UK emissions will remain, especially from aviation, agriculture and parts of industry. Greenhouse gas removal […]

Carbon Clean Solutions Ltd. is set to launch a commercial zero-emission coal-fired power plant near Chennai, India, the company announced Tuesday. The project will capture more than 60,000 metric tons of CO2 from a 10-megawatt coal-fired power station using technology recently tested at Norway’s Technology Center Mongstad. According to the CCSL release, the project will […]

The United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) as of Wednesday has complied with a 2015 regulatory demand that it improve management of higher-active radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site in Berkshire. The U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation issued the improvement notice in July 2015 because the Defense Ministry contractor had not met the terms of […]