International

India, the world’s No. 3 greenhouse gas  emitter, will join the Paris Agreement on climate change on Oct. 2, the Times of India reported Sunday. The announcement, made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a speech at the Bharatiya Janata Party council meeting in Kozhikode, India, comes days after a special event hosted by the […]

Following adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution encouraging nations to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, some Republicans on Friday lambasted what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called a “toothless resolution” while Democrats lauded its passage as key in reaffirming global norms against nuclear testing. The U.N. Security Council adopted in […]

The Paris Agreement on climate change got 11 new signatories last week. Togo, Armenia, Chile, Zambia, Malawi, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, and, Yemen signed the agreement during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The total number of signatories now stands at 191. Nearly 200 nations adopted the Paris Agreement last December at the 21st session […]

The cost to decommission Soviet-designed, first-generation nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia could total up to 11.4 billion euros ($12.7 billion), according to a report issued Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors. Additionally, financing is not keeping up with the rising costs. The gap between decommissioning costs and financing is now €1.56 billion […]

There is still no projection for the release date of a final environmental assessment (EA) on the Savannah River Site’s possible receipt of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany, according to a Sept. 20 update on Department of Energy EAs and environmental impact statements (EIS). The department projected a July 2016 earlier this year after issuing […]

Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force. The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of the CTBT at the United Nations in New York, where […]

The Obama administration’s $8.6 million payment to Iran for 32 metric tons of heavy water was conducted absolutely transparently, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday. The deal was reported to Congress and discussed with lawmakers, Moniz said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “There was no mystery about it, […]

The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution encouraging entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and urging nations to refrain from any nuclear explosive blasts while they wait for the global prohibition to be enacted. There was no indication that the resolution places any binding commitments on nations. Republicans in […]

NEW YORK – The Paris Agreement on climate change is one giant step closer to entry into force after a Wednesday morning event at the United Nations General Assembly, and the environmentally minded could not be happier. In an event that lasted less than an hour, 31 nations submitted to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon […]

NEW YORK — Carbon pricing is working for Canada, and it could work just as well elsewhere if it didn’t get such a bad rap, Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, said Wednesday during an event hosted by the World Bank at Climate Week NYC. ”I think carbon pricing honestly, it has […]

NEW YORK – Following a United Nations General Assembly special event Wednesday, the Paris Agreement on climate change is almost certain to enter into force by the end of 2016. That milestone will occur 30 days after 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have formally joined the accord. As […]

Federation University Australia said Tuesday it is the home of a new carbon capture and storage laboratory. The new laboratory, which will be a member of the Australian CCS Research Laboratories Network, is funded by a $2.3 million (AUD) partnership between the Australian government’s Education Infrastructure Fund and CO2CRC Limited. “The new laboratory will conduct […]

The Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) on Tuesday issued an operating license for a new interim spent fuel storage facility (ISFSF) at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP). The operating license allows INPP to commission the facility and begin hot trial tests with 10 new design casks, which involves loading the casks with spent fuel and […]

Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force. The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth CTBT Ministerial Meeting at the United Nations in New York, where U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon […]

Fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews from the United States and China released Monday by China’s Group of 20 presidency reveal billions of dollars in inefficient subsidies. According to the reports, 16 inefficient fossil fuel subsidies in the U.S. total more than $8 billion, while China’s nine inefficient fossil fuel subsidies are valued at $14.5 billion […]

President Barack Obama on Tuesday painted a bleak picture of what the world will look like if climate change is not addressed. Obama strayed from the usual depictions of rising sea levels, raging forest fires, and melting ice caps, focusing instead on the human impacts of climate change. “If we don’t act boldly, the bill […]

NEW YORK — The Paris Agreement on climate change on Wednesday reached one of its thresholds for entry into force, as the number of ratifying states hit 60. During an early morning special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, representatives from 31 nations presented to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon instruments of ratification for […]

The Paris Agreement on climate change is here to stay and businesses should begin considering its implications in their business plans, the University of Cambridge said in a report Tuesday. The report helps break down what the agreement means for the private sector and how companies should respond. “Whilst the impact of the agreement will […]

A new initiative to help small island nations and developing states access billions of dollars in global funding to address climate change was launched Tuesday. The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub is hosted by the government of Mauritius and “will place national climate finance advisers for one to two years at a time in recipient countries, […]

The cost to decommission Soviet-designed, first-generation nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia could total up to €11.4 billion ($12.7 billion), according to a report issued Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors. Additionally, financing is not keeping up with the rising costs. The gap between decommissioning costs and financing is now €1.56 billion ($1.7 billion) […]

AREVA’s bondholders on Monday approved the partial transfer of assets and bond debt from AREVA SA to new spinoff entity NewCo, which will focus on nuclear fuel cycle services. AREVA has valued the transfer of assets and liabilities at 1.4 billion euros, or 2 billion euros when accounting for tax consolidation. The fuel cycle operations include mining and front-end […]

The Federated States of Micronesia on Friday became the 28th party to formally join the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) announced Monday. The Paris Agreement, the first global climate change accord, will enter into force 30 days after 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas […]

Hundreds of companies have begun to factor the Paris Agreement on climate change into their business plans, according to a report issued Monday by the CDP. “In 2016 over 600 of the world’s largest listed companies disclosed to CDP that they are now factoring the Paris Agreement as a risk or opportunity that could generate […]

The Obama administration’s $8.6 million payment to Iran for 32 metric tons of heavy water was conducted absolutely transparently, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday. The deal was reported to Congress and discussed with lawmakers, Moniz said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “There was no mystery about it, […]

Cleanup crews at the U.K.’s shuttered Bradwell Power Station have now decontaminated more than 10,000 square meters of walls, floors, and ceiling, the nation’s  Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced on Monday. The cleanup covers an area roughly the size of a rugby field, according to NDA. Site manager Magnox Ltd. completed a four-year effort in 2012 draining and stabilizing the […]

The job of scrutinizing the work of the United Kingdom’s Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on matters including energy and climate change will fall to the House of Commons’ newly named Select Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee, the panel announced on Twitter Friday. The BEIS was formed following the U.K.’s vote […]

Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Koji Tsuruoka and Consul General of Japan in Edinburgh Daisuke Matsunaga recently toured the Prototype Fast Reactor at Dounreay in Scotland. The two-day trip also included a meeting with local supplier JGC Engineering and a meeting with Global Energy Group “to see work carried out by renewables companies Atlantis […]

U.S. State Department officials gave their assurances Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council resolution the administration is preparing to strengthen the global moratoria on nuclear explosive testing will be legally nonbinding and is not an attempt to bypass the U.S. Senate, as congressional Republicans have argued. Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control […]

The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council met this week in Washington, D.C., to review progress in the nuclear nonproliferation regime, express their vision for global disarmament, and renew the push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The P5 – the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, and Russia – […]

The United Nations is extremely confident that the Paris Agreement on Climate Change will take effect by the end of the year, David Nabarro, a special sustainability adviser to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said during a press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York Thursday. “We’re absolutely certain that we will have the Paris […]