International

GHG Daily 1/25/2016 In a historic announcement in late September, China unveiled plans to launch a national carbon cap-and-trade program by 2017. Dan Dudek, the Environmental Defense Fund’s vice president for Asia, worked closely with Chinese officials through the process of developing a cap-and-trade system. “I’m still pinching myself because it is like a very, […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 A draft environmental assessment (EA) from the Department of Energy finds minimal risk in a possible, heatedly contested plan for the Savannah River Site to receive and process highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany. The Department of Energy reported Friday that completion of the draft EA does not constitute a decision […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Nuclear weapons play a minimal role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states’ perceptions on deterring and responding to Russian actions, according to a new report by the nongovernmental James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Researchers surveyed governmental and nongovernmental perspectives in NATO front-line states – the Czech […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose on Tuesday commemorated the re-establishment of a secure communications link between the United States and Ukraine. The Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC) government-to-government connection is intended to support “certain notification requirements of arms control and confidence building agreements and commitments,” the State Department said.  Originally […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 The United States and Japan continue to work together in the areas of nonproliferation, deterrence, and disarmament, U.S. and Japanese officials said last Thursday at the Center for American Progress. Jon Wolfsthal, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, said the U.S.-Japan partnership to counter weapons […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Daily 1/21/2016 The developers of the projects that remained in the U.K.’s Carbon Capture and Storage Commercialization Competition had the rug pulled out from under them when the program was canceled last year with little warning, a panel of experts said Wednesday during a hearing of the House of Commons Energy […]

Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose on Tuesday commemorated the re-establishment of a secure communications link between the United States and Ukraine. The Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC) government-to-government connection is intended to support “certain notification requirements of arms control and confidence building agreements and commitments,” the State Department said. The U.S. and Ukraine will […]

GHG Daily 1/20/2016 Bioenergy, if developed correctly, can provide significant emissions reductions in the United Kingdom, even without the use of carbon capture and storage, according to a report released Tuesday by the Energy Technologies Institute. Bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) remains the optimal means of achieving negative emissions energy production, the report finds. However, “If […]

GHG Daily 1/20/2016 Due to its location alongside the central North Sea, Scotland is well situated to serve as a carbon capture and storage hub for the United Kingdom, according to a new report from Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS). “A CO2 capture cluster in central and eastern Scotland involving both power and industrial […]

The United States and Japan continue to work together in the areas of nonproliferation, deterrence, and disarmament, U.S. and Japanese officials said last Thursday at the Center for American Progress. Jon Wolfsthal, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, said the U.S.-Japan partnership to counter weapons of mass destruction involves “nonproliferation […]

A draft environmental assessment (EA) from the Department of Energy finds minimal risk in a possible, heatedly contested plan for the Savannah River Site to receive and process highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany. The Department of Energy reported Friday that completion of the draft EA does not constitute a decision to accept the HEU, which […]

A draft environmental assessment (EA) from the Department of Energy finds minimal risk in a possible, heatedly contested plan for the Savannah River Site to receive and process highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany. The Department of Energy reported Friday that completion of the draft EA does not constitute a decision to accept the HEU, which […]

Toshiba Corp. this week rolled out a remote-control device that will be used to extract spent fuel and debris from the spent fuel pool at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.   The hydrogen explosion brought on by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan demolished the top reaches of the […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it is making progress on a new, affordable method for the disposal of small volumes of low-level radioactive waste around the world. Janos Balla, a waste technology engineer at the IAEA, said the method was developed for countries that have “low levels of waste, modest infrastructure and limited human […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 Russia will not participate in the upcoming and final Nuclear Security Summit due to the event’s “drastically altered” concept of international nuclear security cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this week. The summit, to be held in Washington, D.C., on March 31, will bring together international partners to discuss […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 Global progress on nuclear security has slowed in recent years, according to a new report that assesses the status of nuclear material security worldwide and the threat of nuclear terrorism. The Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative’s (NTI) 2016 Nuclear Security Index found highly enriched uranium and plutonium security measures have not […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 The United States and Jordan signed an agreement Monday to work together to combat nuclear terrorism, the State Department announced. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh signed the Joint Action Plan “to improve efforts against nuclear and radiological smuggling,” the State Department […]

DOE Releases Draft Enviro Assessment on Material Shipment from Germany The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday released a draft environmental assessment on the potential impact of accepting, processing, and disposing of irradiated graphite pebble fuel elements from Germany containing thorium and U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) at the Savannah River Site. The DOE will […]

GHG Daily 1/14/2016 Berlin-based think tank Agora Energiewende wants Germany to be off coal by 2040, and it knows how to make that happen, according to a paper released yesterday morning. In order to meet the country’s climate commitments of reducing German greenhouse gasses by at least 55 percent by 2030, at least 70 percent […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Daily 1/14/2016 The significant financial commitments made during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris late last year, as well as those included within the global climate agreement finalized at the meeting, represent a noteworthy step forward for […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) announced Wednesday that Tony Fountain will take over as chairman at Settafield Ltd. as the site license company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of NDA. Fountain, who boasts 30 years of industry experience, will start his three-year appointment on April 1, replacing current chairman Tony Price. Fountain’s resume includes […]

Russia will not participate in the upcoming and final Nuclear Security Summit due to the event’s “drastically altered” concept of international nuclear security cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said yesterday. The summit, to be held in Washington, D.C., on March 31, will bring together international partners to discuss nuclear terrorism prevention and offer country […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Daily 1/13/2016 British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday stood by his government’s decision to nix a £1 billion carbon capture and storage commercialization competition. When the completion came across the table during a spending review, Cameron said, the government Cabinet collectively decided it was time to pull support. “It seemed to […]

GHG Daily 1/13/2016 Carbon pricing is the most direct and efficient way to meet the ambitious goals of the new global climate agreement struck in Paris late last year, the International Monetary Fund said Monday. The Paris Agreement sets a goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.  “At the heart […]

The United States and Jordan signed an agreement Monday to work together to combat nuclear terrorism, the State Department announced. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh signed the joint  action plan “to improve efforts against nuclear and radiological smuggling,” the State Department said. The plan seeks to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Daily 1/12/2016 Exactly one month after a new global climate deal was agreed upon in Paris, policy experts met Monday morning to discuss the future of carbon markets and taxes. While the majority of economists have long agreed upon market-based approaches to limiting carbon emissions as the most efficient way to […]

GHG Daily 1/12/2016 The carbon capture and storage industry may never recover from its current slump if a “coordinated global portfolio” of projects is not developed, according to University of Cambridge researcher David Reiner. Reiner noted that the push for the rapid deployment of CCS that took place from 2005-09 has fallen off as the […]

Frank Rose, the State Department’s assistant secretary for arms control, verification, and compliance, is traveling in Europe to meet with foreign officials on arms control and related topics. The State Department announced Friday that Rose will meet with senior government officials in France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy until Jan. 18 “for bilateral discussions on […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Daily 1/11/2016 Regardless of pushback from the Republican-led Congress, the uncertain future presented by the upcoming presidential election, and a slew of legal challenges to core parts of the Obama administration’s climate plan, senior officials late last week expressed confidence that the United States’ role in the recently struck Paris climate […]

GHG Daily 1/11/2016 Global coal demand has stalled, the International Energy Agency announced late last month in its annual coal market report. The news comes after more than a decade of sharp growth in coal demand. The IEA attributed the pullback to economic restructuring in China, where coal demand is slowing, as well a greater […]