International

GHG Daily 1/11/2016 South Korea-based Alps Energy had signed a letter of intent with Southern Co. and Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to explore the deployment of transport integrated gasification (TRIG) technology at a new 1,000-megawatt Alps Energy power plant in South Korea. The TRIG tech, developed by Southern and KBR, is undergoing testing at […]

GHG Daily 1/11/2016 Norwegian oil company Statoil will explore the feasibility of carbon storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with the support of the country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The parties signed a contract on Jan. 4, totaling $4 million (USD) for the five-month project. The study will explore three different locations on the […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 1/8/2016 The Wylfa Nuclear Power Station in Anglesey, Wales, was shut down on Dec. 30, ending a 44-year run for the United Kingdom’s oldest nuclear plant. The closure comes five years later than originally planned. Operator Magnox ceased fuel supply to the plant in 2008, but in 2010 found a way […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has released its 2016 draft strategy for formal consultation through Feb. 15. The strategy sets out direction and long-term objectives for the decommissioning of the U.K. nuclear legacy sites. The NDA manages cleanup of 17 sites: 14 in England and Wales and three in Scotland. The Energy Act […]

The European Union has awarded a $2.8 million grant to Perma-Fix Environmental Services for the development of a novel prototype generator for the production of technetium-99m, a medical isotope material used in cancer and cardiac imaging procedures, according to a press release from the company. Research for the project is expected to wrap up in […]

The European Union has awarded a $2.8 million grant to Perma-Fix Environmental Services for the development of a novel prototype generator for the production of technetium-99m, a medical isotope material used in cancer and cardiac imaging procedures, according to a press release from the company. Research for the project is expected to wrap up in […]

Seven nuclear power reactors shut down worldwide in 2015, according to the latest data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which also reported that 10 new reactors went online in the same span. The IAEA data, last updated on Monday, lists seven permanent shutdowns: five Japanese reactors, one German reactor, and one Welsh reactor. The […]

Centrus Energy and Tenex announced Tuesday that they have agreed to extend a long-term supply contract for Russian low-enriched uranium through 2026. Signed in 2011, the agreement includes Centrus’ commitment to purchase 17 million separative work units from Tenex between 2016 and 2022. According to a Centrus press release, the extension defers delivery on some […]

The utility Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy has selected AREVA NP to decontaminate the primary loop of the Krümmel nuclear power plant near Hamburg, Germany. Starting in the first half of 2016, decontamination is expected to reduce radiation levels in the reactor pressure vessel, auxiliary systems, and piping, according to an AREVA press release. In implementing […]

A Swedish company has completed the application to build the country’s first permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel, a facility at Forsmark that would have the capacity to store 171,000 cubic meters of short-lived waste (SFR). World Nuclear News reported that the Land and Environment Court in Stockholm deemed the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 12/18/2015 The Department of Energy has determined there is no need for a new supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) before a liquid form of highly enriched uranium is transported from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Stakeholders, including nuclear watchdogs and congressmen, have called for an EIS before […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 12/18/2015 Environmentalists are condemning the recent transportation of unused nuclear fuel from Scotland to England, following major flooding that impacted the rail network used for the 400-mile trip. The fuel, originally intended for the Prototype Fast Reactor at Scotland’s shuttered Dounreay nuclear facility, arrived at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, England, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/18/2015 Back home after weeks in France, key administration officials this week offered their views on the negotiating process leading up to the recently adopted Paris Agreement, the first universal legally binding climate deal in history. The agreement was finalized Dec. 12 at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/18/2015 Following last week’s adoption of the Paris Agreement, the world’s first global deal binding developed and developing countries to act against climate change, a group of more than 800 cities, regions, companies, and investors have signed the Paris Pledge for Action. The pledge acts as a means for subnational […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 12/18/2015 The former president of the U.S. branch of a Russian nuclear company this week was sentenced to 48 months in prison for helping arrange over $2 million in “corrupt payments” meant to aid U.S. businesses in securing contracts with the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) […]

The former president of the U.S. branch of a Russian nuclear company yesterday was sentenced to 48 months in prison for helping arrange over $2 million in “corrupt payments” meant to aid U.S. businesses in securing contracts for the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation, the Department of Justice announced. Vadim Mikerin was president of TENAM […]

The Department of Energy has determined there is no need for a new supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) before a liquid form of highly enriched uranium is transported from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Stakeholders, including nuclear watchdogs and congressmen, have called for an EIS before more than 6,000 gallons of […]

Environmentalists are condemning the recent transportation of unused nuclear fuel from Scotland to England, following major flooding that impacted the rail network used for the trip. The fuel, originally intended for the Prototype Fast Reactor at Scotland’s shuttered Dounreay nuclear facility, arrived at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, England, on Dec. 7 after a 400-mile […]

Japan’s industry ministry is determining the feasibility of burying high-level radioactive waste from the country’s nuclear reactors below the ocean floor, the Asahi Shimbun reported. According to the publication, working panel members cited the proposal as “highly appropriate” on Dec. 11, noting that the radioactive waste could be buried less than 20 kilometers from the […]

Kurion, Inc. announced last week that it had signed new licensing agreements for its GeoMelt waste vitrication technology with ISV Japan and its parent company Daiei Kankyo for a hazardous waste treatment plant in Iga City, Japan. Daiei Kankyo operates the Iga City plant, where it treats asbestos, PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent organic pollutants. […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/11/2015 PARIS – Without clean energy innovation, countries will be unlikely to increase their ambition in future climate mitigation efforts, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday. Moniz, speaking to reporters at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), highlighted […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/11/2015 PARIS — Late Thursday, Laurent Fabius, president of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, released a new version of the draft text of the global climate agreement negotiated here over the last two weeks. Fabius had pushed hard for a final […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/11/2015 PARIS – The United States, as the world’s largest economy and second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, plays a key role in the ongoing negotiations toward a global climate agreement in Paris. The administration has made clear its view on the proceedings at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/11/2015 PARIS — As negotiators debated whether the world should strive to limit global warming to 2 or 1.5 degrees Celsius, supporters of carbon capture and storage technology have a universal message: neither goal can be reached if CCS is not brought to scale. “If we want to achieve the […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 12/11/2015 Nuclear waste cleanup technology specialist Kurion on Tuesday announced its third acquisition in four years – Oxford Technologies, a robotic systems  maker based in the United Kingdom. Oxford Technologies provides expertise and technology for remote handling, complex plant assembly, and operations in irradiated areas. Its remote tools have been used […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 12/11/2015 Nuclear waste cleanup technology specialist Kurion on Tuesday announced its third acquisition in four years – Oxford Technologies, a robotic systems  maker based in the United Kingdom. Oxford Technologies provides expertise and technology for remote handling, complex plant assembly, and operations in irradiated areas. Its remote tools have been used […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 12/11/2015 Two nongovernmental nonproliferation organizations on Wednesday issued a joint declaration on preventing nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism that called “as a matter of the highest priority for there to be an urgent and immediate requirement to rebuild U.S.-Russian relations.” The joint declaration by the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing […]

Two nongovernmental nonproliferation organizations on Wednesday issued a joint declaration on preventing nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism that called “as a matter of the highest priority for there to be an urgent and immediate requirement to rebuild U.S.-Russian relations.” The joint declaration by the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe and the Nuclear […]

Nuclear waste cleanup technology specialist Kurion on Tuesday announced its third acquisition in four years – Oxford Technologies, a 15-year-old robotic systems  company based in the United Kingdom.   Oxford Technologies provides expertise and technology for remote handling, complex plant assembly, and operations in irradiated areas. Its remote tools have been used in decommissioning projects […]

Unused nuclear fuel once intended for the Prototype Fast Reactor at Scotland’s shuttered Dounreay nuclear facility reached the Sellafield site on Monday for storage, according to a press release. This was the first such shipment of fuel from the reactor.   Started in 2001, the site’s full defueling program is not expected to be completed […]