International

GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Mexico has signaled its interest in joining the International Energy Agency (IEA), the agency announced this week. Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquín Coldwell attended the 2015 IEA Ministerial meeting in Paris this week alongside energy ministers from the 29 member countries of the IEA. Current IEA member […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 The United States is considering “economic and military responses” to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a senior State Department official said last week.  Frank Rose, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, said Russia committed a “serious violation” against “one of the core […]

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) on Wednesday said it had preliminarily identified the east coast village of Forsmark as the best site for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility.   Forsmark, which is already home to a nuclear power plant and radioactive waste repository, was among eight sites considered for the underground storage site, […]

The United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and contractor Kurion on Tuesday said they have finished a major phase of testing for commissioning the company’s GeoMelt In-Container Vitrification radioactive waste conversion system at the Sellafield site.   The technology, which would convert the waste into a condensed glass form for permanent storage, successfully processed a […]

The United States is considering “economic and military responses” in the event of Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a senior State Department official said last week.  Frank Rose, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, said Russia committed a “serious violation” against “one of the core tenets of […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/13/2015 The government of Finland on Thursday said it had approved the world’s first license for construction of a spent fuel disposal facility. The fuel encapsulation plant and disposal facility is to be built by 2023 on Olkiluoto  Island, home to the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant. It will house used fuel […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The strength of the United States’ global partnerships on civil nuclear cooperation lie in the quality and reliability of American nuclear components and the reputational advantages they offer to foreign nations, according to a Department of State official. Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/13/2015 The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank could help U.S. nuclear energy companies compete in a global civil market that has been characterized partly by Russian and Chinese subsidies given to countries that buy their reactor technology, State Department officials said this week. “We do not have […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Completed on time and under budget, the Quest carbon capture and storage project launched on Nov. 6 in Alberta, Canada. The project is the world’s first CCS project on an oil sands upgrader and Canada’s second commercial-scale CCS project, following SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 coal-fired power plant, which […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Carbon capture and storage technology has been slow to develop, but will play a role in efforts by developed nations to decarbonize in the future, according to the 2015 World Energy Outlook released this week by the International Energy Agency. “Rapid and widespread adoption of high-efficiency coal-fired generation technologies […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 National commitments submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for inclusion in the global climate agreement to be struck in Paris in December will get the world closer to meeting the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, according to the latest Emissions […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 The United Kingdom may move to add retrofit carbon capture and storage projects to its Contracts for Difference (CfD) subsidy program, according to a consultation released Nov. 4 by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The CfD subsidy is a private law contract between a low-carbon electricity […]

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank could help U.S. nuclear energy companies compete in a global civil market that has been characterized partly by Russian and Chinese subsidies given to countries that buy their reactor technology, a top State Department official said during a speech yesterday.   “We do not have […]

The strength of the United States’ global partnerships on civil nuclear cooperation lie in the quality and reliability of American nuclear components and the reputational advantages they offer to foreign nations, according to a Department of State official. Thomas Countryman, assistance secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, said last Friday at the […]

RW Monitor 11/6/2015   AREVA Enters Into Potential Partnership with China National Nuclear Corporation AREVA this week signed a memorandum of understanding with partner China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) that could give the Chinese company a minority stake in the French nuclear group. The partnership would cover all nuclear fuel cycle activities, encompassing uranium mining, […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/6/2015 With Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) completing the first phase of a preliminary assessment for the municipality of Central Huron, 11 communities are now poised for a second round of review in the search to site a national spent nuclear fuel repository. NWMO is spearheading the search for a […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 It will be “impossible” to develop an agreement at next month’s 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that will deliver on the international goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week expressed displeasure with the administration’s climate policy during a roundtable discussion with visiting members of the European Parliament. Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) explained Thursday to the European delegation that it is important to Republicans […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 The ambitions set out by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative (LCTPi), if realized, could deliver 65 percent of the total carbon emissions reduction needed to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, according to a new report released by the […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The Environmental Protection Agency will host a rare public meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards (ISCORS) from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 9, at EPA’s William Jefferson Clinton East Building in Washington, D.C., according to a notice posted Monday in the Federal Register. ISCORS is expected […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 Current coal-fired power plant trends would lead to the United States meeting the carbon emissions reduction goal laid out in the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants five years ahead of schedule, according to a new report from the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign […]

The operator of the United Kingdom’s national low-level radioactive waste disposal site said this week it has filed an application for construction of three additional disposal vaults. LLW Repository Ltd. said vaults would be used to dispose of waste in "specially grouted containers." The company noted that it has also recently received authorization from the […]

The five nations recognized as nuclear-weapon states by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty held roughly 238 metric tons of plutonium and 1,330 metric tons of highly enriched uranium at the end of 2014, according to a research report issued on Tuesday. The material would be sufficient to power about 80,000 nuclear weapons, based on the assumption […]

Two Canadian companies announced last week that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure a fresh, ongoing supply of medical-grade cobalt 60.   Ontario atomic energy provider Bruce Power already partners with medical isotope specialist Nordion for production of cobalt 60 used for sterilizing medical equipment. The new MOU will expand that collaboration […]

The Environmental Protection Agency will host a rare public meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards (ISCORS) from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 9, at EPA’s William Jefferson Clinton East Building in Washington, according to a notice posted yesterday in the Federal Register. ISCORS is expected to discuss the draft International Atomic […]

Holtec International on Monday announced that it had signed a deal for a Ukrainian company to build storage casks for a facility being built by the U.S. energy technology specialist in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.   The memorandum of understanding between Holtec and Turboatom was signed last week, according to a Holtec press release. The […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 An analysis of all Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has confirmed that they are not enough to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, announced at a press conference Friday […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 In the latest draft text of the global climate agreement being negotiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiators have left some key issues to be dealt with at the last opportunity, in Paris. The agreement is hoped to be finalized at the 21st Conference of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 The Teesside Collective, a planned industrial carbon capture and storage network in the United Kingdom’s most carbon-intensive area, has picked up a new partner to take the place of founding member Sahaviriya Steel Industries’ (SSI) Redcar Steelworks, which shut down earlier this month. Industrial energy and water services provider […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 Decarbonizing the United Kingdom’s energy sector will be a complex process with many variables, including the commercialization of carbon capture and storage technology, according to a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering released this week. “What is required now is a combination of known technologies, scaled up to […]