International

WC Monitor 10/30/2015   ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Centrus Energy and the Kazakhstan government-owned nuclear holding company KazAtomProm have signed a memorandum of cooperation that specifies the development of “mutually beneficial relations” on competitive supplies of Kazakhstan’s uranium to the world market, the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, D.C., announced Saturday. The document, which has not been released, […]

Centrus Energy and the Kazakhstan government-owned nuclear holding company KazAtomProm have signed a memorandum of cooperation that specifies the development of “mutually beneficial relations” on competitive supplies of Kazakhstan’s uranium to the world market, the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, D.C., announced Saturday. The document, which appears to not have been released, was signed by KazAtomProm Chairman Askar […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The U.S. has agreed to assist Spain in cleaning up plutonium, uranium, and americium that was spread across at least 24 acres along the European nation’s southern coast after a B-52 carrying nuclear cargo for U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed with another U.S. military aircraft over the Mediterranean city of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 An analysis of climate pledges made by more than 150 of the world’s countries has revealed that if they are met the increase of global energy-related emissions would slow to a “relative crawl” of around .5 percent per year by 2030, according to a report released this week by […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 As the upcoming negotiations toward a post-Kyoto climate agreement near, Republican lawmakers continue to push the administration to bring the agreement before the Senate for consultation and potential ratification. However, the administration argues, if the agreement is not legally-binding there is no precedent for them to do so and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 The use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the United Kingdom’s North Sea holds the promise of enabling the obtainment of up to 500 million additional barrels of otherwise unrecoverable oil. However, to harness this opportunity, action must be taken now to create a CO2-EOR industry, according to a […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 The Chief Executive Officers of 10 of the world’s oil and gas companies representing the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) late last week pledged to work toward the international goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2-degrees Celsius. “Our shared ambition is for a 2°C future. It is […]

The U.S. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Spain to help the country clean up plutonium, uranium, and americium that was spread across at least 24 acres along its southern coast after a B-52 carrying nuclear cargo for U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed in the Mediterranean city of Palomares in 1966. U.S. Secretary of […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 A Russian official on Tuesday signaled Moscow is willing to allow the U.S. to choose a different plutonium disposition method than the mixed-oxide approach mandated in a bilateral deal from 2000. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) calls for each nation to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapon-usable […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/16/2015 A Russian official on Tuesday signaled Moscow is willing to allow the U.S. to choose a different plutonium disposition method than the mixed-oxide approach mandated in a bilateral deal from 2000. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) calls for each nation to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapon-usable […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/16/2015 The United States has reduced the number of its deployed strategic warheads below New START treaty limits, while Russia has increased its numbers in the same category, according to the latest aggregate State Department data on strategic offensive arms. In effect since 2011, New START requires each country by February […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Co., this week announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to jointly explore clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies. "This MOU brings together two respected energy companies with the proven ability to deliver […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 A group of 14 large corporations, including several involved in the carbon capture, utilization, and storage industry, this week issued a statement in support of a strong climate agreement at the upcoming global negotiations in Paris. “We support the aim of a more balanced and durable multilateral framework guiding […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 Alberta-Based Carbon Engineering is scheduled to launch a pilot plant demonstrating its direct air capture technology today outside of Squamish, British Columbia The $9 million facility is designed to capture 1 ton of CO2 per day. “Everyone at Carbon Engineering is extremely excited about the plant coming together and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 A consortium led by Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power and China-based Harbin Electric has been selected as the preferred bidder for the first phase of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) 1,200-megawatt Hassyan Clean Coal Power Plant, DEWA Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer announced this week. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 Researchers with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have made a “breakthrough discovery” in the packaging and disposal of intermediate-level waste (ILW) that could save millions and advance the timeline of the cleanup at the Sellafield site, the NDA announced this week. The research centered on ILW stored […]

A Russian official yesterday signaled Moscow is willing to allow the U.S.to choose a different plutonium disposition method than the mixed-oxide approach outlined in a bilateral deal from 2000. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) calls for each nation to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium by converting the material into MOX […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 Geoscientists and engineers specializing in carbon storage this week called for the consideration of carbon capture and storage as a mitigation option during the climate agreement negotiations to take place in Paris in December. In an Oct. 8 letter sent to Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 One year after officially coming online, SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 remains the world’s first and only commercial-scale post-combustion coal-fired carbon capture and storage project. The last year has been one of expanding knowledge, and SaskPower is happy to share the lessons it has learned, SaskPower CEO Mike Marsh […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 The United States ranks among the best countries in the world in the development of a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for handling carbon capture and storage (CSS) activities, according to a recently released analysis by the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. Five countries –  the U.S., Canada, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 The United States needs for the global climate agreement hoped to be struck at the end of the year to be nonbinding because it will not be ratified by the Senate. Because of this, other countries have built-in leverage going into the negotiations, Lisa DeMarco, a partner at Zizzo […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 The United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) late last week awarded £1.7 million to carbon capture and storage projects as part of phase four of the government’s energy entrepreneurs fund. “The funding will support the development and demonstration of state of the art CCS technologies to […]

GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Hoesung Lee has been elected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC announced this week. Lee, a South Korean professor in the economics of climate change, won the election 78-56 in a run-off with Jean-Pascal van Ypersele. “I am honoured and grateful that the Panel […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/2/2015 Rounding out the top three carbon emitters in the world, India this week submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, months after the submissions from the top emitters, the United States and China. In its INDC, India committed to reducing the […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/2/2015 A U.S. interagency nonproliferation team that for over two decades did not conduct physical security visits to 11 foreign nuclear sites containing thousands of kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) plans to visit one of the locations in the next six months, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/2/2015 Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent announcement that his nation will institute a cap and trade program by 2017, members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at a hearing this week questioned China’s commitment to the plan. The emissions trading system, announced during Xi’s visit to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/2/2015 Climate change and the upcoming negotiations toward a global climate deal were hot on the tongues of several world leaders this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The 21st Conference of the Parities of the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, aimed at producing […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/2/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization returned the final 5 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) spent fuel from a research reactor in Uzbekistan to Russia, the NNSA announced this week. The shipment from the IIN-3M “Foton” research reactor in Tashkent, part of a […]

RW Monitor 10/2/2015 IN DOE Researchers at the Savannah River National Laboratory have undertaken a joint project with scientists in Japan to help find ways to remediate environmental areas contaminated by the Fukushima disaster, the laboratory announced late last week. The three-year effort will focus primarily on the movement of plutonium and radioiodine, as well […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization returned the final 5 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) spent fuel from a research reactor in Uzbekistan to Russia, the NNSA announced yesterday. The shipment from the IIN-3M “Foton” research reactor in Tashkent, part of a multi-year effort, completes the removal of […]