International

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 joint project will focus primarily on the movement of plutonium and radioiodine, as well as learning more about […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/25/2015 As world leaders prepare to negotiate a new global climate deal in December, it has become clear that meeting the commitments embedded in such an accord will be delegated largely to the world’s cities, Shelley Poticha, director of the Urban Solutions program with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/25/2015 The European Union can support progress toward the deployment of carbon capture and storage by optimizing existing policies and resources, according to a report released this week by the Zero Emissions Platform, an advisory group to the European Commission on the subject. The plan, developed by request of European […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/25/2015 British power producer Drax said on Friday it has withdrawn from the White Rose carbon capture and storage project. The project is currently under development by Capture Power Ltd., a consortium of Drax, Alstom, and BOC. White Rose will still be located at the Drax power plant in Yorkshire […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/25/2015 Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday announced that his nation will have a national cap-and-trade system in place by 2017. The emissions trading system, announced during Xi’s visit to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama, will be wide-reaching, covering key industry sectors such as iron and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/25/2015 Three new carbon capture processes are due to begin testing at Norway’s Technology Center Mongstad (TCM), according to a new release by Clean Carbon Solutions Ltd. (CCSL), a capture solvent developer and one of TCM’s new vendors. The other two vendors, Alstom and General Electric, are receiving funding through […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week that its repatriation of about 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a Jamaican research reactor to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site in South Carolina has made the Caribbean HEU-free. The United States supplied Canada with HEU […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies tasked with conducting global nonproliferation operations have not conducted physical security visits to 11 foreign nuclear sites containing over 3,500 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) in more than 20 years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/25/2015 The United Kingdom’s Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. has robustly advanced its disposability assessments and letter of compliance process for the packaging of high-level waste, according to a biennial review by the U.K. Environment Agency and Office for Nuclear Regulation. The RWM is responsible for instituting the nation’s high-level waste […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/25/2015 TerraPower and the China National Nuclear Corp. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly complete the traveling wave reactor (TWR) design and commercialize the technology, the company announced this week.  The MOU, according to the Washington-based nuclear reactor design specialist, “will speed technology development, promote clean energy […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies tasked with conducting global nonproliferation operations have not conducted physical security visits to 11 foreign nuclear sites containing over 3,500 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) in more than 20 years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released yesterday.   The DOE cited […]

TerraPower and the China National Nuclear Corp. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly complete the traveling wave reactor (TWR) design and commercialize the technology, the company announced yesterday.  The MOU, according to the Washington-based nuclear reactor design specialist, “will speed technology development, promote clean energy growth, and enable global economic growth in […]

Fortum, a Finnish energy company, announced yesterday that it has received a “significant” additional order from EnergySolutions for ion exchange materials used in the treatment of contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup site in Japan. EnergySolutions has for the past three years operated its Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) at the site to treat […]

  The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said yesterday that its repatriation of about 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a Jamaican research reactor to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site in South Carolina has made the Caribbean HEU-free.     The United States supplied Canada with HEU material for fuel […]

The United Kingdom’s Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. has robustly advanced its disposability assessments and letter of compliance process for the packaging of high-level waste, according to a biennial review by the U.K. Environment Agency and Office for Nuclear Regulation. The RWM is responsible for instituting the nation’s high-level waste disposition program, which includes interim storage […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/18/2015 A comprehensive technical review of the CO2 storage plan for Shell’s Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project published this week finds that the plan is “robust and will provide for the secure long-term underground storage of CO2,” according to a statement by the British Geological Survey released with the […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has awarded Parsons Government Services International a $16,937,062 task order for nuclear security work in Kiev, Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced last Friday. The task order for “Global Nuclear Security, Ukraine Nuclear Security and Readiness Program” falls under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/18/2015 A substantial group of U.S. and Chinese states, municipalities, provinces, and counties this week announced ambitious climate goals at the U.S.-China Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities Summit in Los Angeles. The states of California and Connecticut, along with 15 U.S. cities and one county, joined the Chinese municipality of Beijing, provinces of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/18/2015 The organization responsible for disposal of the United Kingdom’s high-level nuclear waste announced last week that it is seeking public input on its draft National Geological Screening (NGS) Guidance document, which will drive the nation’s search for a suitable repository location. The 12-week public comment period will enable the […]

The United States has submitted its instrument of ratification for the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) to Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and plans to “very soon” introduce to the U.N. its instrument of ratification for the International Convention for the Suppression of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/11/2015 The climate pledges being presented by member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the climate negations being held in Paris in December will not likely be enough to meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2-degrees Celsius. For this reason, it is […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 The U.S.-South Korea “123 Agreement” renewed in April will enter into force between Oct. 29 and Dec. 7 without any congressional objections, independent nuclear nonproliferation expert and former House and Senate staffer Jodi Lieberman said yesterday during a panel discussion on the agreement at the Center for Strategic and International […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/11/2015 Carbon captured from power generation or industrial sources can be injected into offshore geological storage formations in multiple sites safely if done correctly, according to a report released this week by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS). “The results of CO2 MultiStore research have also highlighted how use of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/11/2015 In hopes of accelerating deployment of carbon capture and storage technology, BHP Billiton and SaskPower this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to share access to data, information and lessons learned at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam CCS project. The Boundary Dam project, which reached full operation in October […]

A Westinghouse-led consortium has won the contract to dismantle the reactor pressure vessel and its internals at the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 in Germany. The scope for this contract, which includes the planning, equipment manufacture and on-site segmentation of the reactor vessel internals and the reactor vessel, including peripheral structures, will be done […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 The former president of the U.S. branch of a Russian nuclear company on Monday pleaded guilty to helping to arrange more than $2 million in “corrupt payments” intended to aid U.S. businesses in securing contracts for his Moscow-based employer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. Vadim Mikerin, 56, of Chevy […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/4/2015 The Australian government has made available $25 million AUS ($17.6 million USD) in funding for carbon transport and storage research, development, and demonstration projects. Grants under the Carbon Capture and Storage Research and Development Fund are available to industry and research organizations. “Just as we are using science to […]

The former president of the U.S. branch of a Russian nuclear company on Monday pleaded guilty to helping to arrange more than $2 million in “corrupt payments” intended to help U.S. businesses secure contracts with a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday. Vadim Mikerin, 56, of […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 8/28/2015 Although Centrus lost $30.5 million during the first six months of 2015, including $15.1 million in the second quarter, the reopening of nuclear power plants in Japan in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster provides hope for future profits. “To be sure, there’s still a long road ahead, but […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/28/15 The State Department this week refuted Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) claim that Russia’s R-500 cruise missile is the primary culprit of the nation’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. “The R-500 is not the missile that we have determined is in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear […]