International

After spiking in the fall, the size of U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles has dipped again according to the latest New START Treaty data released by the State Department yesterday. The April 1 declaration revealed that the U.S. counted 1,597 strategic deployed warheads as of March 1, down 45 warheads from six months ago. The […]

Westinghouse and HOCHTIEF Infrastructure GmbH, a German-based engineering company, announced late last week that they had entered into Teaming Agreement to offer integrated decommissioning, decontamination and remediation services for nuclear power plants in Germany. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany decided to shut down all of its nuclear plants in an effort to avoid […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/27/2015 Southern Company will join a delegation of 25 American companies on a business development trade mission to China led by the U.S. departments of Energy and Commerce next month. The delegation will travel to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in an effort to “launch or increase their business operations in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/27/2015 The European Union will work to develop an energy union based on a European Commission framework released last month, the EU announced late last week. The European Council wrote that “the EU is committed to building an Energy Union with a forward-looking climate policy on the basis of the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/27/2015 A series of new reports released this week by the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy & Climate Change and by British think tank the Green Alliance highlight the significant impact that the development of carbon capture and storage hubs, or “clusters,” throughout the country will have on the industrial […]

NDA Business Plan Calls for £3.31B in Spending Over Next Year Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/27/2015 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s business plan for 2015-2018, released this week, calls for an overall spending level of £3.31 billion ($4.93 billion). The bulk of that, £1.95 billion ($2.9 billion), will go to the Sellafield site, where the NDA […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 A White House official this week responded point by point to three Russian assertions that the U.S. has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, while reiterating Washington’s goal to bring Russia back into compliance with the agreement. The U.S. publicly accused Russia in July of violating INF Treaty by […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Time is dwindling for the Obama Administration to make a push for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said this week that she’s not giving up on one of the pillars of President Obama’s nuclear security […]

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s business plan for 2015 to 2016, released yesterday, calls for an overall spending level of £3.31 billion ($4.93 billion). The bulk of that, £1.95 billion ($2.9 billion), will go to the Sellafield site, where the NDA recently announced a decision to take over management from parent body organization Nuclear Management Partners. […]

A White House official yesterday responded point by point to three Russian assertions that the U.S. has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, while reiterating Washington’s goal to bring Russia back into compliance with the agreement. The U.S. publicly accused Russia in July of violating INF Treaty by developing a ground-launched cruise missile capable […]

Time is dwindling for the Obama Administration to make a push for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said yesterday that she’s not giving up on one of the pillars of President Obama’s nuclear security agenda. The Administration has made little […]

Trial sludge retrievals have begun at Sellafield’s legacy fuel ponds, with retrievals expected to continue “in earnest” in April, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced yesterday. The heavy radioactive sludge has been sitting for decades in the open-air unlined ponds, and in a major step forward two treatment facilities have been commissioned at the site. In […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 Russia’s annexation of Crimea, coupled with the Kremlin’s withdrawal from longstanding bilateral nuclear cooperation efforts and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear saber-rattling, has severed trust between Russia and the U.S. and continues to threaten international stability, former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said this week during a nuclear security panel […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/20/2015 To take full advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of carbon capture and storage, the United Kingdom should develop 10 GW of CCS capacity no later than 2030, according to a report released this week by the Energy Technologies Institute, a U.K. public-private partnership. “This level of ambition […]

French Ambassador Tours MOX Facility NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 French Ambassador Gerard Araud visited the Savannah River Site this week, touring the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. Araud was accompanied by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and several other French officials and met with AREVA Chief Executive Officer Gary Mignogna as well as French employees […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/20/2015 Describing carbon capture and storage as integral to combating climate change, Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Jorma Ollila urged increased support for CCS technology in the company’s 2014 Annual Report, released late last week. “It is clear that new technologies will be needed to tackle climate change effectively. For example, […]

Moscow’s withdrawal from bilateral nuclear security cooperation efforts and hardball rhetoric on the nuclear front has endangered international stability and destroyed trust between Russia and the U.S., former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said yesterday during a panel discussion in Washington. “The rhetoric that’s being used now by Russia about nuclear weapons is, in my view, […]

French Ambassador Gerard Araud will visit the Savannah River Site today, touring the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. Araud will be accompanied by several other French officials and will meet with AREVA Chief Executive Officer Gary Mignogna as well as French employees at the site. Along with CB&I, AREVA is part of the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 As this week marked four years after the disaster at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear site, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported this week that 750 tons of rainwater containing Strontium-90 may have seeped into the ground at the cleanup site. Following heavy rains at the site, water accumulated in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 3/13/2015 Global dependence on cheap coal is a threat to climate mitigation and while carbon capture and storage technology could help, other low carbon fuel sources will be preferred in the long-run, Secretary of State John Kerry said this week at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council.  “In certain […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 A “new Russian security doctrine” which “explicitly reprioritizes” nuclear forces poses a direct challenge to bilateral disarmament efforts, but the U.S. remains open to engaging Russia on a range of issues affecting strategic stability, according to Tom Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation. “We’re also realistic […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 Interest in the Conference on Disarmament has waned in recent years as progress on disarmament issues has stagnated, and one of the last remaining observers of the forum is calling it quits. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and its disarmament programme Reaching Critical Will said this […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported yesterday that 750 tons of rainwater containing Strontium-90 may have seeped into the ground at the Fukushima-Daiichi cleanup site. Following heavy rains at the site, water accumulated in the outer dyke of the H4 tank area, which has had problems with leaking tanks in the past. TEPCO, though, made assurances […]

At April’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (RevCon) in New York, the U.S. will focus on assessing and updating the NPT action plan developed in 2010, and on better explaining its position on disarmament to states not aligned with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to Tom Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has appointed four new non-executive directors to its Board this week, the agency announced. The new directors include Evelyn Dickey and Volker Beckers, starting immediately, as well as Janet Ashdown and Rob Holden starting in June. “The collective experience of leading major businesses, managing complex commercial projects, transformational change and […]

Sellafield Cleanup Cost Increases by £5 Billion Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/6/2015 The estimated total cost of cleaning up Sellafield has increased £5 billion ($7.6 billion), while the early termination of the Nuclear Management Partners contract will cost the government £430,000 ($656,000), according to a U.K. National Audit Office report released this week. Following the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 Following a $5.4 billion loss for 2014, AREVA this week announced plans to cut costs and re-focus the company on core business. The plan calls for AREVA to refocus on core nuclear processes, re-forge the partnership with EDF, and strengthen the development of its presence in China in an […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 Canadian Nuclear Partners CEO Pierre Tremblay is departing the company, but Ontario Power Generation, CNP’s parent company, reaffirmed this week that it would remain in the bidding process for the Chalk River Government-owned, Contractor-operated contact. Tremblay had served 38 years with the company. “Yes, I can confirm that Pierre […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 Days before the 45th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO, the U.S. and other European countries of violating the NPT by conducting joint nuclear exercises. Russia in the early 1990s reduced its arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons by one-third and centralized its intercontinental […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 Following a $5.4 billion loss for 2014, AREVA this week announced plans to cut costs and re-focus the company on core business. The plan calls for AREVA to refocus on core nuclear processes, re-forge the partnership with EDF, and strengthen the development of its presence in China in an […]