International

Following a $5.4 billion loss for 2014, AREVA yesterday 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. The cost cuts should result in savings of $1 […]

Parent body organization Cavendish Fluor announced plans to merge U.K. site license companies Magnox Ltd and Research Sites Restoration Ltd this spring to manage the sites under one leadership team, and will address additional scope. The Cavendish Fluor team took over management of the U.K.’s 10 Magnox reactor sites and two research reactor sites after […]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva accused NATO, the U.S. and other European countries of violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by conducting joint nuclear exercises. Lavrov also sought to highlight Russian nonproliferation efforts and took shots at U.S. and NATO nuclear policy. He remarked that in the early […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 A top Defense Department official last week identified a point of bilateral contention in the New START Treaty as a factor in U.S. deployment plans for the Long Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO).  “We did make an effort to address nuclear-armed cruise missiles in New START, and we didn’t have a […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/27/2015 The final version of the European Commission’s Energy Union Package, released this week, calls for a number of actions to be taken to drive innovation in carbon capture and storage technology. The package calls for, “A forward-looking approach to carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and use […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/27/2015 The United Kingdom has run out of time to develop new technologies to meet its climate goals, but instead must invest in known but neglected technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, according to a report released last week by the Energy Technologies Institute, a U.K. public-private partnership. “There […]

Sterigenics International’s subsidiary Nordion announced late last week that it had entered into a molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) supply agreement with General Atomics and the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center. With Canada set to operate the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of Mo-99 and technetium-99m, until 2016 and then only […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Despite growing tensions between the United States and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said this week the Obama Administration won’t be swayed from continuing to pursue its arms control agenda with Moscow. “The situation in Ukraine is […]

About 1,300 Sellafield Workers Walk Off Job Twice This Week Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/20/2015 About 1,300 workers at the U.K.’s Sellafield Site walked off the site twice this week as part of a labor dispute, site license company Sellafield Limited confirmed. The workers first left the site on Feb. 16 only to return two […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/20/2015 While Japan and the Tokyo Electric Power Company have made “significant progress” in cleanup of the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station, a preliminary report this week on the cleanup by the International Atomic Energy Agency warns that the most intensive work still remains ahead. Since the last IAEA review of the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/20/2015 The importance of the development of large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects within the European Union is set to be included in the European Commission’s Communication for a Strategic Framework for an Energy Union to be presented next week, according to a Jan. 30 draft of the document […]

Despite growing tensions between the United States and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said the Obama Administration won’t be swayed from continuing to pursue its arms control agenda with Moscow. “The situation in Ukraine is quite terrible, honestly, and some say arms […]

An International Atomic Energy Agency review of the cleanup at the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station praised Japan and the Tokyo Electric Power Company for making “significant progress” at the site, but cautioned more intensive work still remains, the preliminary report said yesterday. Since the last IAEA review of the cleanup in 2013, TEPCO has made significant […]

About 1,300 workers at the U.K.’s Sellafield Site walked off the site Monday as part of a labor dispute, site license company Sellafield Limited confirmed yesterday. The “unofficial action is as a result of a dispute between a main contractor and a sub-contractor,” according to a Sellafield Limited statement. The contractors involved are part of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/13/2015 Canada extended late last week the operations of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor an additional two years, Canada Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford announced. Canada had intended on stopping government funding in 2016 for the NRU reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 As different nations are modernizing or striving to develop their strategic capabilities, the United States must invest in upgrading its nuclear deterrent, Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said during a speech at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington Feb. 6. Haney pointed to Russia, which has engaged […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 A joint statement issued by from participants of the P5 Conference in London last week reaffirming “a step-by-step approach to nuclear disarmament that promotes international stability, peace and undiminished and increased security for all” as the only realistic disarmament mechanism has prompted at least one disarmament advocate to ask for […]

Economic Benefits of Sellafield Change Can’t be Quantified, NDA Says Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/13/2015 Though last month the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority decided to terminate the current contract to run the Sellafield site, the NDA has said that the economic benefits for the move cannot be quantified, according to documents the agency released this […]

Canada extended late last week the operations of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor an additional two years, the Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford announced. Canada had intended on stopping government funding in 2016 on the NRU reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m, which have caused a global shortage […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 NATO’s allied defense ministers this week formulated a “Readiness Action Plan” and released a related joint statement which indicates a growing emphasis on allied strategic forces in Europe. The decision comes at a time of continued Russian occupation of Eastern Ukraine, existing bilateral tensions over the annexation of Crimea, Russian […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/6/2015 Natural Resources Canada released late last week the names of the four teams that will receive the Request for Proposal to manage the Government-owned Contractor-operated contract for the Chalk River Laboratories. The teams include: Canadian National Energy Alliance (CNEA), made up of: CH2M HILL Canada Limited; Fluor Government Group […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/6/2015 Work resumed this week at the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station cleanup following the death of two workers last month. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) suspended work at the site until a full safety review into the two separate worker deaths could be completed. As a result of the review, […]

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller is announcing today at the P5 Conference in London that the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification’s first meeting will take place March 19-20 in Washington, according to a State Department official with knowledge of the event. The partnership was created to join […]

Cleanup work resumed yesterday at the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station following the death of two workers last month. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) suspended work at the site until a full safety review into the two separate worker deaths could be completed. As a result of the review, TEPCO introduced new measures to put safety […]

Natural Resources Canada released late last week the four teams that will receive the Request for Proposal to manage the Government-owned Contractor-operated contract for the Chalk River Laboratories. The teams include: Canadian National Energy Alliance (CNEA), made up of: CH2M HILL Canada Limited; Fluor Government Group – Canada, Inc.; EnergySolutions Canada Group LTD.; SNC-Lavalin Inc.; […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The United States should deploy nuclear weapons in eastern Europe as a response to increasing Russian aggression in Ukraine, two senior Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee said late last week in a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry. Calling Russian suggestions that […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 The U.S. should take a firm stance in insisting Russia comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Budapest Memorandum, former State Department and U.S. military officials said at separate Senate Armed Services Committee hearings exploring general U.S. national security strategy this week. The U.S. has formally accused […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/30/2015 The European Union is lagging behind when it comes to the deployment of carbon capture and storage, according to a new report commissioned by the European Commission to assess the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Directive published this week. However, the report suggests several measures, including the adoption of […]

The United Kingdom is examining the role of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to see if there is a continued need for the committee’s advisory role, the UK government announced yesterday. The CoRWM operates as an independent advisory committee to the government on issues related to the long-term management of higher activity radioactive […]

Greenpeace Germany is claiming that the proposed shipment of German highly enriched uranium to the Savannah River Site for processing would be illegal, the advocacy group said in a legal opinion released Monday. At question are 900 kilograms of HEU in the form of graphite spheres from the pebble bed AVR gas-cooled research reactor at […]