International

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/19/2014 Eleven countries, including the United States and Canada, joined this week a Joint Declaration on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes to ensure the security and reliability of molybdenum-99. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, one of the […]

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said yesterday she thinks Russia’s nuclear modernization hitherto has been “judicious,” but underscored that the U.S. would urge Russia to consider the level of stability that would be provided by any rail-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile – technology that Russian media reports [fourth section] have […]

The completion date of cleanup work at Scotland’s Dounreay site has been pushed out four years to 2029 due to added scope, including the removal of all nuclear fuels. The cleanup, managed since 2012 by a team of Cavendish, CH2M Hill and URS had been scheduled for completion between 2022 and 2025. While plans for […]

The Senate yesterday confirmed a handful of Obama Administration nominees, ending a more-than-500 day wait for Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Frank Rose and clearing Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board member Daniel Santos as well. Santos has had a much shorter wait than Rose as he was nominated in June by the […]

The Senate is scheduled at 10 a.m. today to vote on the nomination of Frank Rose for Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, after it voted yesterday evening to end debate on his nomination. The Foreign Relations Committee cleared Rose by voice vote in February, a month after delaying a vote on Rose […]

During a rare Saturday session, the Senate passed a bill that would require President Barack Obama to demand Russia to comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and order the country to "completely and verifiably eliminate the military systems that constitute a violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty.” The U.S. has accused […]

NDA Plan Calls for £3.31 Billion in Spending Next Year Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is calling for a spending level of £3.31 billion ($5.18 billion) in the 2015/16 fiscal year, according to a draft business plan released this week covering cleanup sites across the United Kingdom from 2015 to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 Kurion announced this week the opening of a United Kingdom office, Kurion Limited, to better support operations in Europe. The new office, which former Chief Operating Officer Phil Ohl will lead as Vice President of European Operations, marks Kurion’s second international office, following the opening of its Japanese headquarters […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty has prompted the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commission a military assessment of hypothetical threats posed by any Russian deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region, while House Republicans this week pressed the Administration to provide […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 As tensions over the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Eastern Ukraine persist between the U.S. and Russia, the prospective advancement of further economic sanctions against Russia and potential placement of defensive weapons in Ukraine should have no impact on bilateral New START cooperation, according to Steven Pifer, former U.S. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 A State Department official during this week’s Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons called on countries, non-governmental organizations and academics to help the U.S. generate the trust and verification tools needed to bring about further worldwide nuclear reductions. Speaking on Dec. 9, the second and final day […]

Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty has prompted the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commission a military assessment of hypothetical threats posed by any Russian deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region, while House Republicans yesterday pressed the Administration to provide a clear timeline and outline specific […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has ordered a second mobile processing system from Kurion to help with the water treatment at the Fukushima Daii-chi cleanup site, Kurion announced today. The company had delivered its first mobile processing system for the removal of strontium in October, and since its start date, the technology has exceeded performance […]

Kurion announced yesterday the opening of a United Kingdom office to better support operations in Europe. The new office, which former Chief Operating Officer Phil Ohl will lead as Vice President of European Operations, marks Kurion’s second international office, following the opening of its Japanese headquarters earlier this year. According to the company, the attraction […]

In a statement read by a Vatican official on Dec. 8 during the opening ceremony of the two-day Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Pope Francis expressed opposition to nuclear weapons spending and what he said was the misallocation of resources away from “integral human development, education, health and the fight against […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is calling for a spending level of £3.31 billion ($5.18 billion) in the 2015/16 fiscal year, according to a draft business plan released yesterday covering cleanup sites across the U.K. from 2015 to 2018. Out of that, £2.09 billion ($3.27 million) will be funded by U.K. government and £1.22 billion […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/5/2014 The recently announced climate agreement reached between the U.S. and China could have a significant impact on global climate negotiations, Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change with the U.S. State Department, said at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress early last week. Under the agreement, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/5/2014 Testing of a new carbon capture solvent developed by Shell Cansolv has begun at the Technology Centre Mongstad’s amine test facility, TCM and Shell announced last week. Testing will be done utilizing exhaust gas from TCM’s Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant. Shell Cansolv’s capture technology is currently being […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/5/2014 A cap and trade system as employed by Europe and parts of the U.S., is not feasible in China, leaving the regulators of China’s pilot cap and trade programs to find innovative ways to tailor a cap and trade system to fit their unique circumstances, researchers from Resources for […]

Dounreay Agrees to Improvements After Fire and Possible Release Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/5/2014 Site license company Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has agreed to take steps to improve operations after a fire and potential radiological release at the Scottish cleanup site’s tank farms, the company said last month. The incident occurred on Oct. 7 at […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/5/2014 The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change announced late last week that half of the £5 million in funding made available through phase four of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund competition will be reserved for carbon capture and storage projects. “The CCS element builds on the success of the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/5/2014 Carbon capture and storage must continue to be acknowledged and incentives for the development and deployment of the technology must be present within the post-Kyoto global climate treaty planned to be signed next year in Paris, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), said in a document released last […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The U.S. State Department is partnering with the Nuclear Threat Initiative to start an international nuclear forum to increase understanding among nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states of the technical problems of and solutions to verifying nuclear disarmament. Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, announced the International Partnership […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/5/2014 Two communities in the Toronto-area have advanced in the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s assessment to locate a repository site for the nation’s high-level waste, the NWMO announced this week. The communities, the Municipality of South Bruce and the Township of Huron-Kinloss, are both located in Bruce County, Ontario, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/5/2014 Natural Resources Canada last week extended the deadline for submittals to the Request for Response Evaluation on the government’s procurement to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s nuclear laboratories. The extension adds an additional month to the RFRE end-date, with the final response intake date now at Jan. 5, […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Dec. 3 announced a joint subcommittee hearing next week examining arms control “cheating” by Russia and Obama Administration responses. The HASC Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade within the House Foreign Affairs Committee will meet on Dec. 10 to hear testimony from Rose […]

Natural Resources Canada extended yesterday the deadline for submittals to the Request for Response Evaluation on the government’s procurement to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s nuclear laboratories. The extension adds an additional month to the already extended RFRE end-date. The final response intake date is now Jan. 5, 2014, with a Jan. 30, 2015 […]

Site license company Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has agreed to take steps to improve operations after a fire and potential radiological release at the Scottish cleanup site’s tank farms, the company said Friday. The incident occurred on Oct. 7 at the site’s Prototype Fast Reactor tank farm, and earlier this month the U.K.’s Office of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/21/2014 While the United States cannot solve the problem of climate change alone, efforts being taken to reduce emissions domestically will be integral in securing a position as a world leader on the issue, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said during an event hosted this week by the Center […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/21/2014 North America currently leads the world in terms of carbon capture and storage deployment, but globally, progress must be accelerated if climate goals are to be met, Global CCS Institute General Manager for the Americas Elizabeth Burton said during a webinar hosted by GCCSI this week. Progress needs to […]