International

Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia, 53 kilograms of highly enriched uranium was returned from Poland to an undisclosed facility in Russia last week in a joint operation coordinated by the National Nuclear Security Administration and work remains on track to complete the HEU cleanout of Poland by 2016, the NNSA said yesterday. The […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 The Obama Administration continues to plan to for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, although getting enough Republican support for ratification remains an uphill battle, senior Administration officials said this week. In remarks at a conference hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace, Under Secretary of State for […]

Spent Fuel Logistics Dominate NRC Briefing Senators Introduce Resolution Against Canadian Repository Kurion Shakes Up Corporate Leadership EnergySolutions Changes Zion Corporate Leadership Senate Confirms NRC Nominations USEC to Complete Restructuring and Switch Name to Centrus on Sept. 30 Michigan State Lawmakers Introduce Bill Against Fracking Waste TEPCO Making Strides on Contaminated Water at Fukushima Congress […]

Mexico Moving to Deploy CCS, EOR Under Ambitious Timeline EPA Extends Public Comment Period for Proposed Carbon Regs 45 Days Businesses Ready for Carbon Price, Report Says House Passes Energy Package With Measure to Block Proposed EPA Regs Global Commission: Economically Feasible Climate Mitigation Possible Australian State Government to Provide $5 Mill for CCS R&D […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/19/2014 The state government of Victoria, Australia, has pledged $5 million in funding to the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies’ (CO2CRC) continued carbon storage research project in Otway, Australia. The announcement was made during Australia’s National CCS Conference by Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources, Russell Northe, according […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/19/2014 A swift shift from unabated coal burning, an end of fossil fuel subsidies and an increase in low-carbon technological innovation, among several other measures, can lead to a low-carbon future without causing economic harm, according to a report published this week by the Global Commission on the Economy and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/19/2014 A group of U.S. senators introduced a resolution this week against a proposed Canadian radioactive waste repository in Ontario. Among the senators sponsoring the resolution is Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who along with a host of Michigan state lawmakers, have been vocal about their opposition to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/19/2014 Mexico, though not on the hotlist of counties actively pursuing carbon capture utilization and storage, has taken significant first steps in recent years to develop a vast CCUS infrastructure in the county. The timeline that has been set forth by the country is aggressive with planning for two pilot […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/19/2014 Governments have fallen behind the corporate world when it comes to pricing carbon, according to a report released by U.K.-based organization Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) this week, which states that 150 major corporations worldwide have already adopted the practice of using an internal price on carbon in their investment […]

NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY All pending legal challenges to AECOM’s planned acquisition of URS have been dismissed, according to a URS filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Beginning in late July, seven class action lawsuits were filed against the planned acquisition, and by Aug. 5, six of the suits had […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/19/2014 While water contamination continues to plague the cleanup of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company appears to be making headway on the problem. TEPCO announced this week that it has successfully installed and has begun testing an enhanced ALPS water treatment system at the […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company successfully installed and has begun testing an enhanced ALPS water treatment system at the Fukushima Daii-chi Power Station, the company announced yesterday. The new ALPS system builds off the existing treatment system in an effort to increase the treatment capacity. TEPCO plans to install two additional systems, with one going […]

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) told the London-based Sunday Express that he would support relocating UK’s nuclear weapons-laden Vanguard-class submarines to U.S. shores should Scotland gain independence in a vote scheduled for today. Aides of Sensenbrenner, who is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, confirmed the accuracy of the article, […]

Top Obama Administration officials are continuing to push for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), although getting enough Republican support for ratification remains an uphill battle. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Rose Gottemoeller, speaking at the “Nuclear Weapons Testing: History, Progress, Challenges” conference hosted by the United States Institute of […]

Here’s a look at some of the events we will be following this week: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will also be on hand at the U.S. Institute for Peace today at 12:30 p.m. for a conference on nuclear testing along with NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security […]

U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is unlikely in the near future, according to Amb. Thomas Graham, a leading expert on nuclear non-proliferation and former special representative of the president of the United States for arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament from 1994-1997. During a Friday talk entitled “Ending Nuclear Explosive Testing” at George […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/12/2014 The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has selected eight international developers from a pool of 17 applicants to bid for the first phase of the Hassyan Clean-Coal Power Project, DEWA announced late last week. The short-list of potential bidders consists of Mitsubishi; China Huadian Corporation; EDF International SAS;  […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/12/2014 Two planned carbon capture and storage projects in the United Kingdom carry “unacceptable” levels of risk for the government to make a final investment decision at this time, the UK Government wrote in a response published late last week to a May 2014 report by the House of Commons […]

GHG Monitor 9/12/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT China intends to implement a nationwide carbon trading scheme in 2016, Reuters reported early last week. The country has been launching pilot markets in a regional structure for several years and will implement knowledge gained from those experiences into the national market. Once in place, the market would […]

Jeremy L. Dillon and Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 9/12/2014 The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission voiced its support this week for Ontario Power Generation’s proposed radioactive waste inventory verification plan for its proposed deep geologic repository for low and intermediate radioactive waste during a public hearing on OPG’s license request. Earlier this year, a former employee […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/12/2014 Enresa, the public company charged with dealing with Spain’s high level nuclear waste, put out a tender late last week for construction of its Centralized Temporary Storage of Villar de Cañas (Cuenca). The procurement calls for a maximum bidding amount of approximately $218 million euro ($282 million U.S. dollars) […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/12/2014 Japan’s International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) issued a Request for Proposals late last week for a feasibility study on technology capable of investigating the reactor pressure vessel at the Fukushima Daii-chi Power Station. The RPV was badly damage in the accident, and innovative approaches are needed to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 The vote for Scottish independence next week could have significant impacts on the future of the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent as Scottish leaders have vowed to remove the UK’s nuclear warheads and submarines from the base in Scotland that is their exclusive home should Scots vote for independence. There is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 U.S. and Russian officials made no progress in talks late this week about accusations that Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department. The U.S. delegation, led by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller, traveled […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/12/2014 The NATO Wales Summit ended late last week with no change to the alliance’s nuclear posture. Deep within the summit declaration was language mirroring previous statements in NATO’s 2012 Deterrence and Defense Posture Review and 2010 Strategic Concept indicating that the alliance will remain nuclear as long as nuclear weapons […]

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said yesterday that it supports Ontario Power Generation’s proposed radioactive waste inventory verification plan for its proposed deep geologic repository for low and intermediate radioactive waste during a public hearing on OPG’s license request. Earlier this year, a former employee of OPG publicly criticized the waste inventory plan for failing […]

As Canada examines the implications of recent incidents at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant on its own repository planning efforts, DOE’s multiple roles at WIPP can be “potentially problematic,” Canadian regulators said at a meeting yesterday of the panel reviewing plans for a repository in Ontario. The Joint Review Panel is holding a […]

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will travel to Moscow Thursday to lead a U.S. delegation in talks about U.S. claims that Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. U.S. accusations center on the R-500 ground-based cruise missile, and it has asked Russia to destroy all missiles and […]

Suggesting that it is too late to negotiate with Russia over alleged violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued yesterday that the U.S. should expand its missile defense capabilities and “reinstate” funding to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal and weapons complex […]

The latest round of public hearings in Ontario Power Generation’s quest to license a low and intermediate radioactive waste deep geologic repository in Kincardine, Ont. get underway this week. The previous set of public hearings occurred in the fall of last year, but information released by a former-OPG employee alleging miscalculations on the DGR’s waste […]