International

The NATO Wales Summit ended late last week with no change to the alliance’s nuclear posture. 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 exist. “The strategic nuclear forces of […]

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) over a period of 58 months […]

NDA Completes Formal Award of Magnox Contract to Cavendish-Fluor Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The Cavendish Fluor Partnership has named its executive leadership team after the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority this week formally completed the share transfer for the new contract to manage 10 Magnox sites and two research reactor sites. That includes Managing Director […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/5/2014 SUMMERLIN, Nev.—The Mitsubishi Research Institute, one of the leaders of the Fukushima cleanup, has chosen Kurion, along with two other firms, to move forward in its tritium removal technology procurement to aid in the treatment of the contaminated water problem at the site. The other teams include bids from […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/5/2014 Three former generals are advocating continued U.S. compliance to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty despite allegations that Russia violated the agreement by testing its R-500 cruise missile. The INF Treaty prohibits ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,000 kilometers. In a piece published last week  in […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/5/2014 With Russian President Vladimir Putin increasingly emphasizing Moscow’s nuclear firepower amid growing tensions with the United States over Ukraine, nuclear weapons experts suggested this week that Russia’s nuclear bluster could provide more ammunition to supporters of modernizing the U.S. nuclear stockpile and weapons complex. Speaking Aug. 29 at a youth […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/5/2014 The United Kingdom’s Liberal Democrat party is looking to enact a ban on electricity production from unabated coal as one of five “green laws” to be included in the party’s manifesto, according to information released this week. Key measures of the “Zero Carbon Britain Bill” would include “introducing a […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 9/5/2014 In-depth research into carbon capture and sequestration will take place at the University of Melbourne in Australia over the next five years under an $18 million contract between the university and the Cooperative Research Centre on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) the centre announced this week. The contract will cover […]

NATO allies that will gather in Wales for a summit today and tomorrow aren’t likely to make any changes to the alliance’s nuclear posture, according to the former U.S. representative to the alliance. Ivo Daalder, who is now the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, suggested yesterday during a conference call with reporters […]

Hitachi Ltd. announced last week that it has entered into a joint research project with three U.S. universities to study Transuranium Elements (TRU) as fuel in the development of Resource-renewable Boiling Water Reactors (RBWRs). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Berkeley will aid in the research of […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority yesterday formally completed the share transfer to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership for the new contract to manage 10 Magnox sites and two research reactor sites. The NDA announced the award of the contract to the team in late March and the contract is expected to be worth £4 billion to […]

Sellafield Completes New Waste Storage Facility Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/29/2014 Sellafield Limited has completed construction of a new £100 million ($166 million) storage facility for intermediate- level waste generated through decommissioning and fuel reprocessing. The Encapsulated Product Store 3 is an aboveground storage building that can hold more than 29,000 waste drums. “The completion […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 An Atlantic Council/Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security issue brief urges NATO to renew its focus on nuclear deterrence, calling nuclear weapons a “’core element of’ the Alliance’s ‘overall strategy.” The piece, published this week, dubs this era “the Second Nuclear Age,” and predicts tensions in Ukraine and the South […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) this week announced plans to introduce a resolution before the House next month that would express U.S.  opposition to the construction of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed deep geological repository for low and intermediary waste. “As Michiganders, we know that our Great Lakes are an invaluable […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 8/29/2014 Drilling to further explore the potential for underground storage of carbon dioxide in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia is on track to begin this fall, Carl Poirier, President and CEO of the Carbon Capture and Storage Research Consortium of Nova Scotia, told GHG Monitor this week. The proposed […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 8/29/2014 Work on the Quest CCS project in the Canadian province of Alberta is now 70 percent complete, with the last of the project’s 69 modules recently put in place, Shell Canada announced this week. Further, the project remains on schedule and on budget, a feat that can be attributed […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 8/29/2014 U.K.  Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey called for increased commitment to development of carbon capture and storage technology in a policy scoping document released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change earlier this month. “The U.K. is leading Europe in developing CCS technology, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 8/29/2014 The World Bank posted a tender late last week calling for consultants to explore the development of a regulatory framework for carbon capture utilization and storage in Mexico. Consultants are asked to submit an expression of interest by Sept. 4 providing information relevant to their qualifications. This information should […]

Sellafield Limited has completed construction of a new storage facility for intermediate level waste generated through decommissioning and fuel reprocessing. The Encapsulated Product Store 3 is an above ground storage building that can store over 29,000 waste drums. “The completion of EPS 3 marks a major milestone in the decommissioning of Sellafield. This facility is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 LA VISTA, Neb.—Rose Gottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, last week dismissed a call for the United States to withdraw from the New START Treaty in response to alleged Russian Violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as “crazy.” Gottemoeller addressed U.S. Strategic Command’s […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 LA VISTA, Neb.—Tensions involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have “tamped down” talk of arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation among United States allies at NATO, according to a senior NATO official. Speaking at U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium last week, Fred Frederickson, the director of the Nuclear Policy Division on the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Bechtel Government Services Canada has joined with Hatch Ltd. and Golder Associates Ltd. to bid on the new contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s Chalk River laboratories under the team name Canadian Nuclear Revitalization Partners, the team announced this week. The Canadian government’s procurement for a contract […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 8/22/2014 The provincial government of Nova Scotia announced late last week that an industrial approval permit will now be required for all carbon capture and storage projects within the province. The move is the first attempt by the government of Nova Scotia to regulate the practice as currently no activity […]

GHG Monitor 8/22/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT A contract to supply pipe to transport carbon for the Abu Dhabi Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project was awarded to TMK Gulf International Pipe Industry (GIPI) early this week according to a TMK GIPI release. The project is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company […]

Bechtel Government Services Canada has joined with Hatch Ltd. and Golder Associates Ltd. to bid on the new contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s Chalk River laboratories under the team name Canadian Nuclear Revitalization Partners, the team announced yesterday. The Canadian government’s procurement for a contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s […]

Rose Gottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, last week dismissed a call for the United States to withdraw from the New START Treaty in response to alleged Russian Violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as “crazy.” Gottemoeller addressed U.S. Strategic Command’s annual Deterrence Symposium Aug. 14, highlighting the […]

Tensions involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have “tamped down” talk of arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation among United States allies at NATO, according to a senior NATO official. Speaking at U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium last week, Fred Frederickson, the director of the Nuclear Policy Division on the NATO International Staff, said arms control, disarmament […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced yesterday that two key systems to water management at the site are ready for regulatory and stakeholder approval. The two systems, a seaside impermeable wall and a subdrain system, will help cut the amount of contaminated water by 200 tons a day while also controlling the amount of contamination […]

The U.S. should withdraw from the New START Treaty in response to alleged Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Wall Street Journal said in an Aug. 10 editorial that implores the Obama Administration to take action against Moscow. The Journal also encouraged the Administration to restore the ground-based missile-defense interceptors it shelved […]

Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 8/1/2014 AIKEN, S.C.—South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) this week questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to ship German nuclear material to the Savannah River Site for processing. During a visit to Savannah River, where she was accompanied by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and other DOE officials […]