International

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 4/18/2014 A new report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released this week includes carbon capture and sequestration among the technologies that could play a significant role in helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and emphasizes that a move toward a low-carbon future could have less of an […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 6/6/2014 The European Union needs to, among other steps, invest in the further development of carbon capture and storage to combat vulnerability in their energy sector due to an overreliance on imports, according to the European Energy Security Strategy released by the European Commission last week. According to the report, […]

GHG Monitor 6/6/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has expressed an intention to conduct research into clean coal for Egypt. UNIDO spokesman Ahmed Nabil Fahmy said early this week that UNIDO would sign an agreement regarding the research with the Egyptian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Investment by […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Tokyo Electric Power Company this week began the construction of an ‘ice wall’ at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station in an effort to help divert groundwater from the contaminated site. The ice wall is part of TEPCO’s larger plan that also includes a well pumping system to prevent […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Canadian Joint Review Panel responsible for evaluating Ontario Power Generation’s license request to build a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate waste in Kincardine, Ont. has scheduled a new set of public hearings for this fall to discuss information it has received in response to a request […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 A new set of documents made public this week provide insight into the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s concerns over the performance of Sellafield contractor Nuclear Management Partners prior to the NDA deciding to grant NMP a five-year contract extension while pushing for improvements in the second term. The NDA decided […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 U.K. cleanup contractor Sellafield Limited last week lost an appeal to a £700,000 ($1.1 million) fine levied against the company for sending contaminated waste to a regular landfill. The company pleaded guilty in January to sending four bags of mixed waste from normal operations in controlled areas to a regular […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/11/2014 SaskPower and Vattenfall this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding on carbon capture and storage knowledge and technologies. The MOU, which will be in in effect for five years, “sets out the two parties’ intentions to explore opportunities for collaboration in order to advance their common interests concerning carbon capture […]

Martin Schneider GHG Monitor 4/11/2014 International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol this week made an emphatic cast for government incentives or a carbon price to drive development of carbon capture and storage technology, arguing that commercially available CCS is vital “if you want to make use of the fossil fuel reserves.” Speaking on the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 GMB Union May Take Action Against Sellafield after Worker Upgrading The union GMB is considering taking action against Sellafield Limited after 400 health physics were upgraded to management, which took them out of GMB’s collective bargaining agreements. “The company has now decided that our members should be upgraded, but they […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is set to launch next month a four-year research effort on waste treatment technologies with Sellafield Limited, the National Nuclear Laboratory, numerous U.K. universities and other partners, the NDA announced this week. The program is expected to cost £8-£9 million ($13.2 million to $14.8 million) […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 The Department of Energy said this week that it plans to prepare an environmental assessment for accepting German experimental spent fuel for processing at the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes in the form of graphite spheres from the pebble bed AVR […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/30/2014 For the third consecutive year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has presented clean coal technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS) with a “not on track” rating in its annual report Tracking Clean Energy Progress. The report, released last week, finds that “the unrelenting rise in coal use without […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/30/2014 The Norwegian government reiterated a commitment to establish at least one full-scale carbon capture and storage facility by 2020 in a revised national budget for 2014 released May 14. The new budget comes after a previous government announced last fall that plans to develop a full-scale CCS project at […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Ten Republican Senators are asking the State Department’s Inspector General to investigate how much Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller was aware of possible Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty during the ratification process of the New START Treaty. In a May […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 The United Kingdom must not stall any longer in developing carbon capture and storage projects, says a report released this week by the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. The report notes that while the UK has stated its intentions to pursue CCS as a means to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation last week that signs off on the Obama Administration’s controversial nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam but includes a provision that would put an expiration date on the agreement, and some future nuclear cooperation deals. The language in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/23/2014 Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) and the University of Nicosia’s Center for Green Development and Energy Policy (CGD) in Cyprus have reached a new memorandum of understanding regarding research into possible CO2 storage sites beneath the Mediterranean Sea. “Our research agreement with the University of Nicosia’s Centre for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/23/2014 A group of Michigan state lawmakers introduced a set of legislation this week that aims to protect the Great Lakes region from a proposed Canadian deep geologic repository for low and intermediate radioactive waste in Kincardine, Ont. Ontario Power Generation’s planned repository has received sharp criticism from both state […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/23/2014 The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced this week that it has begun the process of bypassing clean groundwater around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Water management issues and the prevention of contamination spread to clean groundwater have been problem areas for TEPCO throughout the beginning phases of the […]

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced yesterday that it has begun the process of bypassing clean groundwater around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Water management issues and the prevention of the spread of contamination to clean groundwater have been problem areas for TEPCO throughout the beginning phases of the cleanup. The bypass system is […]

Argentina has assumed full responsibility for a pair of radiation detection systems installed at two ports by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Second Line of Defense Program. The NNSA installed radiation detection systems at the Port of Buenos Aires and the Port of Dock Sud in 2010, allowing customs officials at the ports to scan […]

A pair of House Democrats are seeking to have NATO member states foot part of the bill for “sustaining and forward-deploying” nuclear weapons in Europe. Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) filed an amendment that will be considered by the House Rules Committee today for debate on the House Floor as lawmakers take […]

A group of Michigan state lawmakers will introduce a bill today that aims to protect the Great Lakes region from a Canadian proposed deep geologic repository for low and intermediate radioactive waste in Kincardine, Ont. Ontario Power Generation’s planned DGR has received sharp criticism from both state and congressional lawmakers on the United States’ side […]

With the Department of Energy looking at plutonium disposition alternatives to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the State Department’s top arms control official said late last week that she didn’t expect Russia to object to any changes to U.S. plans. Lawmakers that have opposed the Administration’s decision to put the MOX facility in “cold […]

AREVA and ATOX, a Japanese nuclear maintenance service company, announced yesterday that they have created a joint venture to work on decommissioning activities at the Fukushima-Daiichi cleanup project. The joint venture, named ANADEC, will “provide solutions and services in the field of decommissioning and dismantling of Japanese nuclear power plants,” AREVA said. The joint venture […]

The House Armed Services Committee is incorporating into its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act a bill drafted by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) that would suspend all National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation work in Russia due to tensions in Ukraine. HASC Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) unveiled the full committee version […]

Sellafield Ltd and TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Decontamination and Decommissioning Engineering Company appears to have come together for a cooperation agreement, according to Copeland Member of Parliament Jamie Reed. The agreement will work as an ‘operator to operator’ cooperation agreement “to share knowledge, experience and skills on an on-going basis,” Reed said. “This is an exciting […]

Legislation introduced yesterday by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and 20 other Senate Republicans designed to respond to Russia’s actions in Ukraine would terminate U.S. cooperation with parts of the New START Treaty and prohibit arms control negotiations with Moscow. In a statement, Corker said the “Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014” would go beyond sanctions […]

Moving ahead with potentially processing German experimental spent fuel at the Savannah River Site, the Department of Energy has signed a statement of intent with the German government to look at processing and disposing of the material at the site. The highly enriched uranium comes in graphite spheres from the for pebble bed AVR gas-cooled […]