International

Despite tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, a new report from a 21-member expert panel is urging the two countries to move forward on another round of arms control talks. The report, “Preparing for Deep Nuclear Cuts: Options for Enhancing Euro-Atlantic and International Security,” calls on the U.S. and Russian to “initiate […]

Incumbent contractor EnergySolutions yesterday filed a claim for damages against the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in a challenge to the recent award of the Magnox/RSRL contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. Bechtel, EnergySolutions’ teaming partner in the Reactor Site Solutions bid, did not join in the legal challenge. EnergySolutions contends that the NDA “has inconsistently and […]

The effort to demolish a 530-ton filter gallery on top of the a massive chimney at Sellafield has passed the half way point, site license company Sellafield Limited announced yesterday. The large filter gallery must addressed at the last remaining Windscale chimney before it can be brought down. The 110 meter chimney was a ventilation […]

Westinghouse Electric Company and Canadian Nuclear Partners, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, announced an agreement yesterday that enables the two companies to work more closely together on global nuclear projects. The agreement includes potential joint projects in refurbishment, maintenance and outage services, decommissioning and remediation of existing nuclear facilities, and new nuclear power plants.  […]

The International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) along with the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) will host a workshop on April 25 in Tokyo that will discuss the results of the Request For Information that IRID issued in last year on innovative approaches to fuel debris removal, as well as the path forward for the […]

After no legal challenges to the award were filed during the standstill period, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority yesterday began a five-month  transition to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership for management of 10 Magnox and two research reactor sites. The NDA and the winning team inked the transition agreement after a required two-week standstill period following the […]

Sellafield Ltd. yesterday selected a joint venture of AREVA, Mace and Atkins (a.m.a.) as the preferred bidder for the Silos Direct-encapsulation Plant Project at Sellafield. The a.m.a. joint venture will complete the engineering design, procurement, construction, and commissioning related activities for the facility. When complete, SDP will process nuclear waste recovered from the Magnox Swaf […]

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s standstill period comes to an end today for potential challenges to its recent award of the Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. “The UK and EU procurement regulations require a standstill period (10 days minimum) triggered by the provision of debriefing information and during which unsuccessful bidders may request further […]

Responding to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said he will introduce a bill today that would suspend all National Nuclear Security Administration work in Russia. The wide-ranging bill would prohibit the “contact, cooperation or transfer of technology” between the NNSA and the Russian Federal until Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz certifies that Russia […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has appointed two new members to its executive team: Rob Higgins to business services director and Kenna Kintrea as assurance director. Higgens previously served as NDA head of legal starting in 2009 while Kintrea joined the NDA in 2013 from the Olympic Delivery Authority. The appointments are part of a […]

Cleanup costs at the U.K.’s Dounreay site are expected to go up £200 million, the Independent reported. The Babcock Dounreay Partnership, a team including Babcock, URS and CH2M Hill that took over the contract in 2012, submitted a change order and negotiations with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will go on into the summer, according to […]

A deadline is coming late this week in the first step toward challenging the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s recent award of the Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. Unsuccessful bidders have 10 days after the March 31 award to request further information on the award before filing a legal challenge. Reactor Site Solutions, the […]

The Bechtel-EnergySolutions team appears to be considering challenging the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s recent award of the new Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. EnergySolutions currently manages the 10 Magnox reactor sites and expects to earn $1.2 billion in the contract year that ended this week, according to a financial filing posted yesterday. The […]

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority plans to complete a five-month transition by Sept. 1 for the new Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. The NDA announced yesterday its selection of the joint venture between Fluor Corporation and U.K.-based Babcock subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear to manage the 10 Magnox reactor sites and two research reactor sites under […]

A worker at the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup site died late last week after a trench caved-in, according to a release from Tokyo Electric Power Company.  According to TEPCO, the worker was one of a group of workers involved in the repair of foundation piles at a currently empty container storage facility, and to access the […]

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority this morning awarded the Cavendish-Fluor Partnership the new contract to manage the 10 Magnox nuclear reactor sites and two research reactor sites. The other three teams, which submitted bids last fall, include Reactor Site Solutions, comprised of Bechtel and EnergySolutions; CAS Restoration Partnership, made up of CH2M Hill, AREVA and Serco; […]

The Department of Energy said yesterday that it has dropped from its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request a laser-based protective force training system it had planned on providing to Russia due to concerns about the U.S. relationship with Moscow. The announcement from DOE Press Secretary Bill Gibbons came two days after 18 House Republicans called […]

Thirty-five nations at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Netherlands have agreed to an initiative that would strengthen the international nuclear security architecture. In a joint statement drafted by the U.S., South Korea and The Netherlands, the countries agreed to implement nuclear security recommendations from the International Atomic Energy Agency and engage in peer reviews […]

The Nuclear Security Summit is coming back to the United States for its swan song in 2016, President Obama said yesterday, sparking some confusion about the summit’s precise location in the process. During a closing address at the current summit in The Netherlands, Obama initially mentioned Chicago as the site of the 2016 summit, then […]

Frustrated with the Obama Administration’s reaction to possible Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, House and Senate Republicans introduced legislation yesterday to hold Moscow accountable for the potential cheating. GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced companion resolutions that would declare that Russia “violated and circumvented” the treaty and calls on President […]

South Carolina plans to pressure the Department of Energy to complete a waste determination for hundreds of kilograms of plutonium from Japan if it is sent to the Savannah River Site. The Obama Administration earlier this week announced plans to send the material to a “secure facility” in the United States for processing in preparation […]

House Republicans are calling on the Obama Administration to stop providing a laser-based protective force training system to Russia as tensions simmer between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation program has been providing the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) to Russia since at least the […]

As expected, at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit yesterday the Obama Administration announced plans for disposal of highly enriched uranium and plutonium in Japan as well as the removal of material from Belgium and Italy. Japan and the United states pledged to remove all plutonium and HEU from the Fast Critical Assembly, which adds up […]

The Obama Administration is expected to announce plans for removal of plutonium from Japan and special nuclear materials from several European countries at the Nuclear Security Summit taking place today and tomorrow in the Netherlands. The Administration has urged Japan to commit to returning 300 kilograms of largely weapons-grade plutonium to the United States, according […]

NRC Commissioner William Magwood is leaving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to serve as Director General of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. Magwood will be taking over the position in September, but according to the NRC, he has not yet set a departure date due to previous commissioner commitments in […]

As the White House considers imposing sanctions on Russian low enriched uranium , the Nuclear Energy Institute is warning lawmakers of the potential impacts of such a move. “Interruption of deliveries of enriched uranium from Russia during 2014 and 2015 would represent a serious threat to refueling outages at U.S. nuclear energy generating facilities,” states […]

Kurion has opened an office in Tokyo in an effort to support its expanded role at the Fukushima cleanup site. The company already has a presence with the cleanup through its water treatment technologies, and it expects to grow its role at the site in the coming year. “Following the third anniversary of the earthquake […]

Liz Sherwood-Randall, the White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control, downplayed the impact of the Administration’s recent decision to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into cold standby, emphasizing yesterday that the Administration had “extensive” discussions with Russia about a potential shift in its plutonium disposition plans. […]

Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and reported threats from Moscow that it might bar arms control inspectors from the country over concerns about potential sanctions, the two countries are continuing to cooperate in the lead-up to the Nuclear Security Summit, a senior White House official said yesterday. Scheduled for the Netherlands […]

Russia has not directly told the United States that it could put an end to U.S. arms control inspections in response to sanctions over a disagreement about Ukraine, Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend. Russian news reports had suggested that Russia could stop arms control inspections, […]