Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachov has explained the Russian state nuclear corporation's "long-range agenda" at the 61st Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference being held this week in Vienna. During the event, Rosatom signed a number of agreements with its international partners.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced a concept for creating qualified technical centres for the long-term management of disused sealed radioactive sources.

Seventy-six European leaders from 20 countries have called on the US Administration to preserve the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. In a statement issued by the European Leadership Network think tank, they also urge the JCPOA's European signatories to make clear their continued support for the nuclear deal.

Iran is continuing to implement its nuclear-related commitments, but the continuation and further development of North Korea's nuclear program are a cause for "grave concern", International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano told the agency's board of governors yesterday.

China maintains "strong and sustainable" nuclear security activities, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded. The Vienna-based agency carried out a ten-day International Physical Protection Advisory Service mission at the Chinese government's request.

The UK's National Nuclear Laboratory announced yesterday that new research into nuclear energy generation proposes a "paradigm change" to support future reactor systems which 'eat up' used fuel without prior reprocessing to 'squeeze out' a factor of up to 20 times more energy from nuclear fuel. The systems could lead, NNL said, to a "significantly simpler" fuel cycle, an end to the accumulation of used fuel, and the elimination of any waste which would need to be stored for many thousands of years, while providing large-scale and secure low carbon electricity.

High-enriched uranium has been flown from Ghana back to China in the removal of all such material from the country. The Ghanaian research reactor has been converted to use low-enriched fuel instead.

The storage facility for a low-enriched uranium fuel bank was inaugurated today in a ceremony involving Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstana and Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A Washington, DC-based organisation led by former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has called for greater federal-level recognition of the importance of the USA's nuclear energy supply chain to national security. In its first major report, Energy Future Initiatives recommends immediate government action to support and encourage existing and future new-build projects and strengthen the supply chain.

Ghana's research reactor has achieved full power operation following its conversion to run on low-enriched uranium instead of highly-enriched uranium. It is the first of five such Chinese-supplied reactors outside of China to be converted.

The International Atomic Energy Agency celebrated its 60th anniversary on 29 July, the date in 1957 when it formally came into existence after 26 countries ratified its Statute. The Vienna-based agency now has 168 Member States.

The conversion of Ghana's research reactor to run on low-enriched uranium (LEU) instead of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) has been completed. It is the first of five such Chinese-supplied reactors outside of China to be converted.