The two most highly contaminated pieces of processing equipment have been removed from the former Plutonium Finishing Plant at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford site in preparation for the plant's demolition later this year.

US uranium production in the fourth quarter of 2015 was at its lowest level since 2002 and total 2015 production was the lowest since 2005, according to figures released by the US Energy Information Administration.

Centrus Energy Corporation has announced the completion of operations at the American Centrifuge demonstration uranium enrichment plant in Ohio. Decontamination and decommissioning activities will begin within weeks, but the company plans to maintain its construction and operating licence for a commercial plant at the site.

The US Department of Energy has issued notices against Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) and Los Alamos National Security (LANS) for violations of its nuclear safety requirements regarding two 2014 incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, marking the completion of its investigations and enforcement processes.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has invited stakeholders to express their views on a potential sale of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant site in Alabama with its two partially constructed reactors and associated facilities.

Demolition work has begun on building K-27, the last of five gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facilities at the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The US Department of Energy plans to remove all gaseous diffusion buildings from the site by the end of the year under its Vision 2016 project.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has approved the expenditure of a further $200 million on the completion of Watts Bar 2, which would bring final spending on the project to a total of up to $4.7 billion.

Developers and potential customers of small modular reactors (SMRs) on 27 January signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the SMR Start consortium to advance the commercialization of SMR reactor designs.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has invited public comment by 15 June on a consent-based approach to siting facilities for the storage and disposal of used commercial nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

Settlement agreements worth $74 million have been finalized by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors, resolving claims relating to incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in 2014. Operations are now expected to restart at WIPP in December 2016.

The State of New York Public Service Commission yesterday ruled that non-carbon-emitting generation resources including nuclear power plants must be included in the state's Clean Energy Standard portfolio. The CES is to include a support mechanism for upstate nuclear power plants at risk of closure for economic reasons.

Entergy has asked a US federal court to reject New York State's objection to coastal certification of Indian Point, which it says was intended to block a renewal of the nuclear power plant's operating licence.