A consignment of intermediate-level radioactive waste has been safely returned to Australia from the Sellafield plant in the UK.

The US Department of Energy has awarded USD36 million for 11 projects seeking to increase the use of nuclear power as a reliable source of clean energy and to limit the amount of radioactive waste produced from advanced reactors.

Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning has awarded a NOK123 million (USD13.7 million), 12-year contract to the ICCircle consortium for the design, development and maintenance of a bespoke integrated software system to support nuclear decommissioning and waste management.

Plans to jointly develop a state-of-the-art advanced materials treatment facility in the UK have been announced by Westinghouse Electric Company and Perma-Fix Environmental Services. To be built at Westinghouse's Springfields site, the facility will expand waste treatment capabilities for the European nuclear market.

Belgium's SCK-CEN nuclear research centre has received all the licences needed for the construction and operation of a facility to support the RECUMO project to manage and recycle radioactive residues from the production of medical radioisotopes.

The Finnish government and nuclear regulator have published a comprehensive plan and an environmental impact assessment for the management of all the used fuel and radioactive waste generated in the country.

A high-pressure press for the treatment of solid radioactive wastes at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under construction in Turkey has passed factory acceptance tests. German engineering company Nukem Technologies and Russia's Nikimt-Atomstroy said they are now ready to deliver the equipment to the plant site.

Eletronuclear of Brazil has begun transferring used fuel assemblies into dry storage at Angra unit 1 as part of a process that will make space in the reactor's used fuel pool for the next five years of operation.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd has placed an order with Holtec International subsidiary Holtec Asia to supply HI-STAR transport casks to serve away-from-reactor storage for Kudankulam units 1 and 2. NPCIL has also issued a call for tenders for the construction of a used fuel storage facility for Kudankulam units 3 and 4.

Intensifying work to complete Khmelnitsky unit 3 and exploring the possibilities of small modular reactors are among priorities for the year ahead, Energoatom has said.

The Box Encapsulation Plant Product Store - Direct Import Facility, which will take on and store waste from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo at the Sellafield site in the UK, has successfully completed its first dry run of a storage box being transferred from road to its long-term storage vault.

Czech utility ČEZ and Slovak radioactive waste management company JAVYS have extended their cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation to collaborate on the management of aging equipment and the reduction in volume of waste in nuclear power plants.