The US Department of Energy yesterday announced up to USD40 million in funding for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy programme that will limit the amount of waste produced from advanced nuclear reactors. Reducing such waste, it says, will help in the development and commercialisation of such reactors.

Technology that enables drones to be used to carry out radiological measurements has been developed by Belgium's Nuclear Research Centre and the Belgian aeronautical firm Sabca. The measuring equipment was officially attached to a drone yesterday, in the presence of the country's Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden.

A new international project to use nuclear science-based techniques to drastically reduce rhinoceros poaching has been launched in South Africa. The Rhisotope Project was initiated by the University of Witwatersrand in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Colorado State University, Russian nuclear company Rosatom and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa as well as global scientists, researchers, rhino owners and veterinary surgeon and rhino expert William Fowlds.

Framatome has announced the completion of a key milestone in the development of a robotic-assisted handling system to support decommissioning and waste management for the nuclear industry. Testing has confirmed the operation of robotic systems for handling and sorting high-level waste components, paving the way for increased automation.

An electrochemical cell that converts gaseous carbon dioxide into valuable compounds could take advantage of high-temperature technologies including next-generation advanced nuclear reactors. The cell is being developed by scientists at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory.

Poland's Ministry of Education and Science and the National Centre for Nuclear Research have signed an agreement for the next round of high temperature gas-cooled reactor design work. The agreement was signed yesterday in Otwock-Spruce, at a ceremony attended by Minister of Climate and Environment Michał Kurtyka, Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek and Director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research Krzysztof Kurek.

The goals of the Generation IV International Forum - and the six reactor types that are its focus - remain as important today as they have always been, speakers at an international panel discussion held to mark the organisation's 20th anniversary agreed. Looking to the future, demonstration should become a focus to drive forwards to deployment of the technology.

The US State Department has announced it is launching the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) programme, which will provide "capacity-building support to partner countries". As an initial investment, the department has committed USD5.3 million to support FIRST projects.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has designated Ontario Tech University as a Collaborating Centre to support IAEA activities on advanced nuclear power technology, including small modular reactors, as well as the non‑electric applications of nuclear energy. The institution is the first in Canada to receive such a designation.

The US Department of Energy is planning to build a microreactor to help researchers and end-users understand how microreactors can integrate with other technologies. The Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation liquid-metal cooled microreactor could be operational within three years.

There is bipartisan support in the USA for the country to be the world's leading supplier of fuel for advanced reactors, Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said today during the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle forum, which the NEI is co-hosting this week with World Nuclear Association.

TAE Technologies, the California, USA-based fusion energy technology company, has announced that its proprietary beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma generator has produced stable plasma at over 50 million degrees Celsius. The milestone has helped the company raise USD280 million in additional funding.