The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has extended the deadline for public comments on Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' draft Environmental Impact Statement for decommissioning the country's first ever nuclear power reactor by two weeks to 13 February. The Nuclear Power Demonstration reactor was the prototype for the Candu reactor design.

A demonstration test run of the Plasma Melting Facility at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria has been completed. The facility will be used to treat low- and intermediate-level solid radioactive waste, reducing its volume and immobilising it.

Installation of critical systems is progressing within the New Safe Confinement covering the damaged unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The enormous arched structure was put in place one year ago and is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2018.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in nuclear energy was signed yesterday between the UK and South Korea. The agreement calls for greater collaboration in the construction of new nuclear power plants and the decommissioning of old ones.

Russia's Rosatom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian companies Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear power. It includes the possible construction of a new nuclear power plant in Brazil, Rosatom said.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has requested an amended timeline for its Near Surface Disposal Facility project to allow sufficient time to respond to regulatory requests for technical information before submitting its final Environmental Impact Statement for the facility.

Russia's Rosatom and the French radioactive waste management agency Andra yesterday signed a cooperation agreement concerning the final isolation of radioactive waste. The agreement builds on a memorandum of understanding the two parties signed in 2012.

The dismantling of the central chimney at the shutdown Garigliano nuclear power plant in Italy was completed yesterday, Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari SpA announced. Preparations to demolish the 95-meter-high chimney began in March 2014.

Only low-level radioactive waste will be disposed of in the planned Near Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has announced. CNL made the decision not to include intermediate-level waste after reviewing comments and concerns expressed during a public comment period on the facility's draft Environmental Impact Statement.

A contract to recover and encapsulate low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste at the Marcoule nuclear research site has been awarded to Areva Projets SAS and the Wood Group by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. The contract covers some 50 tonnes of waste resulting from the treatment of fuels used in former plutonium-producing reactors there.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's ability to manage large procurements has been called into question by the National Audit Office. In its report on the 'Magnox contract', issued today, the NAO assesses the competitive procurement exercise for services to decommission two nuclear research sites and 10 Magnox sites that the NDA ran between 2012 and 2014.

A robot has been sent into Sellafield's most hazardous nuclear waste store for the first time. The Avexis will help dislodge and clear waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, Sellafield Sites announced today.