A suspended pan-tilt camera attached to a telescopic guiding pipe will soon be used to investigate the interior of the primary containment vessel of the damaged unit 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. The device was developed by Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning.

The Centre for Advanced Robotics at the Queen Mary University of London was recently awarded a GBP1.0 million ($1.3 million) grant to help establish a centre of excellence for nuclear robotics in the UK. The focus of the centre will be to develop technology for aiding radioactive waste management.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration  has submitted to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission a preliminary report on a new uranium fuel that will enable the conversion of six US research reactors from highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium.

An international team led by the University of Sheffield has discovered that the toxic element arsenic prevents uranium from an abandoned mine in the UK migrating into rivers and groundwater. The discovery could help in the remediation of former uranium mines and other radioactively contaminated areas around the world, the scientists believe.

Finnish multi-metal company Terrafame has been granted permission by the country's nuclear regulator to recover a small quantity of uranium while it experiments with chemical processes it will use in an actual uranium recovery plant. The company plans to start producing uranium as a by-product from its Sotkamo mine towards the end of 2019.

US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry yesterday announced $30 million of funding to support the development of advanced nuclear energy technology. The Department of Energy is soliciting proposals for cost-shared projects to develop innovative, industry-driven reactor designs and accompanying technologies with high potential to advance nuclear power in the USA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will this month start testing uranium-fuelled Stirling engines for use in possible future missions to Mars. The technology has been developed as part of the Kilopower project.

The UK government's top priority is to agree arrangements with the European Union related to energy - particularly nuclear energy - that are as close as possible to current arrangements, the country's energy minister has said. Richard Harrington last week addressed a parliamentary inquiry into Brexit and the UK's energy security.

The UK government's top priority is to agree arrangements with the European Union related to energy - particularly nuclear energy - that are as close as possible to current arrangements, the country's energy minister last week told a parliamentary inquiry into Brexit and the UK's energy security.

A new project aimed at gaining a better understanding of the factors influencing the cost of nuclear power plant projects has been launched by the UK's Energy Technologies Institute. The study could help identify potential cost reductions for future projects.

The US Department of Energy has announced up to $20 million of funding for projects to identify and develop innovative technologies for lower cost and safer advanced nuclear reactors. The funding is part of a new programme under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) initiative.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has released a summary report of its request for expressions of interest on small modular reactors (SMRs). Responses were received from 80 organisations, including 19 expressions of interest in siting a prototype or demonstration SMR at a CNL site.