Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has been awarded a contract by Transport Canada to develop an assessment tool to examine clean technologies that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the release of other pollutants from marine vessels. CNL scientists will also examine different technologies that can be used for the production, storage and handling of hydrogen for marine vessels.

As Member States of the International Atomic Energy Agency gather in Vienna this week for the annual General Conference, they should consider making universal the appointment of a National Focal Point on denials of shipment of radioactive materials to boost security of supply of medical isotopes, write Natanael Bruno and Serge Gorlin, co-chairs of the Transport Facilitation Working Group.

The first HI-TRAN 300 transporter has been successfully manufactured and factory tested by Holtec International's Advanced Manufacturing Division in Camden, New Jersey. With a rated lift capacity of 300 tons, the transporter is intended for moving used fuel casks as well as heavy loads at Holtec's SMR-160 plant.

A newly released Euratom Supply Agency report has identified the three biggest threats to the availability of nuclear fuel in the EU - a lack of transport hubs open to nuclear shipments; a lack of investment in conversion facilities; and permanent reduction of production and withdrawal from uranium exploration.

International air transport has been the main bottleneck in getting radioisotopes and nuclear medicines where they are needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nuclear Medicine Europe says there are signs the situation is improving.

Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One have launched a new company, Ivy Charging Network, which plans to install a new network of fast-chargers for electric vehicles in Ontario by the end of 2021. The Canadian government is investing CAD8 million (USD6 million) in the project which it says will help the transition to a clean energy future.

The first of 33 scheduled transports aimed at moving about 5600 drums of radioactive resins and sludge departed from Italy's shut down Caorso nuclear power plant on 28 January en route to the Bohunice plant in Slovakia for their treatment and conditioning. All the drums in this second phase of shipments are expected to be transported by 2022.

The US Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has received its first large-box cask of transuranic waste since the facility's temporary closure in 2014. Re-entry into service of the TRUPACT-III cask will accelerate the pace of clean-up at DOE sites while reducing worker safety risks.

Orano TN has completed the first transfer and storage of used fuel canisters with a higher than usual heat load using its Extended Optimised Storage dry storage system. The use of EOS, which is licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for heat loads of up to 50 kW per canister, means used fuel can be transferred to secure dry storage after a shorter period of time.

Holtec International has announced the launch of three new technologies that have been developed under its Project Cheetah initiative. These include a new storage and transport basket for VVER fuel; an improved storage cask design, and a new cask transporter.

A shipment of samples of plutonium oxide is en route from the UK to a laboratory at Orano's Melox plant in southern France. The samples will be used to determine if the plutonium can be used in the production of mixed-oxide fuel.

Orano TN has delivered its first NUHOMS MP197HB transport cask, which it describes as the most advanced and versatile shielded transport cask in the USA for moving used nuclear fuel assemblies and low-level radioactive waste. It is also the only transport cask available to transport high burnup and damaged used nuclear fuel in the country.