The US Senate has approved a proposal for a USD15 million pilot programme to recycle used naval nuclear fuel for use as fuel in advanced nuclear reactors. The proposal was adopted by 87 votes to 9.

The European Space Agency will host the international space and applications community in a workshop on 27-28 June to find out how best to prepare for the implementation of advanced radioisotope hybrid power systems. Here, Dr Markus Landgraf, architecture analyst in the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration Programmes at the European Space Research and Technology Centre, or ESTEC, explains the potential for nuclear technology in future space exploration. ESTEC is the ESA's main development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration yesterday announced the successful testing of a uranium-fuelled Stirling engine for use in possible future missions to Mars. Testing of the Kilopower reactor - which could be used to provide power to missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond - began at NASA's Nevada National Security Site in November 2017 and was completed in March.

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.

Russia plans to put into operation a nuclear icebreaker "capable of piercing ice of any thickness", the country's president, Vladimir Putin, said yesterday.

The first shipment of used nuclear fuel assemblies from Russian nuclear submarines has arrived at the radiochemical plant Mayak in Chelyabinsk, near the Ural Mountains, from the former base of the Russian Northern Fleet at Andreeva Bay.

Russia is this week celebrating the historic achievements of its nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet and has also announced project milestones for its latest vessels. The Arktika was the first surface vessel to reach the North Pole, on 17 August, 1977. The seventh and largest Arktika class icebreaker - 50 Years of Victory - entered service in 2007 and is now on its way to the North Pole to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Arktika's expedition.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded BWXT Nuclear Energy a $18.8 million contract to initiate conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor in support of a possible future manned mission to Mars. BWXT Nuclear Energy is a subsidiary of nuclear components, fuel and services provider BWX Technologies, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The US Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier - the Gerald R Ford - has been formally commissioned by President Donald Trump at a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia.

The first shipment of used nuclear fuel assemblies from Russian nuclear submarines has left the former base of the Russian Northern Fleet at Andreeva Bay. Over 20,000 used fuel assemblies are to be retrieved, packed and removed from the site under an international initiative financed by the Nuclear Window of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP), which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Russia has started unloading used fuel from nuclear submarines in Andreeva Bay, the former base of the Northern Fleet, a unit of the Russian Navy responsible for the defence of the north-western part of the country. The work is organised by RosRAO - a Moscow-based Rosatom subsidiary that provides commercial back-end radioactive waste and decommissioning services.

Russia's Zio-Podolsk has completed "one of the most complex" manufacturing operations on the reactor head of the Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker, using a new tool that reduces the time required to bore holes in the structure from 150 days to 36 days. Sibir is the second of three vessels of the Project 22220 - featuring RITM-200 (Rhythmn-200) reactors - that will be able to break through ice 3 meters thick as they escort vessels across the Arctic Ocean. The others are Arktika and Ural.