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The USA has a moral obligation to address its nuclear waste issue, and restarting the Yucca Mountain licensing process and committing to establishing an interim storage facility for used fuel will accelerate the fulfilment of that obligation, US ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Secretary Rick Perry this week told House and Senate appropriations subcommittees.

All the fuel element debris waste at the UK's Bradwell nuclear power plant has now been treated to reduce the radiological risk at the site, Magnox Ltd announced yesterday. Removal of the waste is an important step towards Bradwell's planned closure, it said.

The basic plan for decommissioning Japan's Monju prototype fast breeder reactor has been officially adopted by the government-appointed team to oversee the task. According to the plan, decommissioning of Monju is expected to take 30 years to complete.

Systems design and safety analysis work has begun for a planned encapsulation plant as part of Swedish waste and fuel management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB's plans for managing the country's radioactive waste.

The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania has taken anotherÌýstep forward in the decommissioning process with the start today of hot trials, using radioactive materials, of the new Solid Radioactive Waste Management and Storage Facility. The milestone was announced by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The OECD-Nuclear ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Agency - together with the International Atomic ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Agency - plans to publish new guidance on improving cost estimates of nuclear decommissioning projects. Simon Carroll, a senior analyst with the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, told delegates at the Nuclear Decommissioning & Waste Management Conference Europe that the guidance addresses project risk and uncertainty in cost estimates "in a more comprehensive fashion" than existing practice.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety CommissionÌýhas renewed the operating licence for Ontario Power Generation's Western Waste Management Facility until 31 May 2027. Meanwhile, OPG has responded to requests for information from the federal government about its proposed Deep Geologic Repository for the permanent disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from its nuclear power plants.

The US Department of ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will need to rebuild their organisational capabilities in order to restart the suspended licensing process for the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste repository, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Germany is offering a great opportunity for new suppliers of decommissioning services because over the next five years all of its shutdown nuclear power plants will enter the decommissioning phase, Jörg Klasen, director of nuclear decommissioning services at EnBW, said yesterday. Klasen spoke at the 8th Annual Nuclear Decommissioning & Waste Management Conference Europe 2017 being held in Manchester, England. Asked where they see the biggest opportunities in nuclear decommissioning and waste management over the next five years, 57% of the conference delegates selected Germany. The UK, France, Sweden and Switzerland followed with 30%, 6%, 2% and 2%, respectively.

A protective plastic cover has been installed at the US Department of ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß's Hanford site over the roof of a tunnel that partially collapsed earlier this month. The cover will provide additional protection while longer-term risk mitigation measures are developed and implemented at the site inÌýWashington State.

Russia has started unloading usedÌýfuel from nuclear submarines in Andreeva Bay, the former base of the Northern Fleet,Ìýa 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.

Energoatom President Yury Nedashkovsky has confirmed progress in Holtec International's preparations to build a Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Between 1 and 10 May, Nedashkovsky led a delegation from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator to Holtec's plants in Pittsburgh, (Pennsylvania), Orrville (Ohio) and Camden (New Jersey).