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Holtec International has unveiled the schedule for its proposed consolidated interim storage facilityÌýfor used nuclear fuel, with start-up slated for 2020. Holtec sees the facility, to be built in south-eastern New Mexico, as the only solution being put forward to deal with the USA's 70,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel that is currently located in 35 states and at about 70 sites.

Spain's nuclear regulator has concluded that Villar de Cañas is a suitable site for a national high-level waste storage facility. However, it has requested additional technical studies and reports.

The operating life of theÌýKrÅ¡ko nuclear power plant in Slovenia will be extended by 20 years following an agreement between Slovenia and neighbouring Croatia, which jointly own the plant. It was also agreed that a dry storage facility for used fuel will be built at the site.

The first waste has been placed within South Korea's underground low- and intermediate-level radioactive wasteÌýdisposal facility at Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang province.

¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏßSolutions announced yesterday the successful completion of the first large commercial reactor vessel segmentation in the USA. ZionSolutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏßSolutions, completed the segmentation of the reactor vessel of unit 2 of Zion nuclear power plant in late June.

International Isotopes has amended its project participation agreement with New Mexico's Lea County to reflect the delay in constructing its planned facility to deconvert depleted uranium hexafluoride.

The Swedish nuclear regulator has said it believes the country's radioactive waste management company can meet all the safety and radiation protection requirements for its planned repository for used nuclear fuel.

A proposal for the storage of waste generated from the reprocessing of German used nuclear fuel in France and the UK has been announced by the country's environment minister. The operators of Germany's nuclear power plants have welcomed the proposal.

A new fund set up by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) at the request of the European Commission will finance projects to rehabilitate former uranium mines and processing sites in Central Asia.

Russia and Norway plan to sign a protocol soon on early notification in the event of a nuclear accident, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said yesterday. The statement followed a meeting of the Russian-Norwegian commission on nuclear and radiation safety held in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes.

Belarus has adopted a radioactive waste management strategy for its first nuclear power plant under construction near Ostrovets. The country's council of ministers adopted a resolution outlining the strategy on 2 June. The document was published on the National Legal Internet Portal last week. The resolution entered into force after its official publication.

The nuclear expertise of Germany's Jülich Research Centre (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and the Experimental Reactor Consortium GmbH (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor, AVR) are to be combined into a new enterprise.