Fiscal 2021 allocations released yesterday by the US Senate Committee on Appropriations include USD150 million to initiate the uranium reserve programme to address challenges to the production of domestic uranium. The bills provide appropriations for the fiscal year running from 1 October, 2020 to 30 September, 2021 and also include continued funding for the Advanced Reactors Demonstration Program.

An Australian Senate committee has recommended that Parliament pass legislation that would make Napandee in South Australia the site for a low and medium-level nuclear waste facility. The Senate Standing Committee on Economics issued its final report on the provisions of the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020 on 14 September.

Five people, including the Speaker of Ohio's House of Representatives, have been charged in a federal racketeering conspiracy involving USD60 million related to legislation passed last year to provide financial support to two nuclear power plants.

The US House Committee on Appropriations has denied a funding request from the US Department of Energy for fiscal 2021 for establishing a uranium stockpile. The committee requested further information from the department on the justification for the reserve and how it will be implemented.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeated his support for new nuclear power. During Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons yesterday, Johnson told a member of parliament representing a constituency in Cumbria, "We believe that nuclear power is a significant potential contributor to our Net Zero ambitions, and I look forward to working with my Honourable Friend to ensure that Cumbria continues its long historic tradition as a pioneer of new nuclear technologies."

The US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis has released a report establishing a goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide in the USA by no later than 2050. The Climate Crisis Action Plan includes support to keep existing nuclear plants operating and calls for Congressional support for the development of advanced nuclear technologies.

Directly purchasing uranium by establishing a uranium reserve, ending the Department of Energy's bartering of uranium and re-evaluating DOE's excess uranium inventory management policy are among the US Nuclear Fuel Working Group's recommendations to the US Administration in a strategy it published yesterday on reviving the USA's nuclear fuel cycle.

The construction of the EPR unit at the Flamanville site in Normandy was authorised by the French government by a decree of 10 April 2007, which stated first fuel loading must be completed within thirteen years. With that date approaching, a new decree has extended the deadline by four years.

US uranium companies have responded favourably to the Administration's 2021 budget request of USD150 million in funding to set up a uranium reserve. Energy Fuels CEO and President Mark Chalmers said the development was "an important step toward addressing the devastating impact of our nation's overdependence on uranium imports from Russia and its allies, which is displacing free market uranium and forcing US mines out of business".

The US Administration's 2021 budget request unveiled yesterday by President Donald Trump includes USD150 million to set up a uranium reserve to address challenges to the production of domestic uranium. This would ensure a backup supply of uranium in the event of a significant market disruption and support the operation of at least two US uranium mines, according to the Department of Energy.
 

The Swedish Parliament - the Riksdag - yesterday narrowly rejected a proposal from the nationalist Sweden Democrats party to reverse the planned closure of the two oldest reactors at the Ringhals nuclear power plant. Unit 2 of the plant was shut down at the end of last year, with unit 1 set to close later this year.

The European Commission yesterday unveiled its plan for at least EUR1 trillion (USD1.1 trillion) in sustainable investments over the next decade. The European Green Deal Investment Plan is the investment pillar of the Green Deal, which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050.