Russia and Norway yesterday signed a protocol on the practical measures required for their inter-governmental agreement on early notification of nuclear accidents and exchange of information on nuclear facilities. The protocol was signed in Vienna during the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference by Rosatom director general Sergey Kirienko and Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority director general Ole Harbitz.

Rosatom and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday signed 'practical arrangements' to enhance their cooperation in radiation safety.

The evacuation order has been lifted for the town of Naraha in Fukushima prefecture, allowing residents to permanently return to their homes there. Naraha, located within 20 kilometres of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is the first of seven municipalities that were fully evacuated to have its order removed.

A Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission study has concluded that there would be no detectable increase in cancer risk for most of the population from radiation released in a hypothetical severe nuclear accident.

Almost all of the contaminated water stored on the Fukushima Daiichi plant site in Japan has been treated to remove strontium, and in some cases even more nuclides, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) announced today.

Japan's nuclear regulator is to increase the radiation exposure limit for workers in emergency situations from the current 100 millisieverts (mSv) to 250 mSv. The limit was temporarily raised following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The radiological event at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico in February 2014 resulted from shortcomings within both contractor and federal processes, the accident investigation board has concluded. The release, it said, was preventable.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have for the first time detected the presence of small amounts of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in a seawater sample from the shoreline of North America.

More than 90% of the contaminated water stored on the Fukushima Daiichi site will be treated by the end of May, two months later than originally planned, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) announced today.

Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority has given its backing to Posiva's application to construct a final repository and waste encapsulation plant.

The US Department of Energy and National Academy of Sciences have been directed to work together to assess the current status of US and international research on low-dose radiation and to formulate a long-term research agenda under a bill approved by the US House of Representatives.

The interim storage of contaminated soil and other wastes generated by decontamination efforts at Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and surrounding area will begin in March, the environment ministry has said.