The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Holtec International have signed an agreement on key issues related to the decommissioning of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, including a guarantee by Holtec to ensure funds are available to cover future cost increases and other contingencies.

There are no obstacles to the removal of assemblies from the used fuel storage pool of unit 2 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company said today after completing an initial survey of the pool. Removal of the assemblies is scheduled to begin fiscal year 2024.

Finnish utility Fortum and Uniper Sweden have agreed to collaborate on the dismantling of major systems and components at the Oskarshamn and Barsebäck nuclear power plants in Sweden. Fortum was awarded the contract by Uniper Sweden - a Fortum subsidiary - in a competitive bidding process.

The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has produced an overview of the Cross-industry Learning initiative series of workshops it has been having over the last two years. Each workshop has been based on a series of themes of common interest originally agreed with the Oil and Gas Authority, but now more than 100 organisations, including authorities, academics and regulators have benefitted from sharing "what good looks like, and occasionally what it doesn’t", the NDA said.

The programme to decommission the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant in the Slovak Republic has achieved a major milestone, with the successful removal of the first reactor pressure vessel that will now permit remote dismantling of the facility, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced today.

Italy's Ministry of Economic Development recently issued a decree authorising Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari SpA to begin the initial phase of decommissioning the Latina nuclear power plant. The Latina plant is the last of the four Italian nuclear power plants to obtain a decommissioning decree.

Spanish decommissioning firm Enresa has submitted an application to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge for the transfer of ownership of the Garoña nuclear power plant and the first phase of its dismantling. The single-unit plant was shut down in mid-December 2012.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has released the final report from its January 2018 mission to France to review radioactive waste management and decommissioning in the country. The review team said it had been "impressed with the nature and implementation of the French national programme".

The decommissioning of Norway's shut down research reactors at Halden and Kjeller will cost around NOK20 billion (USD1.96 billion) and take 20-25 years, according to a report commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has carried out training in the operation of a submersible remotely operated vehicle that will be used to investigate the used fuel pool of unit 2 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The investigation is scheduled to begin in mid-June.

PreussenElektra has completed the construction of a second interim storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste at the Unterweser nuclear power plant. The German utility has handed the facility over to Bundes Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagern, the government-owned company responsible for its operation.

Ansaldo Nuclear has designed and supplied a robot for the removal of 2000 drums of radioactive waste stored in hard-to-access areas within two temporary storage buildings at Italy's shut down Caorso nuclear power plant. Caorso, an 860 MWe boiling water reactor, was closed in 1990 after just 12 years of operation and is now being decommissioned.