The US Department of Energy yesterday announced up to USD40 million in funding for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy programme that will limit the amount of waste produced from advanced nuclear reactors. Reducing such waste, it says, will help in the development and commercialisation of such reactors.

As multiple advanced reactor vendors enter the licensing process to build first-of-a-kind demonstration projects, issues with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's current user fee cost recovery model could slow innovation and raise regulatory costs, according to a report published yesterday by the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA). Reliance on applicant fees limits the ability of the NRC to hire and train staff ahead of expected applications, reducing regulatory efficiency, the report says.

Technology that enables drones to be used to carry out radiological measurements has been developed by Belgium's Nuclear Research Centre and the Belgian aeronautical firm Sabca. The measuring equipment was officially attached to a drone yesterday, in the presence of the country's Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden.

A new international project to use nuclear science-based techniques to drastically reduce rhinoceros poaching has been launched in South Africa. The Rhisotope Project was initiated by the University of Witwatersrand in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Colorado State University, Russian nuclear company Rosatom and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa as well as global scientists, researchers, rhino owners and veterinary surgeon and rhino expert William Fowlds.

Framatome has announced the completion of a key milestone in the development of a robotic-assisted handling system to support decommissioning and waste management for the nuclear industry. Testing has confirmed the operation of robotic systems for handling and sorting high-level waste components, paving the way for increased automation.

An electrochemical cell that converts gaseous carbon dioxide into valuable compounds could take advantage of high-temperature technologies including next-generation advanced nuclear reactors. The cell is being developed by scientists at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory.

NuScale Power has signed a second Memorandum of Understanding with Canadian commercial marine nuclear power developer Prodigy Clean Energy to support business opportunities for a marine-deployed nuclear power plant using the NuScale small modular reactor.

Poland's Ministry of Education and Science and the National Centre for Nuclear Research have signed an agreement for the next round of high temperature gas-cooled reactor design work. The agreement was signed yesterday in Otwock-Spruce, at a ceremony attended by Minister of Climate and Environment Michał Kurtyka, Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek and Director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research Krzysztof Kurek.

First Light Fusion has completed construction of a 22-metre-long two-stage gas gun as part of its experimental efforts to develop "a simpler, faster, and cheaper route" to commercial fusion energy. The UK company says it has successfully fired first test shots, with fusion experimental shots on the new device starting next month.

The goals of the Generation IV International Forum - and the six reactor types that are its focus - remain as important today as they have always been, speakers at an international panel discussion held to mark the organisation's 20th anniversary agreed. Looking to the future, demonstration should become a focus to drive forwards to deployment of the technology.

Innovation and energy have long been intertwined, and with recent advancements in clean technologies, there is an abundance of momentum towards a greener future, writes Steve Threlfall, general manager of U-Battery.

EDF Group and Rosatom have signed an agreement to jointly promote clean hydrogen projects in Russia and Europe. Rosatom said development of hydrogen technologies has an important role to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, aimed at keeping the global average temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.