The Biden Administration opposes the use of Yucca Mountain for the storage of used nuclear fuel and is committed to developing "safe and workable" alternatives, US President Joe Biden's nominee for the position of energy secretary has said. Jennifer Granholm made her remarks at a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing to consider her nomination, which was held on 27 January.

Sweden's Studsvik has signed a contract worth SEK134 million (USD16 million) with Norway's Institute for Energy Technology for loading equipment, transport, handling equipment, examination and pre-treatment of nuclear fuel from the JEEP I research reactor at Kjeller. The fuel is currently held in an ageing storage facility at the site which does not meet current requirements.

The challenges the nuclear industry faces are largely external and must be overcome if it is to help tackle the existential threat of climate change, panellists in the Nuclear Energy and its Future session of the Reuters Next conference on 11 January said. These challenges include: the notion nuclear is an out-dated technology; the cost of finance; market design; political changes; perceived competition with renewable energy; and the public's misconceptions about radioactive waste.

Construction has been completed at the first of two sites in South Bruce, Ontario, ahead of the start of borehole drilling, Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organisation has announced. The boreholes are part of the organisation's investigations into the suitability of the site for a geologic repository for used nuclear fuel.

The European Repository Development Organisation was launched yesterday by Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, with other countries expected to join soon. It aims for member countries to work together to address the common challenges of safely managing long-lived radioactive wastes, including establishing shared multinational geological repositories.

The Czech Cabinet has approved a shortlist of four potential sites for a deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive nuclear waste. The government also approved a new schedule calling for the site to be selected by 2030, five years later than originally planned. The repository is expected to be operational by 2065.

Holtec International has announced that the second double-walled canister had been loaded with RBMK reactor used nuclear fuel into the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site’s Interim Storage Facility in Ukraine yesterday.

China's first ship for the transport of used nuclear fuel has been delivered to China National Nuclear Corporation. The independently produced double-hulled vessel meets the INF-3 (Irradiated Nuclear Fuel class 3) standards set by the International Maritime Organisation.

Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organisation has begun preparations for the drilling of two boreholes in the South Bruce area prior to site selection for a deep geological repository for the country's used nuclear fuel. The first borehole will be drilled in Spring 2021.

"Onkalo is a game changer for the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said yesterday, referring to the world’s first-ever deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel that is under construction in Olkiluoto, Finland.

Nuclear waste disposal company Deep Isolation's raising of USD20 million in funding shows that "socially responsible investors" are willing to support the company's mission to become an integral part of a low-carbon future, the company's CEO has said. Separately, Deep Isolation EMEA has announced it is collaborating with Fermi Energia on a preliminary study into using Deep Isolation's horizontal deep borehole solution in Estonia.

The first canister of used nuclear fuel was yesterday loaded into the Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2) at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. ISF-2 is the largest dry-type used fuel storage facility in the world and has an operating life of at least 100 years.