The Centre for Advanced Robotics at the Queen Mary University of London was recently awarded a GBP1.0 million ($1.3 million) grant to help establish a centre of excellence for nuclear robotics in the UK. The focus of the centre will be to develop technology for aiding radioactive waste management.

Magnox Ltd has emptied more than half of the used fuel from the Wylfa reactors on Anglesey, in Wales, the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said today. When operating, Wylfa's two reactors together contained nearly 100,000 fuel elements.

An international team led by the University of Sheffield has discovered that the toxic element arsenic prevents uranium from an abandoned mine in the UK migrating into rivers and groundwater. The discovery could help in the remediation of former uranium mines and other radioactively contaminated areas around the world, the scientists believe.

Nuclear power accounted for a fifth of total electricity produced in the UK last year and it remains the largest single source of low carbon electricity in the UK, providing 46% of the low carbon electricity produced, with wind, solar, hydro and biomass providing the remainder, according to the Nuclear Industry Association's first Activity Report, issued today. With two-thirds of all dispatchable power capacity retiring between 2010 and 2030, including all but one of the country's existing nuclear stations, the NIA warns that this will need to be replaced with a new fleet to continue providing the reliable, secure low carbon power the UK will need.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has extended the deadline for public comments on Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' draft Environmental Impact Statement for decommissioning the country's first ever nuclear power reactor by two weeks to 13 February. The Nuclear Power Demonstration reactor was the prototype for the Candu reactor design.

A demonstration test run of the Plasma Melting Facility at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria has been completed. The facility will be used to treat low- and intermediate-level solid radioactive waste, reducing its volume and immobilising it.

Installation of critical systems is progressing within the New Safe Confinement covering the damaged unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The enormous arched structure was put in place one year ago and is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2018.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in nuclear energy was signed yesterday between the UK and South Korea. The agreement calls for greater collaboration in the construction of new nuclear power plants and the decommissioning of old ones.

Russia's Rosatom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian companies Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear power. It includes the possible construction of a new nuclear power plant in Brazil, Rosatom said.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has requested an amended timeline for its Near Surface Disposal Facility project to allow sufficient time to respond to regulatory requests for technical information before submitting its final Environmental Impact Statement for the facility.

Russia's Rosatom and the French radioactive waste management agency Andra yesterday signed a cooperation agreement concerning the final isolation of radioactive waste. The agreement builds on a memorandum of understanding the two parties signed in 2012.

The dismantling of the central chimney at the shutdown Garigliano nuclear power plant in Italy was completed yesterday, Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari SpA announced. Preparations to demolish the 95-meter-high chimney began in March 2014.