The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signed framework agreements with the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, a precondition for the implementation of projects under an EBRD fund to deal with the remediation of former uranium mines and processing plants.

Holtec International has unveiled a new "proto-prompt" decommissioning strategy, which the US company says could see the conversion of a nuclear power plant site to greenfield status within about five-and-a-half years after the plant is shut down.

Waste emplacement has resumed at the US Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, nearly three years after activities were halted following a waste drum rupture in an underground storage panel at the New Mexico facility.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted further information on its proposed deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste to Canadian regulators. The studies, carried out in response to a ministerial request, show that relocating the repository from OPG's proposed site at Bruce to one of two alternative locations would increase environmental effects and costs.

Japan and the UK will expand their existing collaboration in civil nuclear activities - including decommissioning, research and development, and nuclear new build - through a memorandum of cooperation signed yesterday in Tokyo.

Radioactive sludge has been transferred out of the world's oldest nuclear fuel pond for the first time, the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd announced yesterday. The project is being delivered ten years ahead of schedule and for half the expected cost, they said in a joint statement.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected four companies to explore the possibility of conducting a deep borehole field test. One will ultimately be chosen to test the feasibility of engineering deep boreholes that might offer an alternative to mined geologic repositories for the disposal of some forms of nuclear waste.

SONGS Decommissioning Solutions - a joint venture between Aecom and EnergySolutions - has been selected as the decommissioning general contractor by Southern California Edison for the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Units 2 and 3 at the plant were shut down in June 2013.

The safety options for France's planned deep geological repository for the disposal of high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste are "overall thorough", an International Atomic Energy Agency review team has concluded. The team also proposed recommendations for further demonstrating the robustness of the disposal system.

Fennovoima's environmental impact assessment program for its own used nuclear fuel disposal facility is "comprehensive" and meets legal requirements, Finland's Ministry of Employment and the Economy has said. However, the ministry expects Fennovoima to continue cooperation with the licensees of the Onkalo repository project at Olkiluoto.

Russia has put into operation its first near-surface final nuclear waste repository for solid low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management (NO RAO) has announced.

Swiss nuclear power plant operators face lower or even no contributions to the country's decommissioning and waste disposal funds over the period 2017-2021, primarily due to the delay of some ten years in commissioning a deep geological repository.