A proposal for the storage of waste generated from the reprocessing of German used nuclear fuel in France and the UK has been announced by the country's environment minister. The operators of Germany's nuclear power plants have welcomed the proposal.

The International Uranium Enrichment Centre in Angarsk, Russia will serve as a reference point for similar regional International Atomic Energy Agency-sponsored fuel 'banks', the agency's director general, Yukiya Amano, said last week. He said the IAEA may one day revisit a proposal to set up an international centre for the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors has approved two agreements enabling the agency to move to full-scale implementation of its proposed low-enriched uranium (LEU) 'fuel bank' in Kazakhstan.

The tax levied on nuclear fuel in Germany does not contravene European law. This was the conclusion of the European Court of Justice on 4 June. But what about German law and the consequences for nuclear power plant operators across Europe, asks Tobias Leidinger.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano highlighted a major report on the Fukushima nuclear accident and agreements paving the way for a low-enriched uranium (LEU) 'fuel bank' in his introductory statement to the IAEA's Board of Governors yesterday.

Russia's Petrozavodskmash has completed the manufacture of a serial batch of modified TUK-109T containers for the transport of used nuclear fuel from RBMK-1000 reactors. Petrozavodskmash is a branch of AEM Technologies, a subsidiary of Atomenergomash.

Russia's OKBM Afrikantov, part of Atomenergomash, has successfully completed acceptance tests of the refuelling machinery for unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant under construction.

Germany's tax on nuclear fuel conforms to European Union laws, the European Court of Justice ruled yesterday.

Japan expects to start the retrieval of fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2021, the executive director of the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation said yesterday. Three of the plant's six reactors suffered core meltdowns in the March 2011 accident, leaving melted nuclear fuel debris on the floor of their containment vessels.

The agrarian committee of Russia's Federation Council has approved measures aimed at providing state incentives to the country's uranium mining industry, Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), the uranium mining arm of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said yesterday. The Federation Council is the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly, the upper house of the Russian parliament.

Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator, has drawn attention to misreporting by some Ukrainian media that have claimed the country's regulator does not intend to renew the operating licence of unit 2 of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant.

A group of US electric utilities has formally expressed interest in Lightbridge Corporation's novel metallic fuel design to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.