In the five-and-a-half years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, "steady progress" is being made in the decommissioning process and contaminated water management at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Hirotaka Ishihara, state minister of the cabinet office of Japan, told the International Atomic Energy Agency's 60th General Conference yesterday. Decontamination and environmental remediation are "moving forward" and the evacuation zones are "growing smaller", Ishihara said.

Most of the fuel that melted in unit 2 of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan remains within the reactor pressure vessel, an examination using a muon detection system indicates.

A new handbook has been compiled with the help of the International Atomic Energy Agency to better prepare medical staff to communicate with the public about possible health effects of radiation during and after a nuclear or radiological emergency.

In preparation for the installation of a fuel removal machine and a protective cover over unit 3 of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, workers have carried out a practice run of installing roof modules onto the base of the fuel handling machine.

Sellafield Limited and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) have drawn up plans to assist each other with communications related to their respective decommissioning activities. These plans follow the signing of a cooperation agreement in 2014.

A ceremony was held on 30 March to inaugurate a new centre in Fukushima prefecture for the development and testing of remote-controlled equipment for use in decommissioning the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that it has today started up the equipment to create a wall of frozen soil at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to prevent groundwater entering the reactor buildings. Regulatory approval to partially activate the ice wall was received yesterday.

Members of the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee yesterday toured the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan and noted progress in decommissioning and working conditions at the site.

A facility for incinerating miscellaneous solid low-level waste has begun operating at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The incinerator will be used for disposing of items such as used protective clothing and construction waste.

Five years after the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the scientific community is ready to assess what the real health consequences have been and put them into perspective with other risks in our lives, Gerry Thomas told the BBC in an interview.

US radioactive waste management specialist Kurion has announced the completion of construction and acceptance testing of its prototype tritium management solution, the Modular Detritiation System.

The nuclear industry today stands at a critical juncture and it is time to reassess our approach to each other and the wider world if we are to make the most of our opportunities, writes Preston Swafford.