There are no fundamental geologic limitations to disposing of radioactive waste in deep horizontal boreholes in Estonia, a study conducted by US nuclear waste disposal company Deep Isolation on behalf of Fermi Energia has concluded. Such a repository could be used for the disposal of used fuel from small modular reactors proposed for deployment by the Estonian company. Fermi Energia is the first European company to contract with Deep Isolation on a preliminary geologic study to manage advanced reactor waste.

A list of 67 potential sites for a radioactive waste storage facility has been published by Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari SpA, the Italian state-owned company responsible for dismantling the country's nuclear power plants. The publication of the list on 5 January, announced in five national newspapers, started a period of public consultation.

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.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories announced yesterday that it has completed all shipments of highly enriched uranium target residue material from Canada to the USA, bringing its TRM Repatriation Project to "a safe and successful conclusion". The culmination of nearly a decade of work and planning removes "a major nuclear liability" from the Chalk River Laboratories campus, CNL said.

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.

Workers have begun activities to prepare for the demolition of a nuclear reactor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, the Office of Environmental Management at the US Department of Energy announced on 22 December. A team from EM, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the US Army Corp Engineers performed core drilling, surveying, sampling, and a study of potential demolition impacts last month.

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.

Westinghouse will segment the reactor at the Ågesta nuclear power plant near Stockholm, Sweden, under a contract signed with Vattenfall. The country's first commercial power reactor - it operated between 1964 and 1974 - the R3 heavy water reactor supplied electricity and district heating to the Stockholm suburb of Farsta.

Operation of the mixed-oxide fuel fabrication plant under construction in Rokkasho, in Aomori Prefecture, is now expected about two years later than previously planned. Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited had aimed to complete its construction in the first half of fiscal 2022 (ending March 2023), but now expects this in the first half of fiscal 2024.

Industrial services provider Bilfinger has completed the dismantling of the two steam generators at the shutdown Mülheim-Kärlich nuclear power plant in Germany. Bilfinger, which was contracted by plant owner RWE in 2017, dismantled the steam generators in situ. Each of them measured around 23 metres in height, 4 metres in diameter and 450 tonnes in weight.