• U.S. gets a C grade in WMD report

    A blue ribbon panel of former high security official says terrorism threat remains real, and that the U.S. government’s efforts to counter WMD threats leave much to be desired

  • Yucca Mountain project clears another hurdle

    The Yucca Mountain nuclear storage project moves forward, as NRC says it would conduct an in-depth review of the government plans

  • "The Most Problematic Nuclear Facility in Europe"

    Radioactive leaks at a German nuclear waste storage facility raises questions in Germany — already the leading European anti-nuclear power country — about the wisdom of nuclear power generation

  • NIST tighten rules after plutonium spill in lab

    On 9 June about 1/4 gram of powdered plutonium spilled from a vial at a NIST lab in Boulder, Colorado; an investigative committee found that a failure in the safety management system was exacerbated by a “casual and informal research environment that appears to have valued research results above safety considerations”

  • WHO, IAEA is simulated nuclear accident drill

    The World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency collaborate in a nuclear accident drill at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant in Mexico

  • GAO strongly criticizes DoE over Hanford clean-up

    More than 210 million liters of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State; most are more than fifty years old; GAO says there now “serious questions about the tanks’ long-term viability”

  • French authorities ban water use following nuclear leak

    Safety agencies in France are playing down the risk to public health from Tuesday’s uranium leak at the Tricastin nuclear plant, but water-usage bans have worried skeptical residents and environmental organizations

  • Breakthrough: Universal detection system

    Livermore researchers work on developing a universal detection system — a system that can monitor the air for virtually all of the major threat agents that could be used by terrorists: biological, chemical, explosives, and radiological — along with illicit drugs

  • MoD: The risk of nuclear warheads' "popcorning"

    Light-weight but extremely sensitive high-explosives are use to envelop the plutonium core of nuclear warheads; these explosives trigger the implosion which causes a nuclear reaction to happen; U.K. Ministry of Defense is worried that these explosives are so sensitive, they may explode if warheads are dropped to the floor or bump each other, triggering “popcorning”

  • Unmanned Ground Systems Summit: Early Bird Special

    Unmanned systems perform more and more missions that used to be performed by humans; the Pentagon plans to spend about $4 billion on robots by 2010; IDGA holds ground robots summit in D.C. this August

  • DHS experiments with testing planes for radioactive cargo

    In an effort to prevent terrorists from bringing radioactive materials into the United States on planes, DHS engages in 4-month, $4 million test to see whether the government’s radiation-detection equipment can pick up depleted uranium and other radioactive material hidden aboard passenger planes

  • Scientists scan boats for radiation

    Scientists from several national labs collect radiation data in Puget Sound with help form nationwide program

  • U.S. nuclear recycling plans raise proliferation risks

    GAO says that the Department of Energy’s new approach to recycling nuclear materials — or rather, the department’s 2006 decision to go back to a more traditional plutonium separation method — increases the risk of nuclear proliferation

  • Thermo Fisher's radiation detection system available commercially

    Thermo Fisher Scientific launched its intricate radiation detection system during last year’s Labour Party conference in Bournmouth; company now makes system available for the wider markets, targeting first responder, nuclear power, industrial, and medical facility protection

  • Next generation of nukes may not happen

    The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had argued that the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) was needed because it would be safer to stockpile and harder for terrorists to acquire and use, but Congress was not persuaded