Australian landholders have until 5 May to put forward potential sites for a national radioactive waste management facility under a voluntary site nomination process launched by the Australian government.

Finnish nuclear operators had set aside a total of €2.38 billion ($2.67 billion) by the end of 2014 - up from €2.27 billion ($2.55 billion) by the end of 2013 and €2.16 billion ($2.42 billion) by the end of 2012 - for waste disposal and decommissioning activities, the country's Ministry for Employment and the Economy has reported.

A project to develop new robotic techniques for use in the autonomous handling of radioactive wastes is among those recently selected for funding by the European Commission.

Russia has introduced an automated system for the accounting and control of its radioactive substances and waste that encompasses more than 2000 organizations. The system follows an order by state nuclear corporation Rosatom, 113 subsidiaries of which account for 96% of the country's radioactive substances and waste.

The removal of two million litres of liquid radioactive waste from silos used to store swarf waste from Magnox fuel reprocessing at the UK's Sellafield site marks a significant hazard reduction milestone, according to Sellafield Ltd.

Significant tasks have been completed in the clean-up and decommissioning of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, an international expert mission has concluded. However, it says many challenging issues remain.

Russia's Atomenergomash has developed a unique mobile facility for processing low-level waste.

Photographs taken inside the underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have confirmed that a single waste drum was the source of the contamination incident that has stopped operations at New Mexico facility since February 2014.

Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority has given its backing to Posiva's application to construct a final repository and waste encapsulation plant.

Texas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has announced plans to apply for a licence to construct and operate an interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel at its facility in Andrews, Texas. Areva is to assist the company with its application and related environmental report.

The US Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has hailed calls from the chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for energy funding to take steps to avoid a decline in US nuclear capacity as a well-timed "clarion call".

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has published the final two volumes of its safety evaluation report for the proposed Yucca Mountain geologic nuclear waste repository, completing the technical safety review of the Department of Energy's application.