"Pac-Man" molecule munches uranium Researchers have designed a molecule that can "eat" and then "trick" uranium into behaving like a lighter atom. It could lead to developments in waste management or novel uses of uranium.		SKB granted a licence for the extended Clab SKB, the company responsible for storing Swedish nuclear waste, has been granted an operating licence by the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate for the extended central interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel at Oskarshamn.
US research facility cleanup contract URS Corporation's Washington Division has been awarded a $67 million task order to deactivate and demolish a 1950s nuclear research facility at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, New York State.		Used nuclear fuel shipments start On 17 December the first transport to France of irradiated fuel still present in Italy was completed. The first two special containers, with 34 of the 1243 fuel rods that will be reprocessed at La Hague, left the shut down Caorso nuclear power plant.
Thorp evaporator lifted in CORRECTED A new evaporator was lifted into Sellafield's Thorp facility on 19 December. The plant has already completed its first reprocessing campaign following work to bring the reprocessing plant back to full operation.		Ups and downs in US budget bill A year-end spending bill has slashed the yearly budget for Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository by $104 million, putting the project schedule in further doubt. It has also increased the amount of new plant loans to be guaranteed.
Lithuania approves waste site Stabatiske is to host a near surface disposal facility for short-lived low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. The site is very close to Lithuania's only nuclear power plant, Ignalina.		Connecticut Yankee decommissioning complete Most of the Connecticut site formerly occupied by a nuclear power reactor that started decommissioning at the end of 1996 has been released for unrestricted public use.