Texas moved closer Friday to allowing low-level radioactive waste from dozens of states to be trucked in and disposed at a site in West Texas, which would become one of only four in the nation that could take low-level radioactive waste shipped from out of state.

A state agency with oversight of waste imports adopted rules Friday that help clear the way for the 1,338-acre dump near the New Mexico border, despite concerns expressed by environmentalists that such a facility may be unsafe.

NEW DELHI: Six Delhi University professors were summoned by a court on Monday to explain their alleged criminal culpability in the death of one person and critical injuries caused to seven others in 2010 due to radiation from a radioactive irradiator, disposed of in a scrap market here.

Gearing up to tackle possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) emergencies, research organisation DRDO is developing an array of ground-based and unmanned aerial systems to detect and map contamination zones in all geographical conditions.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing systems and equipments that would map a contaminated area with zero human exposure.

In a first initiative of its kind, India has begun scouting for deep underground sites to store for several decades the nuclear waste generated from its burgeoning atomic power programme. As a first step, the Department of Atomic Energy will set up an underground laboratory in one of its uranium mines to study qualities of the rock at the mine bottom to decide whether it can be used to store nuclear waste.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates confirmed Wednesday he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new and safer kind of nuclear reactor.

"The idea is to be very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste," said the billionaire during a talk at China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

Mr. Gates said he had largely funded a Washington state-based company, TerraPower, that is developing a Generation IV nuclear reactor that can run on depleted uranium. ...

Shanghai claimed this year to be the world’s busiest container handling port. One tradable it doesn’t want mixed into the throughput figures: nuclear and radioactive items.

In a joint U.S.-China non-proliferation initiative, officials next week are scheduled to commission and demonstrate a radiation detection system at Shanghai’s flagship Yangshan port, according to a brief statement distributed Friday by the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai.

“This U.S.-Chinese effort is the first project of its kind in China,” the statement said.

Amid increasing concerns over the safety of nuclear plants in the country in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a five-member US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) team, led by its Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko, will visit India from November 14-18 to meet Indian officials to exchange information and share experience on safety standards at nuclear power facilities.

Nuclear fission by-products have been detected at one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the government said Wednesday, raising the possibility that some parts of the melted core may still be active.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that small amounts of Xenon-133 and 135, both by-products of nuclear fission, were detected in a survey of the reactor. Neither substance poses a risk to public health. Xenon-133 has a short half-life of five days, and Xenon-135 just nine hours, an agency spokesman said.

Nearly eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident scattered radioactive material over surrounding communities, Japan still is struggling to figure out how to clean up the mess, exacerbating fears about health risks and fanning mistrust of the government.

Thirty miles away from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the residents of Koriyama are on a mission to help rid their town of harmful radioactive materials. WSJ contributor Sebastian Stein reports.