Commercial Decommissioning

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again seeking more information from the Department of Energy as it weighs whether to renew the license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. In March 2017, DOE applied for a 20-year renewal of the license for the […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff last week formally signed off on exemptions in operation of a spent fuel storage facility for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The Feb. 2 safety evaluation report follows a Jan. 11 environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact by agency staff for those same exemptions requested by plant owner Entergy. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed the first of five planned on-site inspections to evaluate Entergy’s progress in carrying out its operations improvement plan at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. Four NRC officials were on-site from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8, according to a letter from the agency to Entergy, dated Feb. […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission on Friday again pushed back its schedule for the review of the proposed sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to allow for more talks by a host of involved parties on the deal. A status conference set for Monday has been delayed to a yet-undetermined date, according to […]

Utility company Exelon announced Friday that it would in October retire the Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey at the close of its current operational cycle. That is more than a year ahead of the December 2019 closure date mandated in a 2010 agreement with the state of New Jersey, according to a press […]

Parties to the dispute over ratepayer costs for the premature closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California announced late Tuesday they had reached a new settlement. The agreement, which would save utility ratepayers at least $775 million, must still be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The nuclear power plant […]

All used fuel at Duke Energy’s retired Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Citrus County, Fla., has been moved to dry storage, the utility announced recently. For security purposes, Duke is not publicly stating the number of fuel assemblies removed from the Crystal River spent fuel pool, spokeswoman Heather Danenhower said. However, the entirety of the […]

All used fuel at Duke Energy’s retired Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Citrus County, Fla., has been moved to dry storage, the utility announced recently. The number of fuel assemblies removed from the plant’s spent fuel pool was not immediately known. Crystal River was officially retired in 2013, four years after it went offline, and […]

The California Coastal Commission said it has effectively been forced to approve permits for spent fuel storage at three nuclear power plants because the federal government has yet to establish a permanent national repository for the radioactive waste. Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco emphasized the danger presented by coastal storage of radioactive material from the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for a request from power company Entergy for exemptions related to storage of spent fuel at the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Following the Jan. 11 finding, the last step in the process is completion of a NRC […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission on Tuesday canceled a public hearing and set of evidentiary hearings in its review of the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The move is intended to give the various parties to the process time to review and discuss a revised financial assurance proposal for the […]

The California Coastal Commission said it has effectively been forced to approve permits for spent fuel storage at three nuclear power plants because the federal government has yet to establish a permanent repository for the radioactive waste. Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco emphasized the danger of coastal storage of radioactive material from the Humboldt Bay, […]

The owner and prospective buyer of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have revised their financial assurance plan to address concerns about the sale they hope to complete in 2018. The update was noted in a Jan. 5 letter from Stephanie Hoffman, special counsel for the Vermont Public Service Department, to Judith Whitney, clerk for […]

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to authorize utility Pacific Gas & Electric to close its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in 2025. The plan approved by the five-member commission does not provide all the ratepayer financing PG&E and partnering nongovernmental groups had proposed in their 2016 “Joint Proposal” on shutting down […]

Southern California Edison (SCE) is taking steps to meet its commitments for off-site disposal of used fuel from the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, but has hit a roadblock in efforts to ultimately ship the waste to Arizona. The San Diego County nuclear plant closed permanently in 2013 due to problems with steam generators […]

The owner and prospective buyer of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have revised their financial assurance plan to address concerns about the sale. The update was noted in a Jan. 5 letter from Stephanie Hoffman, special counsel for the Vermont Public Service Department, to Judith Whitney, clerk for the Vermont Public Utility Commission. Hoffman […]

President Donald Trump plans to nominate consultant Anne M. White of Michigan to head the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, which oversees cleanup of DOE’s Cold War nuclear complex, the White House announced Wednesday. The intent to nominate declaration was issued nearly a year into Trump’s presidency. The position of assistant energy secretary for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given final authorization for power company Entergy to use the decommissioning trust for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for management of the site’s irradiated fuel. The regulator announced publication of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on the exemption in a Dec. 26 Federal […]

A second round of state depositions has been scheduled for January on the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Depositions were previously held in October as the Vermont Public Utility Commission considers whether to authorize transfer of ownership of Vermont Yankee from power company Entergy to nuclear decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group […]

A second round of state depositions has been scheduled for January on the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Depositions were previously held in October as the Vermont Public Utility Commission considers whether to authorize transfer of ownership of Vermont Yankee from power company Entergy to nuclear decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group […]

The current and prospective owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant believe they can count on additional legal wins against the Department of Energy to help finance decommissioning of the shuttered facility. Power company Entergy and nuclear decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services also say they should not need a new Nuclear Regulatory Commission exemption […]

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled on Dec. 14 to vote on the proposal for closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant within a decade. Owner Pacific Gas & Electric in 2016 joined a number of labor and environmental groups in issuing a joint proposal under which the San Luis Obispo County facility’s […]

A lawmaker from New York state has introduced legislation aimed at easing the way for placing spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste into interim storage until a permanent repository is built. The “Removing Nuclear Waste from our Communities Act of 2017” is one of three bills filed in November by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) that […]

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 2015 denied that the California Coastal Commission had the authority to issue a permit for oceanside storage of additional spent reactor fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a newly disclosed letter shows. In the Oct. 1, 2015, letter to commission environmental scientist Joseph Street, Navy […]

Power company Entergy last month notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of plans for a new $4 million disbursement from its decommissioning trust for the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. “The disbursement request is expected to include, among other things, site-specific decommissioning costs related to licensing/emergency planning contractor costs, insurance and property tax,” according to […]

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled on Dec. 14 to vote on the proposal for closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant within a decade. Owner Pacific Gas & Electric in 2016 joined a number of labor and environmental groups in issuing a joint proposal under which the San Luis Obispo County facility’s […]

A lawmaker from New York state has introduced legislation aimed at easing the way for placing spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste into interim storage until a permanent repository is built. The “Removing Nuclear Waste from our Communities Act of 2017,” from Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), would authorize the energy secretary to enter into contracts […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing a request from the Omaha Public Power District that would exempt the utility from certain emergency planning requirements for the recently retired Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska. The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) says now that Fort Calhoun is permanently shut down and defueled it poses less risk […]

Community leaders and stakeholders gave final testimony Tuesday that was largely supportive of the California Public Utilities Commission’s plan to close the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Central California. Organizations including Diablo Canyon owner and operator Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the County of San Luis Obispo, where the plant is located, supported […]

The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) it is safe to store spent nuclear fuel generated by the San Onofore Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) on site. “The NRC has concluded that storage of spent fuel at reactor sites (and at away-from-reactor sites) can safely continue until a repository becomes available,” […]