Decommissioning

By John Stang Arguing that a worst-case scenario could result in geysers of radioactive water erupting on the California coast, an advocacy organization filed a new petition Tuesday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop the decommissioning of the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. (SONGS). SONGS majority owner Southern California Edison countered that the […]

An executive with the U.K. government-owned organization that manages the Sellafield nuclear site has been promoted to chief executive. Martin Chown began his new role on Feb. 1, according to a press release from the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. He succeeds Paul Foster, who stepped down in January after four years on the job. Chown […]

Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI) has secured the contract for decommissioning the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, one of the company’s owners said Monday. The deal is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin stated in a press release. It was signed Friday, CDI spokesman Pat O’Brien said by email. The […]

By John Stang The current and would-be owner of the infamous Three Mile Island reactor Unit 2 in Pennsylvania believe almost $300 million and 16 years can be trimmed from the prior decommissioning plan for the facility. In a package submitted Dec. 12, 2019, to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, GPU Nuclear and TMI-2 Solutions said decommissioning […]

International engineering and construction provider AECOM appears poised to complete the $2.4 billion sale of its government contracting division to a joint venture of two New York investment firms, a company official said Tuesday. Eric Knox, AECOM vice president for strategic development for nuclear and environment, cited the impending change during a panel discussion at […]

The United Kingdom is expected to generate 4.6 million cubic meters of radioactive waste through 2135, most of it from nuclear power production, according to the latest inventory from the government’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The department inventories the nation’s existing and anticipated holdings of radioactive waste and materials every three […]

Decommissioning trust funds for 119 operational and retired nuclear power reactors in the United States together held $64.7 billion at the end of 2018, according to the latest update from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Two power providers initially failed to demonstrate “decommissioning funding assurance” for a handful of reactors, though those issues were all […]

By John Stang Two California advocacy organizations pitched their cases this week to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission against on-site storage of all spent reactor fuel at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). This was essentially both groups — Public Watchdogs and Oceansiders Against San Onofre Corruption— trying to persuade the federal regulator […]

New York state’s elected leaders are leaving no doubt that they have questions and concerns about the planned sale of the soon-to-close Indian Point Energy Center. As the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday began accepting requests for hearings on the federal license transfers needed for the deal to proceed, New York Attorney General Letitia […]

Another California advocacy organization pitched its case Wednesday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission against on-site storage of all spent reactor fuel at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). Following a Tuesday presentation from the San Diego-based Public Watchdogs, Oceansiders Against San Onofre Corruption made its arguments to the NRC’s Petition Review Board […]

Three members of New York state’s delegation to Congress have posed a long list of questions to Holtec International regarding its plans to acquire and decommission the Indian Point Energy Center. The lawmakers submitted their questions to Holtec President and CEO Kris Singh in writing on Nov. 21, 2019. Their letter was posted to the […]

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is “making every effort” to publish the final versions of two long-awaited environmental reports for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in this summer, a spokesman said this month. The state agency oversees remediation of the 2,800-acre site in Ventura County, about 30 miles northwest of downtown […]

Decommissioning trust funds for 119 operational and retired nuclear power reactors together held $64.7 billion at the end of 2018, according to the latest update from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Agency staff on Dec. 31 provided the NRC commissioners with its review of the 2019 decommissioning funding status reports from nuclear utilities. The report, […]

A California advocacy group took its latest crack Tuesday at persuading the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to order a halt to decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The NRC’s Petition Review Board heard Public Watchdogs’ case for approval of a 25-page petition filed in September. The meeting was not a hearing, but […]

By John Stang A proposed settlement agreement contends that decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California later this decade can be done for $900 million less than previously estimated. On Jan. 10, plant owner Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Luis Obispo County, and five other entities filed a proposed settlement agreement […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week it has reduced the liability insurance requirements for both on-site and off-site damage at the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. The agency issued the regulatory exemptions to subsidiaries of plant owner Holtec International on Jan. 6, according to separate notices Monday and Tuesday in the […]

The state of New York is objecting to a request by power company Entergy for federal approval to reduce staffing at the Indian Point Energy Center as its two remaining operational reactors are retired over the next 16 months. Three separate state agencies have reviewed the plan, filed last April with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory […]

The state of New York is objecting to a request by power company Entergy for federal approval to reduce staffing at the Indian Point Energy Center as its two remaining operational reactors are retired over the next 16 months. Three separate state agencies have reviewed the plan, filed last April with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it has reduced the insurance requirements for the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. The agency issued the regulatory exemption to subsidiaries of plant owner Holtec International on Jan. 6, according to a notice in the Federal Register. It allows Holtec Pilgrim and Holtec Decommissioning International to […]

Three Democratic members of the House of Representatives on Friday urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to cut inspections of spent-fuel storage facilities at U.S. nuclear power plants. “It is our understanding that the Commission is reviewing a staff recommendation that would cut annual inspections of dry cask loading campaigns from 66 hours to 32 […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) expects to complete decommissioning of a long-retired nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir, Va., in 2025, after which the property would be available for unrestricted use. The five-year schedule would cover the full scope of decommissioning the SM-1 reactor and associated infrastructure: site preparation, material removal, disassembly, cleanup, […]

Holtec International believes it can complete decommissioning of the three nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York in 15 years at a cost of $2.3 billion, according to a new filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The New Jersey energy technology specialist plans to buy the Buchanan, N.Y., facility […]

By John Stang Cramming work from three other years into 2020 justifies a threefold increase in spending this year from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning trust fund, Southern California Edison wrote Thursday. The new estimate of $461.8 million dwarfs the old estimate of $166.3 million, which the company drew up in 2017: the […]

Holtec International believes it can complete decommissioning of the three nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York in 12 to 15 years at a cost of $2.3 billion, according to a new filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Power company Entergy said in April it would sell the Buchanan, […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) expects to complete decommissioning of a long-retired nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir, Va., in 2025, after which the property would be available for unrestricted use. The five-year schedule would cover the full scope of decommissioning the SM-1 reactor and associated infrastructure: site preparation, material removal, disassembly, cleanup, […]

Veolia has won a contract to build what it describes as a “water detention” facility at the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Veolia Nuclear Solutions-Federal Services said Tuesday that DOE vendor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth has awarded it a subcontract to build a system to contain any runoff from demolition of the X-326 process building […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission since July has conducted more than a dozen unannounced inspections of spent fuel transfer operations at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. The inspections are part of the agency’s response to several problems in the project, notably an August 2018 incident in which a canister was put […]

The members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday rejected requests for an immediate stay of agency staff’s approval of the license transfer for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. All four of the serving commissioners, without discussion, voted in favor of a memorandum and order upholding the earlier decision. The staff order […]

Unanimously and without discussion, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday recommended confirmation of Department of Justice attorney Robert Feitel as the new inspector general for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Feitel would succeed Hubert Bell, who retired last December after more than 22 years as NRC inspector general. “We cannot be […]

Veolia has won a contract to build what it describes as a “water detention” facility at the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Veolia Nuclear Solutions-Federal Services said Tuesday that DOE vendor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth has awarded it a subcontract to build a system to contain any runoff from demolition of the X-326 process building […]