Decommissioning

The Energy Department and its contractors expect demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to begin in July 2020, federal managers said March 7 at the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, Ariz. Most deactivation work has been completed at the building built in the 1950s to enrich uranium, first for […]

Entergy on Monday began the last refueling and maintenance outage at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in upstate New York, ahead of the facility’s planned retirement in 2021. The New Orleans-based power company said the outage for reactor Unit 3 would last several weeks, but did not provide a more specific schedule. It cited […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to update its generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) for decommissioning of nuclear power reactors, which was last revised 17 years ago. The document, as the name indicates, assesses possible environmental impacts from decommissioning of NRC-licensed nuclear power facilities. The agency determined the 2002 version of the GEIS needed to […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in recent weeks approved the final design for a new On-Site Disposal Cell at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The Department of Energy received the approval within the past month or so, Joel Bradburne, deputy manager for DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, said Thursday on the sidelines of the Waste Management […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects this spring to issue their findings regarding potential updates to the regulatory approach for disposal of so-called very low-level radioactive waste. The study initiated in 2016 considered a wide range of options, from maintaining the status quo to a full rulemaking to update federal […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week moved Entergy’s soon-to-be-retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station out of the lowest safety ranking allowed for an operational power plant. “We noted several areas of sustained performance improvement including: (1) significant reduction in human performance- related events that adversely affected plant safety; (2) more effective and timely corrective […]

The mayor of Piketon, Ohio, says February flooding in the area reinforces his point that the Department of Energy should not build the planned On-Site Disposal Cell for waste from ongoing cleanup at the Portsmouth Site. Heavy rains forced the Pike County Board of Commissioners to declare a state of emergency Feb. 11 due to […]

By John Stang A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $103 million to the owners of three retired nuclear power plants for failing to meet its legal mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from the properties. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Nancy Firestone ruled on Feb. 21 that the […]

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and a local watchdog organization this week petitioned for intervention and a hearing in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the license transfer application for the nearly retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. An affirmative decision from the NRC is required for owner Entergy to sell the plant to Holtec […]

By John Stang Entergy Wholesale Commodities, which operates three nuclear plants in the northeastern United States, on Wednesday posted another steep loss for the fourth quarter of 2018. The business reported a $373 million loss on an as-reported basis attributable to parent Entergy Corp., $2.04 per share. The loss on an operational basis was recorded […]

Entergy expects this year to select a company that will take ownership of its Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York for decommissioning, Chairman and CEO Leo Denault said Wednesday during an earnings teleconference with financial analysts. Denault did not elaborate on the numbers and identities of the prospective bidders for the deal. He said […]

Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has scheduled a two-day public hearing for October on a proposed 10-year license extension for decommissioning of the retired Whiteshell Laboratories nuclear research site in Manitoba. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ existing license expires on Dec. 31 of this year. It covers decommissioning operations for the WR-1 research reactor, waste management sectors, […]

Entergy Wholesale Commodities, which operates three nuclear plants in the northeastern United States, on Wednesday posted another steep loss for the fourth quarter of 2018. The business reported a $373 million loss on an as-reported basis, $2.04 per share. The loss on an operational basis was recorded at $158 million, or $0.87 per share. While […]

Three more nuclear power plants operated by Exelon Generation are at risk of early closure, parent company Exelon Corp. said in a Feb. 8 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Generation’s Dresden, Byron, and Braidwood nuclear plants in Illinois are also showing increased signs of economic distress, which could lead to an early […]

By John Stang Duke Energy is keeping its options open for eventual decommissioning of its retired Crystal River nuclear plant in central-western Florida. In a request last week to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to release the bulk of the Crystal River property for unrestricted use, the Charlotte, N.C.-based power company mentioned that “Duke Energy […]

Decommissioning of the two standing reactors at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) will produce “significant and unavoidable” environmental affects, even with mitigation measures, the California State Lands Commission said Monday in its final environmental impact report (EIR) on the upcoming project. The finding is in line with the draft version of the […]

Duke Energy is keeping its options open for eventual decommissioning of its retired Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida. In a request last week to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to release the bulk of the Crystal River property for unrestricted use, the Charlotte, N.C.-based power company mentioned that “Duke Energy is still considering beginning […]

Decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) will produce “significant and unavoidable” environmental affects, even with mitigation measures, the California State Lands Commission said Monday in its final environmental impact report (EIR) on the upcoming project. The finding is in line with the draft version of the document issued in June. The report […]

AECOM on Tuesday reported $5 billion in revenue for the quarter ended Dec, 31, about 3 percent more than the $4.9 billion reported in the same period one year earlier. Net income attributable to AECOM came in at $52 million, down 54 percent from $111 million reported in the same quarter a year ago.  The […]

Southern California Edison (SCE) on Tuesday gave newly elected Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) the business over his recent warning about the safety of spent nuclear fuel in storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). “There is no credible scenario in which this tweet from @MikeLevinCA would be factual,” the California utility, majority owner and licensee for […]

By John Stang Duke Energy has requested that the federal government release 3,854 acres of its 4,738 acres at its retired Crystal River nuclear plant site for unrestricted use. The Charlotte, N.C.-based power company wants to find still-to-be-determined uses for the acreage at the Crystal River Energy Complex on Florida’s Gulf Coast, about 85 miles […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the current federal fiscal year anticipates collecting $781.9 million in fees from its licensees, slightly less than it brought in last year. The agency’s budget for fiscal 2019, under the multi-agency “minibus” appropriations bill signed into law in September, is $911 million. That is down by $11 million from […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the current federal fiscal 2019 anticipates collecting $781.9 million in fees from its licensees, slightly less than it brought in last year. The agency’s budget for fiscal 2019, under the multi-agency “minibus” appropriations bill signed into law in September, is $911 million. That is down by $11 million from […]

Southern California Edison on Tuesday gave newly elected Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) the business over his recent warning about the safety of spent nuclear fuel in storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). “There is no credible scenario in which this tweet from @MikeLevinCA would be factual,” the utility, majority owner and licensee […]

While deactivation of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York is nearly finished, demolition will be done under a successor to the current site cleanup contract held by CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV). The demolition was previously expected to start last year under the existing CHBWV contract. […]

The last big segment of the Southwest Experimental Fast-Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) has been uprooted from its Arkansas home and shipped to the Nevada Nuclear Security Site for disposal. The reactor vessel and remaining components from the 20-megawatt, sodium-cooled test reactor arrived at the NNSS on Dec. 13, according to a January report to the Department […]

The Department of Energy’s final environmental study for its share of cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory is inadequate and does not follow an agreement reached with California in 2010, state officials said this week. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) also asked DOE to accept comments on the final environmental impact […]

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts could in March receive an improved safety rating from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, just a couple months before its scheduled permanent closure. The Entergy boiling-water reactor plant on Cape Cod has since 2015 been in Column 4 of the NRC’s Action Matrix, multiple/repetitive degraded cornerstone — the […]

By John Stang Pacific Gas & Electric said this week it is sticking to its schedule for closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant even as it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “Throughout the Chapter 11 process we will continue to operate our electric and natural gas business as usual. There are no […]

By John Stang U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) has announced creation of a task force to study safety issues at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in his state. “Today I’m launching a task force made up of local stakeholders and experts to tackle the enormous safety challenges we face with the San Onofre […]