Decommissioning

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 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday formally began accepting petitions for hearings and intervention on the application to transfer the operating and spent fuel storage licenses for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. Power company Entergy plans to close the single-reactor plant by May 31 after nearly 47 years of operation. It hopes […]

Pacific Gas & Electric said Tuesday 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 specific plans to sell […]

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 […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based nuclear project management and personnel provider ReNuke Services has two new vice presidents, one newly hired and one promoted from within. The company on Friday announced that it had promoted treasurer Marcie Acosta to vice president of administration and finance. It also hired industry veteran Wendy Lambert as vice president of business […]

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 under the current CHBWV contract. The news […]

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, the lowest rank under which […]

Elevated levels of radioactive tritium were found in groundwater samples taken early last year from the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin, produced during demolition of the reactor building, according to a site investigation report submitted to the state in November. However, subsequent sampling through much of 2018 showed tritium infiltration of groundwater had […]

The Department of Energy schedule for demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state has slipped again. The long-retired plant could be down to slab on grade by mid-September, according to the latest projection. In December, Hanford officials said staff turnover had slowed work but that as employees become familiar […]

The Department of Energy last week completed cleanup of the 618-10 Burial Ground, one of the most hazardous radioactive waste dumps in the Columbia River Corridor at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The last step involved replanting vegetation across about 120 acres. “It’s nice to see the area match the surrounding terrain and get […]

By John Stang Southern California Edison said Thursday that training and procedural shortfalls led to a mishap last year in relocating spent reactor fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California, but contended there was no danger of a storage canister falling hard enough to cause it to leak out radioactive material. […]

Elevated levels of radioactive tritium were found in groundwater samples taken early last year from the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin, produced during demolition of the reactor building, according to a site investigation report submitted to the state in November. However, subsequent sampling through much of the year showed tritium release into groundwater […]

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy said Tuesday it has completed the first of two reactor segmentation operations for Sweden’s Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant. The work on Unit 2 is covered under a contract the Wilmington, N.C., company received in January 2017 for the OKG AB-operated plant near the city of Oskarshamn. Working underwater, personnel disassembled, segmented, and packaged […]

The Department of Energy last week completed cleanup of the 618-10 Burial Ground, one of the most hazardous radioactive waste dumps in the Columbia River Corridor at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The last step involved replanting about 120 acres. The burial ground was used from 1954 to 1963 for waste from the 300 […]

Several advocacy groups have filed a petition asking a U.S. District Court to make public certain grand jury records from a long-closed investigation into the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant site in Colorado. In June 1989, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly conducted a raid at Rocky Flats, seizing 135 […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will meet with industry representatives on Feb. 8 near Washington, D.C., to discuss its next nuclear decommissioning project: the SM-1 reactor on the grounds of Fort Belvoir. The SM-1 operated from 1957 to 1973 at the Army base in Fairfax County, Va. It was the first nuclear power plant […]

By John Stang California utility Pacific Gas & Electric said this week it does not expect its impending bankruptcy filing to impact the future closure and decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The company announced its intent to file for federal bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, as it tries to figure out how to […]

By John Stang The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office plans to formally raise concerns about decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to allow owner Entergy to transfer its license to Holtec International. “The Attorney General intends … to intervene in the pending license transfer proceeding to articulate … […]

Several advocacy groups have filed a petition asking a U.S. District Court to make public certain grand jury records from a long-closed investigation into the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant site in Colorado. In June 1989, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly conducted a raid at Rocky Flats, seizing 135 […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will meet with industry representatives on Feb. 8 near Washington, D.C., to discuss its next nuclear decommissioning project: the SM-1 reactor on the grounds of Fort Belvoir. The SM-1 operated from 1957 to 1973. It was the first nuclear power plant ever linked to a public utility grid, helping […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to take nine months to a year to complete its technical review of the request from Entergy and Holtec International to transfer the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. The two corporations in November submitted the request to transfer the plant reactor […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week preliminarily rejected an environmental group’s petition that power company FirstEnergy Corp. be penalized for failing to ensure it had sufficient funding to decommission three nuclear power plants scheduled to close by 2021. The latest available information does not demonstrate that FirstEnergy and several subsidiaries are breaching NRC regulations, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it had scheduled a meeting on Jan. 24 with representatives from Southern California Edison (SCE) to discuss possible violations of federal regulations connected to a radioactive waste transfer mishap at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The agency is considering fines or other forms of “escalated enforcement” […]

By John Stang Holtec International is philosophically at ease with accepting a pair of potential violations being considered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but contended Wednesday there was no safety threat in procedural glitches in modifying the design of a storage container for spent nuclear fuel. During a meeting at NRC headquarters, Holtec President […]

Power company Entergy on Friday completed the sale of its shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to NorthStar Group Services, a deal more than two years in making. The announcement closes a first-of-its-kind deal for managing post-closure cleanup of these facilities, with the owner passing full responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week preliminarily rejected an environmental group’s petition that power company FirstEnergy Corp. be penalized for failing to ensure it had sufficient funding to decommission three nuclear power plants scheduled to close by 2021. The latest available information does not demonstrate that FirstEnergy and several subsidiaries are breaching NRC regulations, Ho […]

Westinghouse Electric intends to create a business unit covering services for the full nuclear power life cycle as part of a broader reorganization announced Tuesday. The Plant Solutions business will encompass delivery of new power facilities; government services; and deconstruction, decommissioning, and remediation resources, according to a press release. it will be led by David […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]