Decommissioning

Parties to the settlement agreement for the sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are betting they can secure federal and state regulatory approval for the deal by Oct. 31. That is the new date, according to a recent amendment to the settlement agreement, after which parties can withdraw if the sale has […]

Maryland-based nuclear fuel provider Centrus Energy is working toward termination of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for its American Centrifuge Lead Cascade demonstration project at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Most decontamination and decommissioning at the site was finished by June 30, Centrus said in a 10-Q quarterly report filed Thursday with […]

The Energy Department is doing early planning on a potential solicitation for teardown and removal of facilities at sites including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York state. The department’s Office of Environmental Management on Aug. 9 issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice for deactivation, decommissioning, and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed set of rules for nuclear power reactors in decommissioning could leave taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in costs in the event of a major accident, according to four U.S. senators. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) aired a number […]

A total of 925 spent fuel assemblies from two shuttered power reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California had been transferred from wet to dry storage as of July 20, according to the latest update from plant majority owner Southern California Edison. That was up from 666 through June 20 at the […]

By John Stang NextEra Energy Resources plans to shut down Iowa’s sole nuclear power reactor in 2020, the latest in a series of announced shutdowns of atomic energy plants around the nation. The 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center boiling-water reactor, about 10 miles outside of Cedar Rapids, has a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to operate […]

By John Stang Holtec International announced this week it would buy three nuclear power plants set to close in coming months and years, then turn them over for decommissioning by a joint venture recently formed with a Canadian engineering corporation. On Tuesday, Chicago-based power company Exelon said it would sell its Oyster Creek Generating Station […]

Holtec International said Wednesday it plans to buy two more nuclear power plants for decommissioning, in addition to the single-site acquisition announced just one day earlier. Power company Entergy will sell its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., and its Palisades Power Plant in Covert, Mich., after the reactors are shut down and defueled, […]

Holtec International said Tuesday it plans to acquire the soon-to-close Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey for decommissioning, which would be conducted by its new joint venture with SNC-Lavalin. If the deal goes through, Comprehensive Decommissioning International would begin decommissioning in 2019 and aim to complete work in eight years. That would dramatically accelerate […]

Draft guidance for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ongoing reactor decommissioning rulemaking could create additional hassles for nuclear utilities – the opposite of the purpose of the process, according to an organization representing closed nuclear power plants around the nation. “There are multiple instances in which the proposed guidance documents do not align with the stated […]

A Canadian research firm has selected a decommissioning provider for its SLOWPOKE-2 nuclear reactor, and will return a small amount of spent fuel from the site to the United States. The Saskatoon-based Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) on Monday announced that Candu Energy, a subsidiary of engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin, would decommission the Safe Low-Power […]

The Department of Energy is preparing to restart demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after most work was halted after a spread of radioactive contamination in December. A contractor-led, DOE-overseen management assessment evaluating preparations to resume work is expected to start Aug. 13. It could clear the way […]

The designer of what is likely to be the first small modular reactor (SMR) complex in the United States believes the reactor will ultimately prove easier to decommission than a conventional nuclear power facility. NuScale Power, of Portland, Ore., is seeking approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build its first SMR plant at […]

Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a new joint venture of SNC-Lavalin of Montreal and Holtec International of Camden, N.J., plans to seek reactor decommissioning work, the companies said in a statement Wednesday. Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI) will be based in Camden, according to a joint press release. The companies had not identified any specific decommissioning projects they […]

Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a new joint venture of SNC-Lavalin of Montreal and Holtec International of Camden, N.J., plans to seek reactor decommissioning work, the companies said in a statement Wednesday. Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI) will be based in Camden, according to a joint press release. The companies, which did not immediately reply to requests for […]

The parties to the Tri-Party Agreement on environmental remediation of the Hanford Site in Washington state have verified that the challenging cleanup of the 618-10 Burial Ground has been completed. That meets the deadline under the agreement for completion of the project by the end of this fiscal year, according to the Department of Energy. […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined there would be no significant environmental impact in approving the license termination plan for the Zion Nuclear Power Station in Illinois. Agency staff on June 25 issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the 2014 request from ZionSolutions, a subsidiary […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and the Indiana Michigan Power Co. have scheduled a July 17 teleconference to discuss a steep, unexpected reduction in the decommissioning trust funds for the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant’s two power reactors. In March 2017, Indiana Michigan Power reported the trust funds as of Dec. 31, 2016, stood at $459.5 […]

The House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce a report on “best practices” for establishing local advisory boards near nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning. The language was included in an amendment from Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The panel […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Michigan Power Co. have scheduled a July 17 teleconference to discuss an unexpected $150 million reduction in the decommissioning trust funds for the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant’s two power reactors. In March 2017, Indiana Michigan Power reported the trust funds as of Dec. 31, 2016, stood […]

Entergy said recently it has shipped 782,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater from its shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to a disposal facility in Tennessee. Another shipment was scheduled for today, the power company said in a June 28 update to Vermont’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. Groundwater has been seeping into the turbine room […]

EnergySolutions in May signed a $9.45 million contract to complete dismantling and decommissioning of the long-retired Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) facility in Arkansas. This final leg of the remediation includes placing the reactor itself into a special container in October. The reactor is one of the few structures left on the site, according […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, is tearing down the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Incinerator. The demolition project at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) began June 20 and should be finished this fall, a DOE spokesperson said by email Thursday. When operations began […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission aims to collect information to determine whether any aspects of decommissioning the soon-to-retire Oyster Creek nuclear power plant should be studied to obtain long-term knowledge about other reactor operations. Owner Exelon plans in September to close the single-reactor facility in Lacey Township, N.J., a month ahead of […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it will next year formally take over management of the now privately operated contractor for cleanup of the nation’s retired Magnox reactors. The government announced in March 2017 that it would cancel Cavendish Fluor Partnership’s contract to manage Magnox Ltd. as of Aug. 31, 2019, nine years […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it will next year formally take over management of the now privately operated contractor for cleanup of the nation’s Magnox reactor sites. The government announced in March 2017 that it would cancel the Cavendish Fluor Partnership’s contract to manage Magnox Ltd. as of Aug. 31, 2019, nine […]

By John Stang The decommissioning of the two remaining reactors at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California has the potential to uncover a previously unidentified radioactive groundwater plume, send excessive fumes of hazardous nitric oxides into the air, and damage marine life and habitat, according to a state environmental assessment. These […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued its final figures for fee collections that will provide the bulk of its funding for the current 2018 federal budget year. The nuclear industry regulator is budgeted at $922 million for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, up by $4.9 million from the prior fiscal […]

The parties to the planned sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant hope to secure state regulatory approval just a month after the federal government signs off on the deal, according to a filing this week. Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to decide sometime in the third quarter of […]

French waste management provider Veolia will provide nuclear decommissioning and waste processing technologies to national utility EDF under a partnership formally sealed Tuesday. Both parts of the agreement involve capabilities Veolia acquired in its 2016 purchase of California-based nuclear cleanup technologies specialist Kurion. EDF is conducting decommissioning of six gas-cooled nuclear reactors at Bugey, Chinon, […]