Decommissioning

Power provider Entergy on Monday announced the start of the final transfer of spent fuel at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station from wet storage into dry casks. The nuclear power plant closed in December 2014, and Entergy is seeking state and federal regulatory approval to sell it to NorthStar Group Services for decommissioning and […]

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rules for power reactors transitioning to decommissioning is June 13. The NRC has already received 178 comments on the issue. An NRC preliminary draft regulatory analysis for the decommissioning rulemaking was filed in the Federal Register in May. It provides options and cost and […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said this week that workers have removed the reactor pressure vessel from the STURGIS barge, a key step in completion of dismantlement of the radiologically contaminated vessel. Work began in 2015 at the Port of Galveston in Texas to decommission and disassemble the onetime World War II Liberty Ship […]

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules for Power Reactors Transitioning to Decommissioning is June 13. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has already received 179 comments on the issue, according to a commission website. A preliminary draft regulatory analysis notice was filed in the Federal Register May 9. NRC directed its […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the final steps of an environmental assessment that would clear the way for Centrus Energy Corp. to start shipping radioactive debris out of a shuttered, next-generation uranium-enrichment demonstration in Piketon, Ohio, an NRC spokesperson said Tuesday. NRC “is currently working on an Environmental Assessment of the environmental impacts of transporting […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the final steps of an environmental assessment that would clear the way for Centrus Energy Corp. to start shipping radioactive debris out of a shuttered, next-generation uranium-enrichment demonstration in Piketon, Ohio, an NRC spokesperson said Tuesday. NRC “is currently working on an Environmental Assessment of the environmental impacts of transporting […]

By Wayne Barber The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday adopted a cost estimate for decommissioning the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant that is over $1 billion less than the amount sought by owner Pacific Gas & Electric Co. In April, state Administrative Law Judge Darcie Houck issued a proposed decision that would reduce […]

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled on May 25 to decide whether to approve the latest, disputed cost estimate for decommissioning the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., owner of the two-reactor site in San Luis Obispo County, in 2015 estimated it would cost $3.8 billion to decommission the plant […]

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled on May 25 to decide whether to approve the latest, disputed cost estimate for decommissioning the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., owner of the two-reactor site in San Luis Obispo County, in 2015 estimated it would cost $3.78 billion to decommission the plant following […]

The employee headcount at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is currently listed at more than 3,250 full-time equivalent positions, down considerably from the more than 4,000 recorded during the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, according to the agency’s May update to Congress. The over 60-page report, released May 5 to Senate Environment and Public Works […]

The leadership of the United Kingdom must sustain its funding commitment for decommissioning of nuclear facilities even as it considers new opportunities for the nation’s atomic energy fleet, the Nuclear Industry Association said in a new report. “There has been continued significant progress in decommissioning at sites across the UK since the last election, and […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is recommending allowing nuclear plant operators to spend money from their decommissioning trust funds on certain separate expenses without having to obtain authorization from the federal agency. The recommendation, if enacted by the NRC as part of a larger rulemaking, would still require that nuclear utilities ensure their accounts maintain a […]

The seller and buyer for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station should not be allowed to change certain commitments for decommissioning and site restoration at the shuttered plant, the nongovernmental New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution said in a motion filed on May 5 with a state regulator. The Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) must approve the […]

Centrus Energy hedged the end date for decommissioning and decontaminating its shuttered industrial-scale uranium-enrichment demonstration in Ohio, saying in its latest quarterly earnings report Tuesday the project will be “substantially complete” by year’s end. In the 2017 first quarter, Centrus spent some $5.4 to decommission and decontaminate (D&D) the American Centrifuge plant at the Department of […]

Centrus Energy hedged the end date for decommissioning and decontaminating its shuttered industrial-scale uranium-enrichment demonstration in Ohio, saying in its latest quarterly earnings report Tuesday the project will be “substantially complete” by year’s end. In the 2017 first quarter, Centrus spent some $5.4 to decommission and decontaminate (D&D) the American Centrifuge plant at the Department of […]

The seller and buyer for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station should not be allowed to change certain commitments for decommissioning and site restoration at the shuttered plant, the nongovernmental New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution said in a motion filed Friday with a state regulator. The Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) must approve the sale […]

Fluor-BWXT’s Portsmouth could wait until February 2018 to prep the X-326 uranium enrichment building for teardown, but only if it forgoes 30 percent of its award fee, according to a substantially modified contract the Energy Department released late Thursday. DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office uploaded the modified contract, last altered May 1, to its website in […]

The new congressional omnibus budget proposal for fiscal 2017 would reduce fees and appropriations for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by about $65 million from its requested amount. That doesn’t mean the agency necessarily faces a drastic belt tightening for the remainder of this budget year, partly thanks to unspent funds it is authorized to carry […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still reviewing Centrus Energy Corp.’s plan for decommissioning an industrial-scale uranium enrichment demonstration in Piketon, Ohio, an official said Monday. Centrus sent NRC its plan for dismantling the 1-square-mile American Centrifuge plant at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth site March 1, but the document “has not yet been approved,” Marvin Sykes, […]

The state of Vermont is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw a series of decisions allowing utility Entergy to use money from the decommissioning trust fund for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for management of the plant’s spent fuel. The state government has fought this battle for years, worried about draining funds […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still reviewing Centrus Energy Corp.’s plan for decommissioning an industrial-scale uranium enrichment demonstration in Piketon, Ohio, an official said Monday. Centrus sent NRC its plan for dismantling the 1-square-mile American Centrifuge plant at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth site March 1, but the document “has not yet been approved,” Marvin Sykes, […]

The California Public Utilities Commission this week began eight days of evidentiary hearings on the request from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to close the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant within a decade. The utility announced last June that it would not renew the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for the plant’s two reactors when they […]

The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District (OPPD) projects it will cost nearly $1.4 billion over five decades to maintain and then decommission the shuttered Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant, according to the utility’s newly released post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR). The 43-year-old single-reactor facility permanently shut down last October, due to what OPPD described as […]

The contractor for cleanup of the former fast reactor research and development facility at Dounreay, Scotland, said last week it anticipates cutting up to 200 jobs over the coming year as decommissioning progresses. Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. [DSRL] employs about 1,000 people on staff, roughly 10 to 15 percent of whom would be offered “voluntary […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday it has sealed an agreement with two European educational institutions to develop educational and training material intended to assist in decommissioning of nuclear research reactors. The tools and materials from the U.N. agency, the Slovak University of Technology, and the Technical University Vienna-Atominstitut (ATI) would be provided at […]

The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District (OPPD) projects it will cost nearly $1.4 billion over five decades to maintain and decommission the closed Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant, according to the utility’s newly released post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR). The 43-year-old single-reactor facility permanently shut down last October, and OPPD at the time said it […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week notified Entergy that it is ready to carry out a full technical review of the utility’s request to transfer the license for the closed Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station to new planned owner NorthStar Group Services. The April 6 letter cites the completion of the agency’s acceptance review of the […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last month achieved another milestone in decommissioning of the radiologically contaminated STURGIS barge, but the schedule for completing the project has been pushed back to summer 2019. The cost of the work has also spiked by up to $12 million. The Army is dismantling and decommissioning the former World […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week notified Entergy that it will carry out a full technical review of the utility’s request to transfer the license for the closed Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station to new planned owner NorthStar Group Services. The April 6 letter cites the completion of the agency’s acceptance review of the Feb. 9 […]

A senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission official last week said the agency officials aim to participate in a public meeting on the planned sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Vermont Yankee closed in December 2014. Owner Entergy now hopes to sell the facility and its decommissioning trust fund to NorthStar Group Services to […]