Decommissioning

A recent inspection at a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant revealed that multiple contract workers at the site were inadvertently exposed to radiation during decommissioning work, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the company in charge of the facility. Holtec International, which is currently decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, failed to “perform […]

ROCKVILLE, MD. — A company seeking federal funds to restart a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant is in for a heavy lift, one of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s newest members said during an exclusive interview this week. “When you have a reactor that has ceased operations, and you’ve offloaded the fuel, that’s a major milestone,” […]

Feb. 15 is the new deadline for interested small businesses to bid on a construction contract for a viewing platform at the K-25 area of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a Tuesday procurement notice. The previous due date for bid packages was Jan. […]

Feb. 15 is the new deadline for interested small businesses to bid on a construction contract for a viewing platform at the K-25 area of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a Tuesday procurement notice. The previous due date for bid packages was Jan. […]

A recent inspection at a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant revealed that multiple contract workers at the site were inadvertently exposed to radiation during decommissioning work, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the company in charge of the facility. Holtec International, which is currently decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, failed to “perform […]

The company in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant is seeking new members for a stakeholders’ group focused on plant decommissioning activities. According to an application released by Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), March 7 is the deadline for interested individuals living in the vicinity of the Avila […]

Editor’s Note: A full interview with NRC Commissioner Bradley Crowell will be published in the Friday, February 7 issue of RadWaste Monitor. ROCKVILLE, MD. — A company seeking federal funds to restart a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant is in for a heavy lift, one of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s newest top executives said during […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant affirmed this week that it would not discharge radioactive water from the facility until it gets a required federal permits modification later this year. Holtec International “will fully comply” with the terms of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s National current Pollutant Discharge Elimination System […]

Nuclear power plant operators looking to take advantage of a federal bailout scheme may have to wait a bit longer to apply for the program’s second funding round, according to a Department of Energy spokesperson. DOE expects to release “application guidance” for the second round of its civil nuclear credits program in the first quarter […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant affirmed Monday night that it would not discharge radioactive water from the facility until it gets a required federal permits modification later this year. Holtec International “will fully comply” with the terms of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s National current Pollutant Discharge Elimination System […]

The Department of Energy cannot sign off on a decommissioning company’s gambit to restart a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant, a coalition of anti-nuclear groups told the Secretary of Energy in a letter this week. Holtec International’s proposed bid on DOE’s civil nuclear credits program, aimed at securing federal funding for Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, […]

California’s last nuclear power plant must start its federal relicensing process anew, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week, derailing its operator’s plan to put huge chunks of bailout money to quick work via a regulatory shortcut. In 2022, Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) secured more than $2 billion in […]

California’s public utilities commission last week agreed to kick off a new rulemaking that, if finalized, would allow the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant to operate into the next decade, documents show. During a Thursday meeting, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to greenlight the proposed rulemaking, which would, among other […]

The U.S. should develop a series of scientific criteria that can be used to extend the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants through the middle of the century, the Department of Energy’s lead nuclear power official said this week. “If we would like our existing fleet to make it to 2050, we should establish a […]

Citing water use violations, a Pennsylvania-based environmental group this week asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider another challenge to decommissioning a shuttered nuclear power plant in the Keystone State, agency documents show. In its Wednesday filing, Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA) told NRC that a 2021 license amendment request for Three Mile Island Nuclear […]

The U.S. should develop a series of scientific criteria that can be used to extend the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants through the middle of the century, the Department of Energy’s lead nuclear power official said Wednesday. “If we would like our existing fleet to make it to 2050, we should establish a scientific […]

California’s public utilities commission last week agreed to kick off a new rulemaking that, if finalized, would allow the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant to operate into the next decade, documents show. During a Thursday meeting, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to greenlight the proposed rulemaking, which would, among other […]

The operator of California’s last nuclear power plant, which just got a new lease on life, said that the facility’s system for managing reactor coolant pressure was leaking, according to a recent letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During an October refueling outage at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) discovered a […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant is pulling together the required information for a federal permit modification that would let the company discharge irradiated wastewater from the facility, a spokesperson said this week. Holtec International, which is currently dismantling Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, is “preparing the modification request” for […]

The newly-elected governor of Massachusetts last week signaled that she would stand against a proposal from Holtec International that would see irradiated wastewater from a shuttered nuclear power plant released into the Cape Cod Bay, local media reported. Speaking at a community event in South Yarmouth, Mass., Gov. Maura Healey (D) said that the Bay […]

As the company in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant seeks federal approval to operate the facility for an extra five years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing whether to extend the plant’s license to store spent nuclear fuel on site. NRC is considering an application from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that, […]

A coalition of anti-nuclear groups this week asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to refuse a proposed 20-year license extension for California’s last operating nuclear power plant, saying it would violate federal law, an agency filing shows. Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) November request with NRC for a license extension for Diablo Canyon Power Plant is […]

A week of torrential rain and flooding in California that has killed more than a dozen people did not significantly affect operations at two of the Golden State’s nuclear sites, according to their owners. Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) late last week “temporarily” reduced power in the plant’s two reactors […]

A coalition of anti-nuclear groups on Tuesday asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to refuse a proposed 20-year license extension for California’s last operating nuclear power plant, saying it would violate federal law, an agency filing shows. Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) November request with NRC for a license extension for Diablo Canyon Power Plant is […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant is pulling together the required information for a federal permit modification that would let the company discharge irradiated wastewater from the facility, a spokesperson said Monday. Holtec International, which is currently dismantling Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, is “preparing the modification request” for the […]

The operator of California’s last nuclear power plant, which just got a new lease on life, said that the facility’s system for managing reactor coolant pressure was leaking, according to a recent letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During an October refueling outage at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) discovered a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving to the next step in its congressionally-mandated effort to amend a rule about financial assurances for decommissioning nuclear power plants by stripping out references to credit ratings, the agency said this week. NRC’s proposed rules change, published in the Federal Register Tuesday, is aimed at bringing the agency’s financial […]

Happy New Year, nuke-watchers, and welcome to 2023’s first issue of RadWaste Monitor, where we’ll take a look ahead at some of the issues looming for industry and government in the unfolding year. After months of back-and-forth, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could license a second private interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel early this […]

Nuclear services company Holtec International unveiled Tuesday its newest device for dismantling nuclear reactor components, which is already in use at a shuttered New York nuclear power plant, according to a press release. Holtec’s “innovative segmentation technology,” dubbed HI-CUT in the company’s Tuesday press release, is designed to “improve the efficacy of dismantling radiation-hardened and […]

The company decommissioning a shuttered Vermont nuclear power plant ran slightly afoul of federal guidelines for such facilities, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent letter. A November inspection at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station revealed a regulations violation of “very low security significance,” NRC told plant operator NorthStar in its letter, dated Dec. […]