Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Given recent comments by a group of U.S. Senators, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Pete Lyons said yesterday he is “extraordinarily optimistic” that Congress will draft legislation to enact the Obama administration’s strategy for spent nuclear fuel management. At the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ winter 2013 meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Lyons […]

In final recommendations released yesterday, the Idaho Leadership in Nuclear Energy (LINE) Commission wrote that the state should consider allowing the Idaho National Lab to store additional quantities of spent fuel for research purposes, and should reconsider the agreement with the Department of Energy to remove calcine wastes from INL by 2035. The state made […]

With the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee set to hold a hearing tomorrow on the Nuclear Waste Administration Act, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners sent a letter to Committee leaders yesterday detailing some concerns with the bill. While the group applauded the creation of a Nuclear Waste Administration and the use of […]

With speculation mounting that the Obama Administration will not release the Department of Energy’s overdue plan for implementation of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future until after the November elections, DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons faced harsh questioning on the schedule for releasing the report at a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must create an agency-wide mechanism to search classified studies, as they may be pivotal to aid in major agency decisions regarding managing spent nuclear fuel before a permanent disposal solution is found, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Sept. 13. Because the NRC cannot easily access classified studies […]

Petitioners in a case seeking to restart Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing proceedings for Yucca Mountain are urging the Court to make a decision in light of the recent enactment of the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the first few months of FY 2013. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit […]

West Valley Demonstration Project Contractor CH2M HILL B&W West Valley announced yesterday the award of a subcontract to USEC subsidiary NAC International for the design and component fabrication of the site’s high level waste relocation and storage system. The $30 million contract calls for the relocation of 275 vitrified waste canisters, with design and construction […]

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) yesterday introduced legislation aimed at implementing the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future’s recommendations. Though Bingaman had been working with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to craft bipartisan legislation, a draft of which was obtained by RW Monitor […]

The House passed an amendment yesterday to the Energy and Water spending bill to provide an additional $10 million to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the review of the Yucca Mountain license application. The amendment, which passed 326 to 81, would add that funding to the $25 million already provided in the bill. Though […]

A bipartisan group of Senators yesterday announced their ongoing efforts to introduce a bill addressing U.S. nuclear waste policy in light of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommendations. At a Bipartisan Policy Center event yesterday Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said […]

The Washington Post yesterday published at editorial that supports continuing the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain spent nuclear fuel geologic repository project, and places much of the blame for the country’s current nuclear waste stalemate on Congress, specifically Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). "Lawmakers helped create the expensive and risky mess that currently […]

The Department of Justice is supporting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s position in a petition to force the NRC to restart the Yucca Mountain licensing process. A DOJ filing released Friday argues that the $10 million NRC currently has for licensing is not enough for the agency to complete its review, and that general appropriations cannot […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has filed another legal brief in a petition to force the agency to restart its review of the Yucca Mountain license application, this time agreeing with a recent Justice Department filing. Oral arguments were held in April by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a mandamus […]

Petitioners looking to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume Yucca Mountain licensing say that a recent Justice Department argument in the case contradicts the separation of powers doctrine. DOJ filed a brief last month in a case challenging the NRC’s Yucca Mountain closeout, arguing that the agency did not have sufficient funding to complete […]

Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who recently served on the Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, said yesterday he was unhappy with the Department of Energy’s response to the panel’s waste disposal recommendations. “I’m disappointed that the Administration has been slow to act in implementing the BRC’s recommendations. The Commission strongly urged the […]

In a step forward in southeast New Mexico’s quest for new nuclear waste disposal missions, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary David Martin this week detailed a strategy for building consent between state and federal entities for the establishment of a new waste facility. Local officials hope to build an interim storage site for spent fuel […]

Though the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is capable of authorizing a centralized interim storage facility for U.S. spent nuclear fuel now, as the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommended in January, actual operation of such a site could be significantly delayed until current national law gets tweaked, NRC officials said yesterday. Currently, the Nuclear […]

Attorneys for Washington State looking to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to complete the Yucca Mountain licensing review are using recent comments by Department of Energy and NRC officials to bolster their court case. The NRC has argued that the licensing case cannot go forward because DOE has pulled its application, and that the process could […]

Judges sharply questioned the Department of Energy’s reasoning for continued collection of the Nuclear Waste Fee during oral arguments Friday in a case to suspend the fee. The petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners was triggered by DOE’s continued collection of the […]

The Department of Energy would be able to move ahead on establishing interim nuclear waste storage sites under language in legislation that cleared the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee yesterday. Current law prohibits DOE from supporting interim storage until the Yucca Mountain repository is established. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the panel’s chair, said […]

Local officials in Nye County, Nevada, home of the Yucca Mountain site, reaffirmed support for the repository in a letter sent Tuesday to Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The move comes after the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future called for a consent-based approach to siting a nuclear waste facility in a community. […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill late last week that would require the president to certify that Yucca Mountain remains the designated site for a high-level radioactive waste repository. The bill, cosponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act […]

Nevada’s governor sent a letter to Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday rejecting Nye County’s recent declaration of support for the Yucca Mountain repository. “There should be no uncertainty or misunderstanding of my position with regard to an interim spent fuel storage site or repository site in Nevada; the state of Nevada does not […]

The National Conference of State Legislatures is urging Congress to move forward quickly on the waste disposal recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The BRC report released in January “represents an important opportunity to find a permanent, safe and secure solution to America’s nuclear waste problem,” says a March 9 letter […]

Following his recent service as the designated federal officer for the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, Tim Frazier plans to leave the Department of Energy in April after 22 years. Frazier spent the past two years coordinating efforts by the Administration’s blue ribbon panel, which released a final report in January detailing recommendations […]

Following a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing yesterday on the Blue Ribbon Commission’s report on nuclear waste disposal, subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said that the panel would continue to push for Yucca Mountain. “My focus is to get Yucca Mountain back on track so that we have what the Blue Ribbon Commission says […]

As the Administration formulates its response to the Blue Ribbon panel report on nuclear waste, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons said yesterday that establishing a new waste management entity, as recommended by the panel, would present a big challenge. The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommended late last month the formulation […]

The Department of Energy task force charged with coming up with a plan to implement recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future held its first meeting Friday. Nominally housed in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, the task force is chaired by the NNSA’s Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner and includes representation from the relevant program […]

Predicting that the Obama Administration’s decision to abandon the Yucca Mountain project would be reversed by the courts, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu to begin preparing to restart the project at a House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday. The Administration’s decision […]

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. has scheduled oral arguments to begin May 2 in the lawsuit challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s shut-down of the Yucca Mountain licensing process. The lawsuit against the NRC was filed by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and Nye County, Nev., home to the Yucca […]