Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Gearing up to do an Environmental Impact Statement on the storage of spent nuclear fuel for up to hundreds of years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a draft report yesterday on key assumptions for the study. The NRC “is anticipating that spent nuclear fuel will be stored longer than originally intended because of the uncertainties […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission filed a response yesterday to a legal challenge to the agency’s closeout of the Yucca Mountain repository licensing review. The issue stems from a petition in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that calls for a resumption of repository licensing, citing a requirement in the Nuclear Waste […]

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is offering details on his position on the Yucca Mountain repository, telling South Carolina media this week that states should be refunded if Nevada rejects the repository. “I think the people in Nevada should be given an offer with a financial incentive to take the nuclear waste, and if they […]

With the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future expected to release its final report on waste disposal this Thursday, industry officials hope that Congress will move quickly to consider the recommendations. “Congressional interest in this is already beginning, so we are quite hopeful that it is not going to be a report that simply […]

Coming Ahead of Nevada’s Republican presidential caucus on Feb. 4, most of the remaining Republican presidential candidates expressed conditional support for the Yucca Mountain repository to local media last weekend. While Mitt Romney had been highly critical of Yucca Mountain in debates last fall, in statements published Sunday the candidate lambasted the Obama Administration’s handling […]

In a set of hearings this week, the House and Senate will delve into the nuclear waste disposal recommendations included in last week’s final report from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. A House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. will be followed by a Thursday hearing at 9:30 […]

Challengers in an ongoing lawsuit on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s closeout of its review of Yucca Mountain say that the agency has enough money to continue with the review. While NRC said in a brief filed earlier this month in the court battle that it did not have enough funds to complete its review, the […]

A court has granted expedited review of a petition by challengers to the Administration’s decision to shut down Yucca Mountain that could force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make a decision on licensing the repository. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released an expedited schedule for the matter Friday, which calls […]

Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) continued her push to develop a policy for spent nuclear fuel, saying on the Senate floor Monday that she intends to meet with Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu in December to discuss the issue. The meeting would “put forward a little agenda of how […]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) yesterday backed off from his plans to introduce an amendment to fund Yucca Mountain after Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) offered an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill Tuesday prohibiting funds from being used to reopen the repository. Earlier this month Kirk announced his intention to push for an amendment […]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) sent a letter Friday signed by 31 Republican Senators to Congressional appropriators, urging them to include funding for Yucca Mountain in a final Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The letter calls for the legislation to match the $45 million in Yucca Mountain funding provided in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners will hold a public meeting today to vote on a staff petition to keep the NRC from acting as steward to the millions of Yucca Mountain licensing documents, and to hear from the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on the effort to incorporate site-specific performance assessments into 10 CFR Part 61. […]

The Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future will discuss potential updates to its draft recommendations at a meeting Friday, including whether or not to revisit the decision to comingle civilian and defense waste. The panel, which has final recommendations to the Department of Energy due in January, released a draft report in July […]

Gearing up to submit its final recommendations on nuclear waste disposal to the Department of Energy in January, the Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future proposed several potential revisions to its draft proposal at a meeting in Washington, D.C., Friday. Key potential updates to the draft report released in July include clarification on […]

Challengers to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s close out of the Yucca Mountain licensing process are calling for the court to compel the agency to start up its review of the repository within 30 days of a court order. The legal brief came after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released an […]

The Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future meets in Boston today to seek feedback on its draft recommendations on nuclear waste disposal. On the agenda are a host of waste-related issues addressed in the panel’s draft report, including issues at West Valley, consolidated interim storage sites, consent-based radioactive waste siting and radioactive waste […]

As the federal government continues efforts to shut down Yucca Mountain, the Government Accountability Office released a report yesterday outlining alternative uses for the proposed repository site. The remote Nevada site includes two large tunnels 5 miles and 2 miles long, and has the potential for high security. The report, requested by Sen. Harry Reid […]

Forming a federal corporation dedicated to managing nuclear waste could further delay efforts to disposition waste, representatives from several Southern states told the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future at a meeting in Atlanta yesterday.  Karen Patterson of the South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council told the panel that defense waste at Savannah River […]

At a debate in Las Vegas Tuesday, several Republican presidential candidates voiced support for the Obama Administration’s efforts to shut down development of the Yucca Mountain repository. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said he opposes developing a nuclear waste repository without support from the state. “The idea that 49 states can tell Nevada we want […]

Representatives from the nuclear industry and utility regulators have filed an update to their challenge to the Department of Energy’s continued collection of Nuclear Waste Fund fees in the face of the Yucca Mountain shutdown. “Until such time as there is a waste program whose costs can be assessed, the Court should direct DOE to […]