Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Federal judges on Tuesday repeatedly questioned claims that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission illegally licensed Holtec International to store spent fuel under contract to the Department of Energy. The long-awaited oral arguments in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia are part of a lawsuit from 2021 that now includes the anti-nuclear groups […]

Federal judges on Tuesday repeatedly questioned claims that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission illegally licensed Holtec International to store spent fuel under contract to the Department of Energy. The long-awaited oral arguments in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia are part of a lawsuit from 2021 that now includes the anti-nuclear groups […]

In about a month, a New Jersey court will decide whether to force Holtec International to turn over additional information sought by a former finance chief who has sued the company for wrongful termination. Lawyers for Kevin O’Rourke, the ex-chief financial officer who sued in June, filed a motion with the Superior Court of New […]

Friends and foes of Holtec International’s proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel were to meet in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 5 for oral arguments. The three-judge panel scheduled to hear the arguments, in order of seniority on the court, are: Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, […]

Friends and foes of Holtec International’s proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel were to meet in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 5 for oral arguments. The three-judge panel scheduled to hear the arguments, in order of seniority on the court, are: Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, […]

In about a month, a New Jersey court will decide whether to force Holtec International to turn over additional information sought by a former finance chief who has sued the company for wrongful termination. Lawyers for Kevin O’Rourke, the ex-chief financial officer who sued in June, filed a motion with the Superior Court of New […]

The Department of Energy cannot make utilities pay for storage of spent nuclear fuel with interest from their own decommissioning trust funds, a federal judge ruled this month. DOE had argued in the Court of Federal Claims that it should not have to pay $149 million in damages to three former power plant operators in […]

Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) again filed a bill that would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to certify that storage casks for nuclear waste “can safely operate” for at least 100 years. The bill, filed Jan. 31, is becoming a perennial bloomer in Congress. Levin, whose southern California district includes the Diablo […]

The Department of Energy’s consent-based siting program to find a home for stranded spent nuclear fuel will not include talks with potential host states any time soon, a senior agency official said Wednesday. “At the right time we will start to engage with the states but now is not the right time.” Paul Murray, DOE’s […]

The head of a local government in the United Kingdom said she will not support a deep geologic disposal facility for nuclear waste, the BBC reported this week. Anne Handley, leader of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said she does not want to talk to the U.K. government-owned Nuclear Waste Services about building a […]

The Department of Energy’s consent-based siting program to find a home for stranded spent nuclear fuel will not include talks with potential host states any time soon, a senior agency official said Wednesday. “At the right time we will start to engage with the states but now is not the right time.” Paul Murray, DOE’s […]

Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) again filed a bill that would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to certify that storage casks for nuclear waste “can safely operate” for at least 100 years. The bill, filed Jan. 31, is becoming a perennial bloomer in Congress.  Levin, whose southern California district includes the Diablo […]

Butte County, Idaho has not shown the Department of Energy’s storage of spent nuclear fuel at Idaho National Laboratory violates the law, but the county may amend its complaint to preserve its lawsuit, a federal district judge ruled last week. U.S. District Court Judge David Nye on Thursday granted DOE’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit […]

Former Eddy County Commissioner Jack Volpato will attempt to win the Republican nomination for a New Mexico state legislature seat, Volpato announced this month. Among other places, Volpato announced his candidacy on his Facebook page on Jan. 18. The primary election was scheduled for June 4. The general election will be Nov. 5. Volpato is running against […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and groups opposed to the licensing of a Holtec International-owned interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico will meet March in court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit scheduled oral arguments in the case for March 5 in Washington at 9:30 a.m. Eastern […]

Former Eddy County Commissioner Jack Volpato will attempt to win the Republican nomination for a New Mexico state legislature seat, Volpato announced this month.  Among other places, Volpato announced his candidacy on his Facebook page on Jan. 18. The primary election was scheduled for June 4. The general election will be Nov. 5.  Volpato is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and groups opposed to the licensing of a Holtec International-owned interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico will meet March in court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit scheduled oral arguments in the case for March 5 in Washington at 9:30 a.m. Eastern […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Waste Services identified South Holderness, in the county of East Riding of Yorkshire in east-central England between the Humber River and North Sea coast, as a candidate host community for a deep geologic disposal facility for nuclear waste. The government-owned company this week announced the formation of a Geological Disposal Facility […]

Among the many differences the House and Senate must settle before they can pass a permanent 2024 federal budget are competing policies about interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Senate appropriators want to change the law to let the Department of Energy build a pilot interim storage site. House appropriators say nothing about a federal […]

The federal government, Holtec International and a coalition of mining and environmental groups this week filed final briefs in another big federal lawsuit over the company’s proposed spent nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico. Not yet scheduled for oral arguments, the two-and-a-half-year-old case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia […]

On Thursday, two Democrats on a House Oversight subcommittee forcefully condemned expanding nuclear power in the U.S. before the federal government builds a permanent repository for nuclear waste. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Oversight economic growth, energy policy, and regulatory affairs subcommittee, used the hearing as a platform to again demand […]

RadWaste Monitor will not publish on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in observance of the New Year’s holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.

Texas this week told a federal court not to convene all of its judges to rehear a case that this summer effectively killed commercial interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. In a 24 page brief filed Monday with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, opposed a […]

As required by state law, the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Avila Beach, Calif., to operate until 2030, five years beyond its previously scheduled closure. The plant will cost $6 billion to operate between 2023 and then, the commission estimated. The commission approved the extension 3-0-1, […]

Texas on Monday told a federal court not to convene all of its judges to rehear a case that this summer effectively killed commercial interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. In a 24 page brief filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, opposed a rehearing […]

In a hearing Thursday, Nevada’s senior U.S. Senator probed the director of the Idaho National Laboratory for ideas about nuclear waste policies for advanced reactors. In written testimony for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s hearing about commercializing advanced nuclear reactors, John Wagner, laboratory director for Idaho lab prime contractor Battelle Energy Alliance, wrote […]

In observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, RadWaste Monitor will publish on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The next issue will be published on Friday, Dec. 1.

Natalia Saraeva, formerly the team lead for the Department of Energy’s consent based siting program, is now the community and stakeholder engagement lead at DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Saraeva was the team lead for DOE’s consent based siting program for about one year and took on a new role in October, according to her […]

Nuclear-waste disposal is still nuclear energy’s biggest problem, the senior U.S. Senator from West Virginia told a gathering of nuclear professionals this week in Washington. “The biggest hurdle we have right now? What the hell do we do with the waste?” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Monday during the opening plenary session of the American […]

Natalia Saraeva, formerly the team lead for the Department of Energy’s consent based siting program, is now the community and stakeholder engagement lead at DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Saraeva was the team lead for DOE’s consent based siting program for about one year and took on a new role in October, according to her […]