Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

The parties involved in a federal court case aimed at blocking a recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel could still be litigating through next summer, court filings this week show. If a judge in the D.C. circuit court of appeals approves a draft schedule filed by the parties Tuesday, final briefings in the […]

The parties involved in a federal court case aimed at blocking a recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel could still be litigating through next summer, new court filings show. If a judge in the D.C. circuit court of appeals approves a draft schedule filed by the parties Tuesday, final briefings in the suit […]

A lawsuit challenging a recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel should see some new action this week, court documents show. Tuesday is the deadline for a coalition of anti-nuclear groups to file new motions in their suit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed spent fuel storage site in […]

A pair of Democratic lawmakers this week introduced a bill that would allow a mostly non-federal taskforce, appointed in large part by the Environmental Protection Agency, to help define consent-based siting of nuclear waste and consider whether such waste could be regulated by states. If it became law, the “Nuclear Waste Task Force Act,” unveiled […]

A federal court last week gave anti-nuclear groups two more weeks to coordinate next steps in their lawsuit challenging a recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas. The groups, which include Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club, now have until Oct. 12 to move forward in their case against the proposed Interim […]

A bill introduced in Congress Tuesday would create a task force to evaluate a loophole in federal law that the measure’s sponsors say would enable consent-based siting for a federal nuclear waste storage facility, according to a press release. If it became law, the “Nuclear Waste Task Force Act,” unveiled Tuesday in the House by […]

A federal court last week gave anti-nuclear groups two more weeks to coordinate next steps in their lawsuit challenging a recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas. The groups, which include Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club, now have until Oct. 12 to move forward in their case against the proposed Interim […]

A bill introduced in Congress Tuesday would create a task force to evaluate a loophole in federal law that the measure’s sponsors say would enable consent-based siting for a federal nuclear waste storage facility, according to a press release. If it became law, the “Nuclear Waste Task Force Act,” unveiled Tuesday in the House by […]

The next phase of the Department of Energy’s spent fuel storage inquiry should begin next year, the head of the agency’s nuclear energy office told congressional investigators this month. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) is “resuming consent-based siting activities,” acting ONE assistant secretary Kathryn Huff told the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a Sep. […]

Congress needs to make some changes to federal law before the Department of Energy can tackle the spent fuel storage problem, congressional investigators said this week.  “Congress needs to take action to break the impasse over a permanent solution for commercial spent nuclear fuel—used fuel removed from nuclear power reactors,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) […]

Texas started legal proceedings this week aimed at overturning the Nuclear Regulatory’s Commission’s decision to license a commercially operated interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the Lone Star state. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, alongside Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), asked a judge in the U.S. […]

A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently pressed the Joe Biden administration in a resolution to oppose a Canadian geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel planned for the Great Lakes Basin. In the Sep. 17 resolution led by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), the coalition of delegates from Great Lakes states like Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota urged […]

A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently pressed the Joe Biden administration in a resolution to oppose a Canadian geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel planned for the Great Lakes Basin. In the Sep. 17 resolution led by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), the coalition of delegates from Great Lakes states like Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota urged […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history this week when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a federal judge in New Mexico this week that it was ready for judgement in a court case over a proposed interim storage facility in the state, according to a new court filing. NRC told the U.S. District Court for New Mexico in a Tuesday filing that it had sent […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history this week when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S.. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews […]

In a court case over an interim storage facility planned for New Mexico, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tapped the judge’s shoulder Tuesday to let him know they had licensed a similar site just one state over. In a Tuesday court filing, NRC alerted the U.S. District Court for New Mexico to a license the agency […]

A U.S. congressman representing the Texas county slated to host an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to walk back its approval of the site in a press release Tuesday. “The decision handed down by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a new nuclear waste storage site in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history Monday when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S.. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews County, […]

Working closely with would-be opponents of nuclear waste repositories is important to getting such sites built, a panel of international nuclear experts said at a conference last week. “I think it’s very important to have informed critics [of nuclear waste],” Arne Kaijser, professor of technology and history at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, said […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said this week. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until […]

The governor of Texas drew a line in the sand this week on commercial interim storage, signing a law banning storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State. House Bill (HB) 7, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law Thursday, went into effect immediately. The law prevents anyone from storing or transporting […]

A candidate for Nevada’s first congressional district got two endorsements from environmental groups this week as she seeks to unseat one of the Silver State’s staunchest Yucca Mountain opponents. The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund gave its support earlier this week to Amy Vilela’s primary campaign against incumbent Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.). “Amy has […]

A bill on the Texas governor’s desk that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste has the support of a coalition of anti-nuclear groups, according to a Tuesday press release. Representatives of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, Public Citizen and the Texas branch of the Sierra Club applauded the state legislature […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said Tuesday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until 2027, […]

Working closely with would-be opponents of nuclear waste repositories is important to getting such sites built, a panel of international nuclear experts said at a conference last week. “I think it’s very important to have informed critics [of nuclear waste],” Arne Kaijser, professor of technology and history at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, said […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week sought to allay the concerns of the Texas county slated to host a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to a letter to the county’s chief executive. “NRC staff is conducting a detailed review of the license application from Interim Storage Partners, LLC, to determine whether […]

In mid-August, with his former colleagues enjoying a week of recess back home, a self-described “nuclear-waste guy” with nearly a quarter of a century on Capitol Hill worked on lesson plans for his new teaching gig, watching nuclear-waste history repeat itself. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) ended a 24-year career representing Illinois’s 15th congressional district in […]

Second time’s the charm for a proposed bill aimed at banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste including spent fuel in Texas, which cleared both houses of the state legislature this week in a parliamentary blitz. The measure, co-sponsored by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R) and state Sen. Brian Birdwell (R), passed in its second […]

The sponsors of a proposed bill banning the storage of high level nuclear waste in Texas, which passed the state Senate Wednesday, are using a parliamentary gambit to get the law on the books before the federal government can license a planned interim storage facility in the Lone Star State. After unanimously passing the Texas […]