Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

A bill that would have banned storage of high level waste in Texas was yanked ahead of a scheduled floor vote in the state’s House of Representatives because its legislative analysis was “substantially and materially misleading,” the state speaker of the House said. H.B. 2692, proposed in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), got […]

The Department of Energy is working on a “strategic approach” for developing a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the Secretary of Energy told members of Congress this week. Jennifer Granholm, testifying Thursday on DOE’s 2022 budget request before the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Thursday, said the department “want[s] to use, […]

A bill that would have banned storage of high level waste in Texas was yanked ahead of a scheduled floor vote in the state’s House of Representatives for being “substantially and materially misleading,” the state Speaker of the House said. H.B. 2692, proposed in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), got tossed back into […]

California-based radioactive waste disposal company Deep Isolation is expanding its search for clients to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The company this week announced it is teaming with Dominion Engineering Inc. of Reston, Va., to combine their nuclear-fuel-disposal technologies with an initial focus on Latin American. “This is potentially a good market,” said Deep Isolation’s chief […]

A Texas House of Representatives adjourned Tuesday without voting on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State, leaving a decision on the measure for a future meeting. The second reading of H.B. 2692, introduced in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), was postponed following […]

The company seeking federal approval to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico is asking to get involved with the state’s ongoing lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to recent court filings. Holtec International filed a formal petition April 29 to intervene in New Mexico’s proceedings against NRC in […]

The New York county executive with jurisdiction over the recently-shuttered Indian Point Energy Center urged federal legislators to find disposal solutions for the site’s spent fuel inventory, according to a series of requests published by the county office Monday. New York’s legislators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should also continue their oversight over the former […]

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the Energy Communities Alliance and six other groups Monday urged Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to set up a Nuclear Waste Management office to oversee both civilian- and defense-nuclear waste. The federal government “has effectively failed to pursue a nuclear waste program for over a decade,” according to the letter. “We […]

The Texas legislature was scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State as a waste management company seeks a federal license to do so. H.B. 2692, introduced by state Rep, Brooks Landgraf (R), would also lower state fees associated with the […]

One of the four nuclear power plants set to shut down this year moved its last electron last week, setting the decommissioning process in motion. Indian Point Energy Center’s Unit 3 reactor went dark Friday, according to a press release from Holtec International — the site’s new owner. The Camden, N.J.-based nuclear services company will […]

Although spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste can be safely stored in the interim, progress on a long-term geologic repository is “still a matter of urgency,” an independent review board said Friday. If the federal government followed the recommendations provided by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) in its Friday report, the result […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a court this week that it shouldn’t move forward with a case against the agency after it voted unanimously to affirm its decision to deny a minerals holding company’s request to reconsider objections to a proposed spent fuel storage facility. NRC’s status update to the D.C. circuit court of appeals […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to affirm its decision to deny a minerals holding company’s request to reconsider objections to a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The afternoon vote place via teleconference closes the book on Fasken Land and Minerals’ appeal to reopen agency proceedings on Holtec International’s proposed consolidated […]

Earnings rose at Entergy, New Orleans, in the 1st quarter of 2021, which the utilities company attributed to higher sales volume. Net earnings for the first quarter ended were $297 million, or $1.47 per share, up from $230 million, or $1.14 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $2.84 billion, up 17% year-over-year. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should formally rule this week on a challenge to one of the two proposed commercial interim storage sites for spent nuclear fuel awaiting federal licensing, according to a notice. NRC’s commissioners will meet Wednesday to finalize their decision on Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd.’s motion to reopen the record on Holtec […]

A federal appeals court this week hit the pause button on an environmental group’s recent petition against the licensing of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, after combining it with a similar case from last year, according to the court docket. Sierra Club’s April 14 petition against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is […]

A federal appeals court Wednesday hit the pause button on an environmental group’s recent petition against the licensing of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, after combining it with a similar case from last year, according to the court docket. Sierra Club’s April 14 petition against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is on […]

The parties involved in an ongoing legal dispute over the sale of Indian Point Energy Center proposed a settlement this week that would end a slew of legal challenges to the transaction and allow the plant’s decommissioning. The settlement agreement between Holtec International, Entergy, the state of New York and several others would allow Indian […]

The companies looking to trade ownership of Indian Point Energy Center can participate in a federal case against the transaction, a judge ruled Friday. In an order dated April 9, a D.C. circuit court judge approved Entergy and Holtec International’s petition to join the case, filed Jan. 22 by the state of New York. The […]

The interstate compact commission overseeing shipments of low-level radioactive waste from Vermont to Texas will meet next week, according to the panel’s schedule. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will convene April 15, either in-person in Austin, Texas or virtually. At deadline Thursday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing the venue hadn’t yet been […]

An oil company opposing the licensing of an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in west Texas won’t get a private meeting with the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency said last week. Since Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd. is involved in ongoing commission proceedings, it would sacrifice the agency’s impartiality for […]

It is time for the Department of Energy to focus on ensuring two aging facilities for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford Site in Washington state remain safe beyond the current 40-year design life, according to a recent DOE report. The agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments, in the report issued last month, […]

After nearly a year of deliberations, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has finalized a settlement agreement with the company set to take over Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The settlement document, dated Tuesday, withdraws Massachusetts’s objections to the Cape Cod-based plant’s license transfer to Holtec International from Entergy for decommissioning. The commonwealth in 2019 filed petitions with […]

An article in Tuesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing [“Better Guidance Urged for Interim Storage of Spent Fuel at Hanford”] should have reported that an Amentum-led group has managed Central Plateau cleanup since Jan. 25, 2021. 

An oil company opposing the licensing of an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in west Texas won’t get a private meeting with the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency said last week. Since Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd. is involved in ongoing commission proceedings, it would sacrifice the agency’s impartiality for […]

It is time for the Department of Energy to focus on ensuring two aging facilities for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford Site in Washington state remain safe beyond the current 40-year design life, according to a recent DOE report. The agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments, in the report issued last month, […]

Locating a permanent repository for nuclear waste is “not a crisis,” and the government should be deliberate about community engagement throughout the process, a couple former Department of Energy nuclear leaders said during a discussion last week. Still, the federal government needs to get serious about developing a strategy for the more than 80,000 tons […]

A proposed consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico would violate the law and place an unfair burden on the state, its attorney general argued in a federal suit this week. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site, it will run afoul of the 1982 Nuclear […]

A proposed consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico would violate the law and place an unfair burden on the state, its attorney general argued in a federal suit this week. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site, it will run afoul of the 1982 Nuclear […]

Locating a permanent repository for nuclear waste is “not a crisis,” and the government should be deliberate about community engagement throughout the process, a couple former Department of Energy nuclear leaders said during a discussion last week. Still, the federal government needs to get serious about developing a strategy for the more than 80,000 tons […]