Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday rolled out and quickly passed energy and water development legislation that would again give nothing for licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Instead, the $48.9 billion Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2020 would provide funding for a pilot program […]

A senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday placed the onus squarely on Congress to provide the means for permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. For now, that is the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, as directed under the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Undersecretary of […]

Interim Storage Partners (ISP) on Monday petitioned for dismissal of the sole permitted contention against federal licensing of its planned consolidated interim storage facility in West Texas for spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Upon rejecting the contention from the Sierra Club, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board should close out the […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have formally determined there would be no significant environmental impact in a 20-year renewal of the Department of Energy’s license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. The agency is expected to formally post the final environmental […]

The U.S. Energy Department announced on Sept. 6 it would keep BWX Technologies as a contractor for storage of radioactive hot cell waste and spent nuclear fuel. The department’s Idaho Operations Office and Office of Nuclear Energy announced plans to issue the sole-source, five-year contract for continued waste storage at a BWXT facility in Lynchburg, […]

A subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that would expand the mission of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) to aiding permanent disposal of U.S. radioactive waste. The waste language is one part of the much broader ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 from Rep. Eddie […]

A top official at the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday placed the onus squarely on Congress to provide the means for permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. For now, that means the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, as directed under the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Undersecretary of […]

Interim Storage Partners (ISP) on Monday petitioned for dismissal of the sole permitted contention against federal licensing of its planned consolidated interim storage facility in West Texas for spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Upon rejecting the contention, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board should then close out the entire proceeding of […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined there would be no significant environmental impact in a 20-year renewal of the Department of Energy’s license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. The agency is expected to formally post the final environmental assessment […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July again spent little of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay for a federal nuclear waste repository. The agency spent just $704 in the month for unspecified program planning and support. That left the NRC with a total balance of $434,262, with $408,039 of that not […]

The U.S. Energy Department announced on Friday it would keep BWX Technologies as a contractor for storage of radioactive hot cell waste and spent nuclear fuel. The department’s Idaho Operations Office and Office of Nuclear Energy announced plans to issue the sole-source, five-year contract for continued waste storage at a BWXT facility in Lynchburg, Va. […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — Congress appears set to again deny the Trump administration’s request to appropriate funding for licensing of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., one issue watcher said Tuesday. The White House for fiscal 2020 requested $116 million for Yucca Mountain and interim storage of radioactive waste, the large majority of that […]

Longtime Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), perhaps the loudest voice on Capitol Hill in favor of building a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, on Aug. 30 announced he would not seek re-election in 2020. Shimkus will until his retirement continue to press for a solution to the long impasse over permanent disposal of […]

HENDERSON, Nev. – Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal on Wednesday said there is value in “parallel paths” for management of the nation’s nuclear waste, encompassing consolidated storage and a permanent repository. Speaking at the ExchangeMonitor’s RadWaste Summit, Baranwal said she last week walked 5 miles through the planned underground disposal site at […]

By John Stang An activist organization is legally challenging the movement of spent fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California as too dangerous to the public. The Aug. 29 lawsuit from Public Watchdogs in U.S. District Court for Southern California seeks to nullify SONGS’ current decommissioning plan; to have the site’s […]

HENDERSON, Nev. – Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal on Wednesday said there is value in “parallel paths” for management of the nation’s nuclear waste, encompassing consolidated storage and a permanent repository. Speaking at the ExchangeMonitor’s RadWaste Summit, Baranwal said she last week walked 5 miles through the planned underground disposal site at […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to give stakeholders more time to provide input on its draft regulatory basis for a potential rulemaking on disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste. “No extension yet, but one is likely,” agency spokesman David McIntyre said by email Tuesday. On Aug. 29, the Texas Commission on Environmental […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — Congress appears set to again deny the Trump administration’s request to appropriate funding for licensing of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., one issue observer said Tuesday. The Trump administration for fiscal 2020 requested $116 million for Yucca Mountain and interim storage of radioactive waste, the large majority of that […]

Longtime Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), perhaps the loudest voice on Capitol Hill in favor of building a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, on Friday announced he would not seek re-election in 2020. This would have been Shimkus 13th campaign for the House. He was first elected in 1996 and has represented three different […]

An activist organization is legally challenging the movement of used nuclear fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California as too dangerous to the public. The Aug. 29 lawsuit from San Diego-based Public Watchdogs in U.S. District Court for Southern California seeks an order requiring the NRC to put a hold on decommissioning […]

By John Stang Workers at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California have successfully moved the first two canisters of used reactor fuel to dry storage since restarting transfers on July 18. A third canister is on deck to begin movement this week. Officials with plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) on Aug. […]

The Sierra Club will be allowed to argue one environmental contention against U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of a facility in West Texas for temporary storage of spent reactor fuel from nuclear power plants. An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) ruled on Aug. 23 that the environmental organization had proved standing for intervention […]

A Finnish construction company has received another contract for excavation of tunnels for the nation’s spent fuel repository. Posiva Oy, the organization in charge of the project, on Wednesday announced the award of the 17 million-euro contract to Helsinki-based YIT. The contract will cover two central tunnels and five disposal tunnels, according to a YIT […]

A group of six scientists and nuclear waste experts on Monday renewed their call for Congress to fund the frozen federal licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Advancing the licensing is both required by law and necessary to avoid extending the “financial liabilities” and potential environmental threats of keeping tens of thousands of […]

The Sierra Club will be allowed to argue one environmental contention against U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of a facility in West Texas for temporary storage of spent reactor fuel from nuclear power reactors. An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that the environmental organization had proved standing for intervention and an adjudicatory hearing […]

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has partnered with three private firms to manufacture and commission a novel system for coating spent nuclear fuel containers in copper as part of the program to prevent any release of radiation from an eventual underground disposal site. The nonprofit, utility-funded organization is in site selection and planning for […]

Requiring comprehensive consent to build a nuclear waste disposal site is “an excuse to do nothing,” according to a leader in the Nevada county that would be home to the long-delayed repository under Yucca Mountain. “To believe that any controversial project in the 21st century will get consent from every level of government – state, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified Holtec International’s latest spent nuclear fuel transportation package. The Camden, N.J., energy technology company last week announced the approval following a review that began in February 2018, which will allow it to deploy the HI-STAR 100MB. Management expects it will be used to ship spent fuel from nuclear […]

The ExchangeMonitor is heading into its annual August recess, and RadWaste Monitor will not be published during the second and third full weeks of the month. We’ll still be in the office, so keep the news tips coming, and look for the next weekly newsletter in your inbox on Friday, Aug. 30.

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) joined three of his House colleagues on a trip to Yucca Mountain last week to argue his case against building a nuclear waste repository on the federal property in his state. “I visited Yucca Mountain today to ensure the information shared by the Department of Energy was as accurate as […]