Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

The government of the United Kingdom on Wednesday officially began its search for a site for a geological disposal facility for its stockpile of higher-activity radioactive waste. “There is no preferred location for a GDF and we are adopting a consent-based process to identify a suitable area to host the facility. A suitable site will […]

The U.S. Senate late Wednesday approved a short-term appropriations bill to keep all federal agencies operating through Feb. 8, but once again left the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada unfunded following an apparent push by supporters of the long-delayed project. Senators passed the latest continuing resolution by voice vote just after 10 p.m. […]

Despite chatter in recent weeks on Capitol Hill, it appeared unlikely Tuesday that Congress would provide the Department of Energy with funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in a federal appropriations bill needed to keep a number of federal agencies open past Friday. “Members and staff are working on completing [the] year-end spending […]

Nominees for high-level nuclear energy and weapons jobs at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation procoess for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that William Bookless and Rita Baranwal — nominees respectively for senior posts in DOE’s National […]

The majority owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California has requested a public meeting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss potential safety violations connected to an Aug. 3 mishap in transfer of spent reactor fuel. “As discussed, SCE has decided to use Pre-decisional Enforcement Conference (PEC} for the two apparent […]

A panel of three administrative judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday rejected a motion that it be disqualified from adjudicating the license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel site in West Texas. The matter now goes to the full commission for a final ruling, according to the memorandum and order from […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week confirmed their bosses’ intentions for the 116th Congress. Alexander has held the post since 2015, […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to finally end the decades-long impasse in building a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. That was one of a long series of recommendations listed in the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear […]

The Sierra Club should be allowed to intervene in part in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas, according to agency staff. However, staff said a coalition of environmental groups led by Don’t Waste Michigan failed to show standing or submit viable […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to overcome the long delay in disposal of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. The steering committee that produced the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management” report said it is “unanimous […]

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have recommended rejection of a motion to dismiss a board of administrative judges that will adjudicate the license application for a spent nuclear reactor fuel site in West Texas. The central concern from the Sierra Club, Don’t Waste Michigan, and a number of other advocacy organizations and one individual […]

Fluor Idaho has presented Energy Department officials with its corrective action plan for preventing another radioactive-waste drum breach at an Idaho National Laboratory facility. Details of the cleanup contractor’s approach have not been made public. Energy Department officials in Idaho are expected to finish their adequacy review of the plan by Dec. 21. At dates […]

Holtec International announced this week it would increase the minimum wage for employees at its U.S. manufacturing facilities to $15 per hour. “This pay raise is a small measure of my appreciation for the hard-working individuals at all Holtec campuses,” President and CEO Kris Singh said Tuesday during a nuclear industry event. The energy technology […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest monthly update to Congress. That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as […]

The Energy Department is giving interested parties more time to weigh in on the proposed new interpretation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The public comment deadline has been pushed back from Dec. 10 to Jan. 9, according to a DOE notice Tuesday in the Federal Register. Comments can be emailed to HLWnotice@em.doe.gov. After the department […]

Vocal proponents for establishing a permanent strategy for disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste, possibly at the always controversial Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, are preparing to ascend to leadership posts in Congress that have central roles in advancing the issue. When Democrats take control of the House of Representatives next month, Rep. Frank Pallone […]

In approving a very-short-term federal appropriations bill this week, Congress postponed a possible tussle over funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Several federal agencies are still waiting on a full budget for fiscal 2019, operating on a continuing resolution since Oct. 1. That bill expires today. Rather than try to […]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week joined a coalition of labor unions and other nongovernmental organizations in pressing Congress to end the long impasse over management of the nation’s spent nuclear reactor fuel. “Another year without progress on the Yucca Mountain repository license application and consolidated interim storage in untenable. It is time for […]

Holtec International announced this week it would increase the minimum wage for employees at its U.S. manufacturing facilities to $15 per hour. “This pay raise is a small measure of my appreciation for the hard-working individuals at all Holtec campuses,” President and CEO Kris Singh said Tuesday during a nuclear industry event. The Camden, N.J.-based […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest update to Congress. That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as of […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen.-elect Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) on Friday called on three top Democratic lawmakers to ensure the upcoming federal appropriations bill does not provide a cent for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility. There have been rumors, but no confirmation, that the budget bill needed to keep a number of […]

Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI) expects to move all of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s used fuel assemblies from wet storage to dry storage by 2023, according to documents submitted earlier this month to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The data point is included in a set of documents provided as part of the Nov. 16 […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the […]

Three administrative judges of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel have been selected to rule on requests for intervention in the agency’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas. However, a number of environmental organizations quickly petitioned that the judges be disqualified […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week called on the top leaders and appropriators in the House of Representatives to prevent any funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in her state in the next federal budget bill. “We are about a week out from the deadline to fund the government and there are efforts […]

The Sierra Club and a host of other environmental organizations are requesting disqualification of a board of three Nuclear Regulatory Commission administrative judges established this month to rule on petitions to intervene in the licensing proceeding for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in Texas. The primary contention is that the same three-member Atomic […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the 115th Congress. […]

Three administrative judges of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel have been selected to rule on requests for intervention in the agency’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas. Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, wants […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal 2018 budget increase handily outpaced the rise in dollars under contract, according to a report from the agency’s Office of the Inspector General late last week. The DOE budget rose about 10 percent to some $34.5 billion between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, while the amount of money under […]