Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Two Nevada legislative panels on Saturday approved more than $7 million from 2017 to 2019 for the state to fight President Donald Trump’s plan to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nye County, Nev., the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees approved the funding as part of Nevada’s […]

The state of Nevada must have a voice in a lawsuit demanding that the federal government move ahead with plans for a permanent nuclear waste repository in the state, according to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office. Texas sued the Department of Energy and other federal agencies in March, seeking to force Washington to promptly obey the […]

The head of the lobbying arm for the nuclear energy industry is urging the Trump administration to halt what she called “misleading budget tactics” by its predecessor related to the Nuclear Waste Fund. The account collected more than $20 billion from nuclear utilities over several decades, with the ultimate intent of paying for a geologic […]

The federal civil antitrust trial over the planned merger of radioactive waste management providers Waste Control Specialists and EnergySolutions was scheduled to close today in U.S. District Court for Delaware. In the two-week bench trial, the Department of Justice laid out its case why the $367 million deal would deny competitive benefits to customers for […]

There is no funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada in the omnibus appropriations bill Congress passed this week to keep the Energy Department and the rest of the federal government funded through September. The bill was awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature on Friday afternoon. The Trump administration wants to restart […]

There is no funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada in the omnibus appropriations bill Congress is expected to pass this week to keep the Energy Department and the rest of the federal government funded through September. The Donald Trump administration wants to restart DOE’s application to license Yucca Mountain with […]

The head of the lobbying arm for the nuclear energy industry is urging the Trump administration to halt what she called “misleading budget tactics” by its predecessor related to the Nuclear Waste Fund. A federal appeals court in November 2013 directed that the Department of Energy stop collecting payments into the fund from utilities because […]

The state of Texas on Monday objected to Nevada’s attempt to intervene in the lawsuit demanding that the federal government move ahead with licensing and building the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. “Texas’s Petition seeks equitable remedies for decades of federal inaction on growing, above-ground stockpiles of nuclear waste. By contrast, Nevada’s intervention seeks to […]

Low-level radioactive waste disposal providers EnergySolutions and Waste Control Specialists are each other’s top rivals, and their merger would undermine competition in dozens of states, the Department of Justice said Monday in the opening day of the federal antitrust trial against the deal. The bench trial in U.S. District Court in Delaware is scheduled to last […]

The Trump administration appeared to harden its resolve to open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository over host state Nevada’s objections this week, even as word leaked that a site contractor was marshalling its workforce to restart the project and a House panel held a hearing on new pro-Yucca legislation. On Wednesday, after the hearing […]

Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. In his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has moved from an ambiguous stance on Yucca Mountain to an impending showdown with Nevada over the seemingly imminent resumption […]

The Trump administration appeared to harden its resolve to open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository over host state Nevada’s objections this week, even as word leaked that a site contractor was marshalling its workforce to restart the project and a House panel held a hearing on new pro-Yucca legislation. On Wednesday, after the hearing […]

WASHINGTON — AREVA Federal Services is preparing for the Energy Department to formally announce plans to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada “in the coming weeks,” according to an undated, internal company document. Weapons Complex Morning Briefing obtained a copy of the document, which an AREVA spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed was a page from […]

The state of Texas on Monday objected to Nevada’s attempt to intervene in the lawsuit demanding that the federal government move ahead with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. “Texas’s Petition seeks equitable remedies for decades of federal inaction on growing, above-ground stockpiles of nuclear waste. By contrast, Nevada’s intervention seeks to reinvigorate a policy […]

Fireworks could fly Wednesday, when three of Nevada’s four U.S. representatives are set to testify before a House energy panel about reviving the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nye County, Nev. The three democratic lawmakers, who all oppose Yucca, will testify during a hearing on the 45-page Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 […]

The trial over the Department of Justice’s civil antitrust lawsuit seeking to block EnergySolutions’ $367 million acquisition of Waste Control Specialists (WCS) began Monday in federal court. The proceedings are scheduled to last two weeks and will be overseen by Senior U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson. Justice filed the lawsuit in November in the U.S. […]

The Nevada Assembly has advanced a resolution that would, if also passed by the state Senate, codify the state’s long-running opposition to opening the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Assembly Joint Resolution 10 passed 32-6 late Friday. Four lawmakers were absent for the vote. The Nevada Legislature is scheduled to be in session through June […]

Holtec International said last week it is moving into the second phase of its application for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to build and operate a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The first phase wrapped up March 31 with the submission of the application. The NRC is now conducting a 60-day […]

An expansive nuclear-waste bill unveiled in the House of Representatives this week would strip away some of Nevada’s legal tools for resisting the moribund Yucca Mountain geologic repository the Donald Trump administration wants to resurrect. Among many other things, the highly nuanced, 45-page Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 would if signed into law curtail […]

An expansive nuclear-waste bill unveiled in the House of Representatives this week would strip away some of Nevada’s legal tools for resisting the moribund Yucca Mountain geologic repository the Donald Trump administration wants to resurrect. Among many other things, the highly nuanced, 45-page Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 would if signed into law curtail […]

Waste Control Specialists on Tuesday requested a temporary suspension of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of the company’s license application for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage site in West Texas. The Dallas-based waste management provider said the licensing process currently is an “unsupportable” financial burden as it seeks to wrap up its merger with […]

House lawmakers late Wednesday unveiled a 45-page bill intended to speed up the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The”discussion draft” of the legislation, which will get a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee on April 26, would among other things give the Energy Department the land-use and water […]

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) continued to pound the pulpit this week in opposition to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in his state, vowing to lead the fight against the Trump administration’s apparent plan to revive the dormant project. “I’m standing between this Republican administration and Yucca, and I will lead this fight,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving quickly to meet Waste Control Specialists’ request that the agency suspend review of its license application for a spent nuclear fuel storage site in West Texas. “As requested by WCS, the staff is taking the appropriate actions to properly suspend its review and contract support.  Managers are working with […]

Waste Control Specialists on Tuesday requested a temporary suspension of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of the company’s license application for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage site in West Texas. The Dallas-based waste managment provider said it first wants to wrap up its sale to rival EnergySolutions. The Justice Department in November sued to […]

Legislation designed to help the Energy Department secure a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository could appear as soon as next week, when Congress is set to return to Washington, a source said Monday. The bill would seek to quell regulatory concerns that DOE has not secured permanent land and water […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a two-month extension to the deadline for stakeholders to request intervention or a hearing in Waste Control Specialists’ license application to build and operate an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. The deadline has been shifted from March 31 to May 31, according to an NRC […]

Transuranic waste from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has landed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., for the first time in more than three years. The material – clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, and other material contaminated with trace amounts of plutonium – arrived last week for permanent disposal at […]

Waste Control Specialists CEO and President Rod Baltzer is defending the prospect for shipping nuclear waste to the company’s planned interim storage site in West Texas, pointing to clean safety records and extreme tests that ensure the durability of transportation casks. Transportation has been a highly contentious topic in WCS’ proposal to build and operate a […]

Federal agencies and Texas have entered into mediation over the state’s lawsuit demanding that the United States advance a permanent solution to storage of U.S. nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Meanwhile, the state of Nevada, a nuclear industry organization, and several utilities also want a say in the lawsuit, opposing some or all […]