Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

About a dozen companies “are engaged” in the solicitation process for the Energy Department’s new request for proposals (RFP) for its $35 million deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing. The department on Tuesday held a pre-proposal meeting in Las Vegas to discuss the […]

The Department of Energy plans to draw up a draft design for its consent-based process for nuclear waste storage by the end of 2016, acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek said Wednesday. The consent-based siting process is the Obama administration’s replacement for the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Kotek, who […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said Thursday that if the next president maintains the Obama administration’s anti-Yucca Mountain stance, it will be the final death knell for the nuclear waste geologic repository in Nevada. “I suspect by this time next year we will have an indication of whether Yucca Mountain is going to […]

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center on Wednesday released a sources sought/request for information for contractors ready to provide disposal of low-level and mixed-low-level waste (LLW/MLLW). The work would involve safe transport and disposal of such waste, along with Section 11e.(2) byproduct material; technologically enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM); and sealed sources. […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Department of Energy plans to draw up a draft design for its consent-based process for nuclear waste storage by the end of 2016, acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek said Wednesday. The consent-based siting process is the Obama administration’s replacement for the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. […]

Holtec International is now eyeing March for submitting its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Holtec had originally planned to submit the application in November, but spokeswoman Caitlin Marmion said by email Monday that the company “is taking the […]

The Energy Department hopes to soon start conversations with potential host communities for nuclear waste storage facilities under DOE’s consent-based siting program, a department official said Friday. Melissa Bates, acting team lead for DOE Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation, appeared Friday at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit in Las Vegas. She said the conversations will begin […]

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday lambasted the Nuclear Energy Institute for “impeding” the Energy Department’s consent-based siting program for nuclear waste storage, and for ignoring Nevada’s opposition to the canceled plan for a geologic waste repository at Yucca Mountain. During the recently closed comment period on the consent-based siting initiative, NEI, the nuclear industry’s legislative and […]

LAS VEGAS — A senior Energy Department official said Wednesday there’s no doubt the agency will find an agreeable site for its deep-borehole nuclear waste storage field test, despite failing to secure two separate locations over several months this year in North Dakota and South Dakota. Following his appearance at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit here, DOE […]

The Department of Energy is expected this week to finalize a list of contractors interested in a second round of bidding for its deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test. Friday marked the deadline for potential bidders to submit notices of intent to propose for the estimated $35 million, five-year project. The field test will help […]

U.S. The Department of Energy has scheduled a public meeting for Sept. 15 to summarize the public feedback it has received regarding its consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage, for which it has received more than 11,000 public comments. Department officials, who will also discuss the next steps for consent-based siting, will be on […]

A 132-canister shipment of highly active nuclear waste departed the United Kingdom on Thursday and is en route to Japan, according to the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The five-flask transport, loaded aboard the Pacific Grebe nuclear transport vessel, is set to arrive in Japan in the second half of October, as the regulator continues cleanup efforts at the Sellafield nuclear site […]

Waste Control Specialists delivered on Wednesday a second round of responses to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request for supplemental information (RSI) concerning the company’s planned consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. According to the document, WCS has now responded to 83 percent of the 104 items NRC included in its RSI, […]

Returning to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Congress will have less than a month to reach an agreement on fiscal 2017 spending, raising uncertainty for some notable nuclear waste programs. Lawmakers will need to pass new budget bills by Sept. 30 or reach an agreement on a continuing resolution that will serve as stopgap funding for […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Wednesday that it has begun preparing a new shipment of highly active nuclear waste to Japan as the regulator continues cleanup efforts at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria. The five-flask transport, which involves the shipment of 132 canisters by rail from Sellafield to Barrow-in-Furness, is the sixth such shipment […]

The Department of Energy has scheduled a public meeting for Sept. 15 to summarize the public feedback it has received regarding its consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage, for which it has received more than 11,000 public comments. Department officials, who will also discuss the next steps for consent-based siting, will be on hand from […]

Waste Control Specialists plans to deliver on Wednesday a second round of responses to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request for supplemental information (RSI) ahead of the agency’s review of the company’s license application for its planned consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. WCS first responded to NRC in July, clarifying capacity details […]

A senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said the agency is not quite ready to decide whether to proceed with an environmental review for Waste Control Specialists’ license application to build and operate an interim nuclear waste storage facility in West Texas. Waste Control Specialists in July requested that the NRC proceed with a notice of […]

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual August publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. Exelon Buys FitzPatrick From Entergy in $110M Deal Exelon has sealed a deal to buy Entergy’s James A. […]

The Department of Energy issued a new request for proposals (RFP) Monday for its deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test, which will require that contractors secure local support before the drilling contract is awarded. Associate Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Fuel Cycle Technologies Andrew Griffith said Wednesday that the new RFP leaves the department […]

Harry Reid, who is set to retire in January, will exit the U.S. Senate as arguably the most powerful party leader in the chamber since Lyndon B. Johnson. And with his departure comes a new political landscape concerning the future of Yucca Mountain in his state of Nevada. Reid has made the fight against using […]

U.S. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of Aug. 19 has made public 3.7 million documents from the adjudicatory hearing on the nuclear waste repository proposed at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The documents, now available in the NRC’s ADAMS database, were included in the agency’s Licensing Support Network (LSN), an electronic system established to provide the public online […]

A senior Energy Department official said Wednesday that the new solicitation for deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test proposals leaves the agency with a plan B if the job favorite falters. The department issued a new request for proposals (RFP) for the $35 million borehole field test on Monday, following two site-selection failures in North Dakota […]

After a half-decade pause, the Savannah River Site on Aug. 5 resumed first cycle unit work for its H Canyon spent nuclear fuel (SNF) operations. This comes after the site restarted another key part, the second uranium cycle, in February using test reactor fuel rods. Heralded as the nation’s only chemical separation facility still in […]

The Department of Energy issued a new request for proposals (RFP) Monday for its deep borehole field test for nuclear waste storage, which will require that contractors secure local support before the drilling contract is awarded. DOE began drawing up a new RFP in July after original prime contractor Battelle Memorial Institute over several months […]

A senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said the agency is not quite ready to decide whether to proceed with an environmental review for Waste Control Specialists’ license application to build and operate an interim nuclear waste storage facility in West Texas. Waste Control Specialists in July requested that the NRC proceed with a notice of intent to […]

Department of Energy of officials are set to meet Wednesday with the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) to discuss the department’s consent-based siting initiative for nuclear waste storage, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management reorganization, and a number of other topics. The NWTRB was established in a 1987 amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of Friday has made public 3.7 million documents from the adjudicatory hearing on the nuclear waste repository proposed at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The documents, now available on NRC’s ADAMS database, were included in the agency’s Licensing Support Network (LSN), an electronic system established to provide the public online access to documents […]

Scott Kirk has exited his position as vice president of licensing and regulatory affairs for Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists for an executive role with Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies. Kirk, who was leading regulatory efforts for WCS’ license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim nuclear waste storage facility in West […]

The Nuclear Energy Institute is urging the Energy Department to separate itself from private interim nuclear waste storage efforts in Texas and New Mexico, while also demanding that the department request congressional funding to complete the Yucca Mountain, Nev., licensing review. Ellen C. Ginsberg, vice president and general counsel at the industry trade group, offered […]