Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

U.S. The Department of Energy will host another of its consent-based nuclear waste storage siting roadshows on Tuesday in Denver. DOE has said the purpose of its public meetings is to gather public feedback as it develops its consent-based siting program. The three-part effort envisions plans for a pilot storage facility, interim facilities, and eventually one […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials on Wednesday defined the agency’s role in the Department of Energy’s consent-based siting effort for nuclear waste storage, saying the best approach is to monitor the effort’s progress rather than get involved in the direction of the program NRC Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Director Mark Lombard and Yucca Mountain Directorate chief James […]

A representative for Battelle Memorial Institute said Thursday he is “eternally optimistic” the company will submit a zoning application to Spink County, N.D., for its proposed deep borehole nuclear wast storage field test. Battelle spokesman T.R. Massey said that Wednesday’s third public meeting in Spink County was attended by about 150 people, including field test […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said the national nuclear waste repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada remains unworkable, despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s finding last week that the facility would have a “small” impact on local groundwater. Department spokesman Bill Wicker said by email that the NRC’s final supplement to DOE’s Yucca Mountain […]

Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission on Monday recommended that South Australia aggressively pursue international nuclear waste disposal agreements estimated to deliver more than AUS $100 billion in state profit. The commission released its final recommendation to South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on a plan for the state to tap into Asia’s market for nuclear […]

U.S. A representative for Battelle Memorial Institute said Thursday he is “eternally optimistic” the company will submit a zoning application to Spink County, N.D., for its proposed deep borehole nuclear wast storage field test. Battelle spokesman T.R. Massey said that Wednesday’s third public meeting in Spink County was attended by about 150 people, including field test […]

The Nevada Department of Environmental Protection will provide oversight of the Energy Department’s waste management operations at the Nevada National Security Site for five years, under a $13 million DOE grant announced Tuesday. Under the grant for “Programmatic and Regulatory Oversight, Monitoring and Analysis at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) and Surrounding Locations,” the […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said the national nuclear waste repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada remains unworkable, despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s finding last week that the facility would have a “small” impact on local groundwater. Department spokesman Bill Wicker said by email that the NRC’s final supplement to DOE’s Yucca Mountain environmental impact statement (EIS), […]

Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission on Monday recommended that South Australia aggressively pursue international nuclear waste disposal agreements estimated to deliver more than AUS $100 billion in state profit. The commission released its final recommendation to South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on a plan for the state to tap into Asia’s market for nuclear fuel […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplement to the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain environmental impact statement (EIS) late Thursday, finding the impact to groundwater from any potential spent nuclear fuel leaks and high-level nuclear waste at the planned nuclear waste repository in Nevada would be “small.” DOE submitted its final EIS in 2002, and […]

A manager with Battelle Memorial Institute said Wednesday the company is in final discussions with multiple landowners for a potential borehole field test site in South Dakota, and organizers will hold an additional public meeting next week. After abandoning its original planned test site in North Dakota in the face of public opposition, Battelle is […]

A manager with Battelle Memorial Institute said Wednesday the company is in final discussions with multiple landowners for a potential borehole field test site in South Dakota, and organizers will hold an additional public meeting next week. After abandoning its original planned test site in North Dakota in the face of public opposition, Battelle is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplement to the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain environmental impact statement (EIS) late Thursday, finding the impact to groundwater from any potential spent nuclear fuel leaks and high-level nuclear waste at the planned nuclear waste repository in Nevada would be “small.” DOE submitted its final EIS in 2002, and […]

Contractors have begun work on the Port Granby facility in Ontario, Canada, a project that will involve relocating 450,000 cubic meters of historic low-level radioactive waste from the Lake Ontario shoreline. Prime contractor Amec Foster Wheeler, which made the announcement Tuesday, has partnered with CB&I for the CDN $86.8 million contract the Port Hope Area […]

Battelle Memorial Institute on Monday defended its efforts to find a site for a nuclear waste borehole storage field test, describing the Department of Energy-contracted project as transparent and honest as organizers explore a location in South Dakota. After abandoning its original planned test site in North Dakota in the face of public opposition, Battelle […]

The contractor for the Department of Energy’s project to test the feasibility of storing nuclear waste in deep boreholes has run into more opposition, this time in South Dakota, after abandoning its original test site in North Dakota. Battelle Memorial Institute representatives met with residents and officials in Spink County, S.D., on Wednesday and Thursday to […]

Barndioota, South Australia, has preliminary been selected as the site of the nation’s first permanent storage site for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste, MP Josh Frydenberg, minister for resources, energy, and Northern Australia, announced Friday. The site was among six locations – two others in South Australia and individual spots in New South Wales, Queensland, and […]

For David Victor, two years ago the prospect of removing spent fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and shipping it out of California seemed like a “political nightmare.” With communities across the country clamoring for the federal government to take title to nuclear waste being stored nearby and ship it elsewhere, and companies in Texas […]

The contractor for the Department of Energy’s project to test the feasibility of storing nuclear waste in deep boreholes has run into more opposition, this time in South Dakota, after abandoning its original test site in North Dakota. Battelle Memorial Institute representatives met with residents and officials in Spink County, S.D., on Wednesday and Thursday to […]

Waste Control Specialists on Thursday submitted its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas. The facility, which would carry a 40-year license and have capacity to store 40,000 metric tons of waste, would be the first of its kind in the United […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) said it intends by the end of this year to complete three additional studies requested by Canada’s top environmental official regarding the company’s planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The Ontario government-owned corporation expressed confidence that the findings would support its intention to build the storage site at […]

U.S. Waste Control Specialists announced last week that it is on schedule to submit its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. As of March the company had planned to submit the application by May 1. In an announcement, WCS President and CEO Rod Baltzer […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved its $37.4 billion energy and water spending bill for fiscal 2017, which denies the Department of Energy any funding for its consent-based siting effort for nuclear waste storage. The spending bill also called for the resumption of licensing a national repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, according […]

House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) laid into Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns on Wednesday, demanding to know why his agency did not request any funding in fiscal 2017 for Yucca Mountain licensing activities. “I would be remiss if I didn’t express my dissatisfaction that once more the commission failed […]

The House Appropriations Committee late Tuesday afternoon brought Congress one step closer to a bicameral confrontation over whether to keep the mostly abandoned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility in Nevada on life support, and how strongly to protect the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility now under construction at Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site […]

The Republican-led House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee has included in its fiscal 2017 spending bill language that denies the Department of Energy any funding for its consent-based siting effort for nuclear waste storage, while calling for the resumption of licensing a national repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, according to the bill report […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) said Friday it intends by the end of this year to complete three additional studies requested by Canada’s top environmental official regarding the company’s planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The Ontario government-owned corporation expressed confidence that the findings would support its intention to build the storage site at its […]

Waste Control Specialists announced Friday that it is on schedule to submit its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. As of March the company had planned to submit the application by May 1. In an announcement Friday, WCS President and CEO Rod Baltzer said: […]

While the fiscal 2017 House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill proposes $170 million for U.S. nuclear waste activities, including $20 million for Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of the Yucca Mountain storage site, the Senate version  does not include any funding for the national repository project. The House spending bill, released on Tuesday, calls for $150 million to carry […]

The fiscal 2017 House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, released on Tuesday, calls for $150 million for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program and $20 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue adjudication of the Yucca Mountain license application. The Obama administration’s 2017 budget proposal did not include any new funding for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program, instead laying […]