Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Nevada should not waste the opportunity to participate in a conversation on safeguards and other potential benefits relating to Yucca Mountain, Nye County Nevada Commissioner Dan Schinhofen wrote to Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) late last week. Sandoval recently sent a letter to House lawmakers indicating the state’s unwillingness to negotiate on Yucca Mountain. Nye […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/5/2015 Funding for a pilot interim storage facility for spent fuel is dependent on whether Yucca Mountain funding can be worked into the final version of Fiscal Year 2016 spending legislation, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said this week. The House has passed its version […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/5/2015 The Canadian government this week extended into December the federal review process for Ontario Power Generation’s deep geologic repository proposal to allow for an additional public comment period. Canada’s Minister of the Environment originally had 120 days to make a decision on the proposal following the submittal last month […]

RW Monitor 6/5/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY Swedish energy company Vattenfall has partnered with German-based E.ON to decommission and dismantle their joint nuclear power plants, the two companies announced late last week. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany moved to shut down all of its nuclear plants in an effort to avoid any future accidents. […]

House Deputy Republican Whip Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) sees the House moving on a Yucca Mountain bill by the end of the summer, he said yesterday at The Hill’s policy briefing, titled America’s Nuclear Energy Future. House Republicans have said that they plan to introduce at some point this year a bill that would incentivize the […]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) urged President Barack Obama in a letter last week to engage the Canadian government to stop the construction of a proposed low-level radioactive waste deep geologic repository near the Great Lakes. Kirk joins a host of opponents, including some members of the Michigan Congressional delegation, who sent a similar letter to […]

There is nothing to negotiate on Yucca Mountain, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said in a May 21 letter to House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chair John Shimkus (R-Ill.). Shimkus recently called on that state to enter into a dialogue on potential economic benefits and infrastructure improvements that would incentivize the state into hosting […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Australia will dedicate $22.3 million over the next four years to expand and refurbish two existing waste storage facilities, according to the country’s 2015/2106 budget allocation issued earlier this month. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), the Australian government-body responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear sites, will […]

RW Monitor 5/29/2015 IN NWTRB The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board plans to meet June 24 in Golden, Colo. to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities related to transporting spent nuclear fuel, the Board announced late last week. The main focus of the meeting will center on DOE’s efforts to prepare for the transportation of […]

Senate Bill Funds Interim Storage, But Not Yucca Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 While the Senate’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week included language that would enable interim storage at both a pilot plant and private facility, Sen. Tom Udall’s  (D-N.M.) public opposition to interim storage may […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 AREVA TN has expanded its role in Waste Control Specialists’ pursuit of constructing an interim storage facility, the two companies announced this week. AREVA will serve as prime subcontractor for the project, providing the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed consolidated storage facility, as well as […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 House lawmakers and industry representatives agreed late last week that the Department of Energy is bound by the law to pursue Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent fuel, during a hearing in front of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), one of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden will not sign off on the Department of Energy sending more spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research until DOE begins processing the remaining liquid waste at the site, a Wasden spokesman said this week. Controversy erupted earlier this year when […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2105 Congress should prioritize the disposal of defense waste before commercial waste, the Energy Community Alliance said in a letter late last week to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders. The letter comes in response to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz’s announcement earlier this year that the Department of Energy […]

RW Monitor 5/22/2015 IN CONGRESS The Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations bill funds the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at $990 million, a decrease of $42 million from the NRC’s request amount. Because the NRC charges license fees, most of the money will be made back, resulting in net appropriation request of approximately $117 million. The budget […]

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden will not sign off on the Department of Energy sending more spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research until DOE begins processing the liquid waste as outlined under the 1995 Settlement Agreement, a Wasden spokesman said yesterday. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver […]

AREVA TN has expanded its role in Waste Control Specialists’ pursuit of constructing an interim storage facility, the two companies announced yesterday. AREVA will serve as prime sub-contractor for the project, providing the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed consolidated storage, as well as support for the licensing and transport of spent […]

The Senate’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill would pave the way for the Department of Energy to consolidate spent nuclear fuel at interim storage sites, including the construction of a DOE pilot facility as well as the use of proposed private facilities in Texas and New Mexico. However, the bill […]

Congress should prioritize the disposal of defense waste before commercial waste, the Energy Community Alliance said in a letter late last week to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders. The letter comes in response to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz’s announcement earlier this year that the Department of Energy would seek a separate track for […]

House lawmakers and industry representatives agreed late last week that the Department of Energy is bound by the law to pursue Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent fuel, speaking during a hearing in front of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), one of the most vocal pro-Yucca advocates […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The “time is now” to move forward on used nuclear fuel policy, Congressional lawmakers said this week in remarks at the Nuclear Energy Assembly conference in Washington, D.C. Members from both parties highlighted the issue as a major problem holding the nuclear industry from expanding in the future, but […]

RW Monitor 5/15/2015 IN THE 2016 ELECTION Republican Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio voiced his support for opening Yucca Mountain, according to a report this week in the Greenville News. The Florida Senator was in South Carolina last weekend campaigning for the Republican nomination when local reporters asked him his thoughts on Yucca Mountain. Rubio reasoned […]

Congressional lawmakers called for a departure from the “either/or” thinking on interim storage or Yucca Mountain yesterday during speeches made at the Nuclear Energy Assembly Conference in Washington D.C. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) indicated that this type of thought process on nuclear waste policy “does not allow nuclear energy […]

Republican Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio voiced his support for opening Yucca Mountain, according to reports in the Greenville News last weekend. The Florida Senator was in South Carolina over the weekend campaigning for the Republican nomination when local reporters asked him his thoughts on Yucca Mountain. Rubio said that the United States has spent so […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/8/2015 The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario has backed the safety and environmental case for the project, according to the environmental report submitted to Canada’s Minister of the Environment this week. The Panel recommended that with the proposed […]

RW Monitor 5/8/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY AREVA TN announced this week that Exelon Nuclear awarded the company a contract to supply 30 additional NUHOMS HSM-H used fuel storage modules at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in New York. According to the company, AREVA will construct the horizontal storage modules onsite to reduce the cost […]

The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario has backed the safety and environmental case for the project, according to the environmental report submitted to Canada’s Minister of the Environment yesterday. The Panel recommended that with the proposed engineering barriers and some minor improvements to […]

The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario is expected to release today its environmental report on whether the project should move forward. The Panel closed the record on the public comment period back in November, but due to the large public comment interest, it […]

AREVA TN announced yesterday that Exelon Nuclear awarded the company a contract to supply 30 additional NUHOMS HSM-H used fuel storage modules at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in New York. According to the company, AREVA will construct the horizontal storage modules onsite to reduce the cost of transporting the materials. Nine Mile Point […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The United States has an opportunity to start disposing of defense nuclear waste sooner and at less cost by abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach, said Mary Louise Wagner, senior adviser to the energy secretary, at a regional forum arranged by the Bipartisan Policy Center this week. But separate disposal of high-level […]