Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Staff Reports RW 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 […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 While the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance announced this week its intent to move forward with Holtec International to construct a spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility, backed by local and state officials in southeastern New Mexico, the state’s Senate delegation’s opposition to the project emerged as a remaining major […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Two Nevada House lawmakers failed this week to remove funding for Yucca Mountain in the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill during the floor amendment process. Reps. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) both offered amendments that would eliminate the $150 million reserved for the Department of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) advised Nevadans this week not to dismiss scientific evidence in favor of Yucca Mountain too easily, according to an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Shimkus has championed Yucca Mountain as the only solution for the nation’s nuclear waste problem, pushing both the Department of […]

RW Monitor 5/1/2015 IN THE NRC The Department of Energy filed for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment for its Idaho Spent Fuel Facility independent spent fuel storage installation, according to a filing in the Federal Register this week. The license amendment would allow the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility to make changes to the Quality […]

While the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance announced yesterday its intentions to move forward with Holtec International to construct a spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility in southeastern New Mexico, a major obstacle in the form of a New Mexico U.S. senator could prevent the project from getting started. The ELEA announced yesterday that the group […]

The Obama Administration threatened to veto the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill should it include funding to jump start the Yucca Mountain license review, among other reasons, according to a Statement of Administration Policy issued yesterday. President Barrack Obama shuttered the Yucca Mountain project in 2010 after the Department of Energy deemed the […]

The Department of Energy filed for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment for its Idaho Spent Fuel Facility independent spent fuel storage installation, according to a filing in the Federal Register yesterday. The license amendment would allow the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility to make changes to the Quality Assurance Program, the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program, […]

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) pushed Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz yesterday on why the Department of Energy did not include spent nuclear fuel policy in its Quadrennial Energy Review. Murkowski has supported efforts in the Senate for nuclear waste reform in the past, going so far as to co-sponsor the […]

The Eddy Lea Energy Alliance and Holtec International will hold a joint press conference this Wednesday in Carlsbad, N.M., concerning their plan for moving forward on interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. The ELEA has been working on siting an interim facility in the region, going so far as to express […]

Jeremy L. Dillon and Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/24/2015 New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has voiced her support for efforts to bring a spent nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility to southeastern New Mexico, according to an April 10 letter she wrote to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. Martinez’s letter is one of the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/23/2015 An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week cut the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain in half to $25 million when compared to an earlier version of the bill. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s total allocated funding […]

An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill yesterday reduced the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain by $25 million. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s allocated funding by $50 million, with $25 million coming from the originally planned $50 million for the Yucca review and another […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 The House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water appropriations bill that cleared the subcommittee this week includes a total of $200 million that would go toward Yucca Mountain, but it does not include any funding for interim storage. Any funding for interim storage of spent nuclear […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/17/2015 A coalition of 22 representatives from advocacy groups sent a letter to the Department of Energy this week calling for a nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment on a new processing method at the Savannah River Site proposed for German spent fuel. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes in […]

H Canyon Spent Fuel Campaign Moves Into Next Phase WC Monitor 4/17/2015 A long-term spent fuel downblending campaign at H-Canyon has moved into the next phase, resuming processing operations in portions of the canyon that had lain dormant for years, the Savannah River Site announced this week. In September, the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River […]

Solicitation Expected to Be Reissued Later Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 The Department of Energy canceled last week the solicitation for a contractor to assist in the movement of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors to an unidentified national laboratory. After questions emerged from vendors about the scope of work, DOE decided to pull […]

Any funding for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel would need to be tied to Yucca Mountain, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said yesterday at the 2016 Energy and Water bill markup. The House Energy and Water bill included a total of $200 million that would go toward Yucca Mountain […]

A group of senators, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), re-introduced three pieces of legislation yesterday that would enhance and expand safety and security regulations at decommissioning reactor sites and the storage of spent nuclear fuel at nuclear plants. The […]

House Appropriators included $200 million in the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water spending bill to push forward the Yucca Mountain licensing review, according to the bill released yesterday. The bill would appropriate $150 million to the Department of Energy for nuclear waste disposal activities as outlined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and $50 […]

Calling for the Department of Energy to conduct a nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment on a new processing method at Savannah River proposed for German spent fuel, a coalition of 22 representatives from advocacy groups sent a letter to DOE yesterday. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium are in the form of graphite spheres […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 Six House lawmakers toured the long-shuttered Yucca Mountain site this week, in what critics have called a “political sideshow” to gain momentum to restart a project that has been closed off for five years. The group, led by House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chair John Shimkus (R-Ill.), toured […]

The Department of Energy last week ?canceled ?the solicitation for a contractor to assist in the movement of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors to an unidentified national laboratory. DOE blamed the cancelation on “external circumstances.” “DOE regrets having to take this action; however, this decision was necessary due to external circumstances,” the notice said. The […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) pointed to infrastructure improvements and state oversight as possible incentives that could be included in a bill to entice that state of Nevada to host the Yucca Mountain repository, he said during a press briefing late last week. Newhouse attended the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee tour of Yucca Mountain […]

The following phone interview with Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob Halstead was conducted by RadWaste Monitor reporter Jeremy L. Dillon this week just prior to the visit of a Congressional delegation to Yucca Mountain. Let’s jump into Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) visit to Yucca Mountain first, mainly because that’s happening this week. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office released a draft Request for Proposal this week for its Deep Borehole (DBH) Field Test procurement. DOE is hoping to expand its research and development efforts for deep boreholes after the disposal method has been recommended multiple times for some smaller packages of […]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) tried to intervene this week as a means of getting a representative from the Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects onto the House Energy and Commerce Committee tour of the Yucca Mountain site, according to a letter he sent to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. Heller requested that Moniz grant an additional […]

The upcoming House Energy and Commerce Committee trip to Yucca Mountain will not include any representatives from the Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects. According to trip leader Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the tour has already been filled to capacity, he said in an April 6 letter to Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 With Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announcing last week his impending retirement at the end of 2016, it appears Yucca Mountain could receive a jolt of energy to rise from its shuttered status, industry and congressional sources told RW Monitor this week. Reid, one of Yucca Mountain’s staunchest […]

Fifty-four percent of Americans said an independent federal authority with a corporate-style board of directors would be more effective and would better manage used fuel storage, according to a poll released yesterday by the Nuclear Energy Institute. The poll, conducted by Bisconti Research Inc. with Quest Global Research, would appear to support the recently introduced […]