Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced this week that he will not seek re-election after his term expires in 2016. Reid, one of Yucca Mountain’s staunchest opponents, has served as senator for 28 years, and from 2009 to 2014 he served as the Senate’s majority leader. A long-time […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Action on nuclear waste reform took major strides this week as a bipartisan Senate bill emerged that would allow interim storage, while the Department of Energy announced that it would begin taking an active role in siting a consent-base interim storage facility. A bipartisan group of Senators reintroduced legislation […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 With the Department of Energy announcing this week that it plans to take “affirmative steps” to siting a consent-based pilot interim storage facility, questions still remain over how best to measure consensus. DOE is still working out its process to siting a facility, but according to a panel held […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) indicated this week that he would like to include clarifying language in Appropriations legislation that would enable the Department of Energy to use Waste Control Specialists as a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Alexander pressed Secretary […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 To start the Yucca Mountain adjudication process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would need $25 million to $30 million in Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations, NRC Chair Steven Burns said this week during a hearing in front of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. The NRC currently has about $4 […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 A Nevada congressman is calling for a more open dialogue on potentially opening Yucca Mountain in the state, according to an editorial appearing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal last weekend. Rep. Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.), who represents the district that hosts Yucca Mountain, wrote that the state of Nevada should […]

Senate appropriators indicated yesterday that they would like to include clarifying language in the budget that would enable the Department of Energy to use Waste Control Specialists as a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) pressed Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on what […]

A group of bipartisan Senators re-introduced legislation yesterday that would overhaul the nation’s nuclear waste policy. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) put forth the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2015, which heavily echoes the bill the group introduced in 2013, but that bill never made it […]

To start the Yucca Mountain adjudication process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would need $25-30 million in Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations, NRC Chair Steven Burns said yesterday during a hearing in front of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. The NRC currently has about $4 million in Nuclear Waste Fund appropriations that will most likely […]

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz feels confident that funding for a pilot interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will make it into the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget, he said yesterday during remarks at the 2015 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference. The Department of Energy has moved away from the Yucca Mountain project, deeming the […]

A Nevada congressman is calling for a more open dialogue on opening Yucca Mountain in the state, according to an editorial appearing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this weekend. Rep. Crescent Hardy (R-Nev.), who represents the district that hosts Yucca Mountain, wrote that the state of Nevada should be more engaging in negotiations to open […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/20/2015 Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Chair of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, plans to visit the Yucca Mountain site on April 9, according to a letter of invitation sent to fellow committee members earlier this month. Shimkus has been a vocal Pro-Yucca supporter, and earlier this year during […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/20/2015 PHOENIX, Ariz.—The legal challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule, formerly known as Waste Confidence, will not see major action until the fall of 2015, two attorneys involved in the dispute said here this week at this year’s Waste Management conference. A coalition […]

Todd Jacobson RW Monitor 3/20/2015 Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said this week that he is in favor of a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, and he urged Department of Energy cleanup officials to settle differences with Idaho officials over […]

The legal challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule, formerly known as Waste Confidence, will not see major action until the fall of 2015, two attorneys involved in the dispute said yesterday during a panel on the rulemaking at the Waste Management Conference. A coalition of states and environmental […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, plans to visit the Yucca Mountain site in April, according to a letter of invitation sent to fellow committee members earlier this month. Shimkus has been a vocal Pro-Yucca supporter, and earlier this year during a hearing with Secretary of Energy Ernest […]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said yesterday that he was in favor of a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but he urged Department of Energy cleanup officials to settle differences with Idaho officials over cleanup milestones. Former Govs. Cecil […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially will move forward with the supplemental Environmental Impact Statement needed for the Yucca Mountain license review, according to the Staff Requirements Memoranda released this week. NRC Chair Steven Burns had said last month the NRC would complete the EIS in the Department of Energy’s […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 A state would be required to issue an official proclamation of consent for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel under legislation introduced this week by members of the Nevada Congressional delegation. Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), as well as Reps. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Dina […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 Two former Idaho governors last week threatened the Department of Energy with litigation should it move forward with planned shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes. Former Govs. Cecil Andrus (D) and Phil Batt (R), both of whom worked to establish the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 The Department of Energy denied rumors this week that there it had ever received a proposal from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) about a possible use of the Yucca Mountain site for research, sending a letter March 7 from DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary […]

The members of the Nevada delegation yesterday introduced legislation that would require a state to issue an official proclamation of consent in building a repository for spent nuclear fuel. Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), as well as Reps. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.), introduced the “Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially will move forward with the supplemental Environmental Impact Statement needed for the Yucca Mountain license review, according to the Staff Related Memorandum released yesterday. NRC Chair Steven Burns had said last month the NRC would complete the EIS in the Department of Energy’s stead, but this SRM gives the Staff […]

Two former Idaho governors last week threatened the Department of Energy with litigation should it move forward with its planned shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes. Former Govs. Cecil Andrus (D) and Phil Batt (R), both of whom worked to establish the 1995 Settlement Agreement, which banned anymore spent fuel […]

The Department of Energy late last week extended the response time an extra month for its solicitation for a contractor to assist in the movement of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors to an unidentified national laboratory. The new response date will be April 13, compared to the original March 9 deadline. The DOE Office of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said funding for a pilot interim storage facility would be included in the Senate’s upcoming Fiscal Year 2016 appropriation bill, during remarks made this week at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission budget hearing. Both he and subcommittee Ranking Member Diane […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) ripped the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule this week for allowing the indefinite storage of spent fuel on-site at reactors. The NRC issued last August its revised Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 A federal court late last week awarded the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) an additional $22.5 million in its spent nuclear fuel case against the Department of Energy. These damages come in addition to the $53.1 million the Federal Court of Claims awarded SMUD back in June for costs […]

Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said funding for a pilot interim storage facility would be included in the Senate’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water appropriations bill, during remarks made yesterday at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission budget hearing. Both he and subcommittee Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission late last week voted down the appeal of its Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule, formerly known as Waste Confidence, after determining its interpretation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 only requires the Commission to prove the technical feasibility of continued storage and not the likelihood of a repository. […]