Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Idaho is open to providing the Department of Energy a one-time waiver to allow DOE to send some spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes, but only if the Department provides an enforceable time frame for coming back into compliance with a 1995 Settlement Agreement, […]

Idaho will only accept into the state spent nuclear fuel needed for Department of Energy research studies should the Department resolve its 1995 Settlement Agreement noncompliance issues with the state, according to a Jan. 9 letter from Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter (R). Idaho environmental regulators last week penalized DOE for its failure to empty […]

House Energy and the Environment Subcommittee Chair John Shimkus (R-Ill.) predicted that with a Republican Senate, funding for Yucca Mountain should return in the next appropriations bill, he said yesterday in a briefing with reporters. Shimkus has long been a vocal advocate of Yucca Mountain as the solution to the nation’s spent nuclear fuel problem, […]

The nuclear industry expects legislative movement on nuclear waste policy from both chambers in the coming months, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel said yesterday in a Q&A with Nuclear Energy Overview, NEI’s news organization. Fertel predicted that the House would focus on funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s license review of the […]

ZionSolutions announced yesterday the successful completion of its campaign to move the spent nuclear fuel at the Zion Power Station to dry cask storage. The EnergySolutions subsidiary loaded 61 dry cask storage containers in less than 52 weeks, ahead of the estimated timeline, the company said. “We are extremely proud of our employees for the […]

New Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) included nuclear waste policy as a priority the committee will discuss in the next two months during remarks last week about moving the Keystone XL Pipeline legislation out of committee. Murkowski co-authored the “Nuclear Waste Administration Act” bill with former Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/9/2015 Entergy filed a new lawsuit in the Federal Court of Claims last week against the Department of Energy seeking damages for the failure to remove the spent nuclear fuel at its Pilgrim Nuclear Station. The litigation is the second suit Entergy has filed seeking repayment for costs incurred to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/19/2014 The City of Laguna Beach, located near the San Onofre Nuclear generating Station (SONGS), passed a resolution this week that called on the Department of Energy to move forward ‘expeditiously’ with the removal of spent fuel. The Laguna Beach resolution calls on DOE to remove the fuel as quickly […]

Land Ownership and Water Rights Still Needed Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/19/2014 The Yucca Mountain license application meets most administrative and programmatic requirements, except land ownership and water rights, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Safety Evaluation Report Volume Four released this week. The conclusions only bolstered  both pro-Yucca support that gained momentum in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to release the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report Volume Four as early as this Thursday and no later than next week, WC Morning Briefing has learned. Volume Four is expected to build upon the safety case expounded by Volume Three, released in October, which said that the Yucca Mountain design […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 With continued gridlock between the House and Senate on long-term plans for high-level waste, no funding for either Yucca Mountain or a pilot interim storage plant made it into the compromise version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Appropriations omnibus bill released this week. The House and Senate have taken […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz assured the state of Nevada that Yucca Mountain remains an ‘unworkable solution’ to the nation’s nuclear waste problem during the Western Governors’ Association meeting Dec. 6 and 7. Nevada has long opposed hosting the nation’s waste repository in its state, as evident by […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 Southern California Edison has chosen Holtec International to provide its dry cask storage system at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the company announced this week. Holtec’s HI-STORM UMAX underground storage system features corrosion-resistant, stainless-steel fuel canisters that can operate for both storage and transport, the company said. “After […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 Entergy plans to establish a $145 million credit line for the initial phase of spent fuel management at the Vermont Yankee Power Station as the reactor prepares to enter decommissioning, Entergy spokesman Marty Cohn confirmed this week. The plan would avoid taking money from the decommissioning trust fund to […]

Should the Obama Administration choose to enact the Department of Energy’s recommendation to de-commingle defense high-level nuclear waste and commercial nuclear waste into two repositories, DOE would not need congressional authorization to implement and site a location for defense waste, DOE’s Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons said yesterday at a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/5/2014 Two communities in the Toronto-area have advanced in the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s assessment to locate a repository site for the nation’s high-level waste, the NWMO announced this week. The communities, the Municipality of South Bruce and the Township of Huron-Kinloss, are both located in Bruce County, Ontario, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/5/2014 The Nuclear Waste Fund grew $3.2 billion from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2014 despite the hiatus in the collection of the NWF fee, according to the annual audit conducted by the Department of Energy’s Inspect General Office, released this week. The fund currently stands at $39.8 billion, […]

Could the top Democratic spot on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee go to the top Democrat in the Senate? There is speculation that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in line to be the Senate’s Minority Leader after a long tenure as Majority Leader, could seek the ranking member spot currently held by Sen. Dianne […]

The Nuclear Waste Fund grew $3.2 billion from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2014 despite the hiatus in the collection of the NWF fee, according to the annual audit conducted by the Department of Energy’s Inspect General Office, obtained by WC Morning Briefing yesterday. The fund currently stands at $39.8 billion, up from $36.6 […]

Waste Control Specialists will brief the local Andrews, Texas community tonight on the possibility of hosting a storage facility for high-level waste. Earlier this year, WCS initiated contact with community leader s on their willingness to storing HLW at the facility. Texas state leadership, including Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Speaker of the House Joe […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/21/2014 The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario closed the record this week for public comment and information. The move starts the countdown for the submittal of an environmental assessment report to the Canadian Minister of the Environment with […]

Nevada Readies Defense Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/21/2014 While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has played a significant role in blocking the Yucca Mountain repository intended for his home state from moving forward, cracks are beginning to appear within his own Senate leadership team over the direction of the project. Sen. Patty Murray […]

As is our annual practice, RW Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox Dec. 5. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will continue to be published Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 11/21/2014 Heart of America Northwest and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility called this week for the Pacific Northwest’s only nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, to be shut down based on a study they commissioned. The reactor’s storage pool that cools used nuclear fuel is vulnerable in the event of […]

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Senate’s fourth ranking Democrat, urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week to “thoroughly consider” the Yucca Mountain licensing review. In a letter addressed to NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane, Murray inquired about the status of the review as well as to the need for additional funding to complete the review. “With […]

The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario closed the record yesterday for public comment and information. This step starts the countdown for the submittal of an environmental assessment report to the Canadian Minister of the Environment with its recommendations for the path forward. The […]

A report from the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, approved for release on Monday, calls for a renewed focus from the state in its fight against the Yucca Mountain licensing, especially in the face of what the report alleges is government collusion between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to push the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/14/2014 Republican House lawmakers this week called on Democrats to resume funding for the Yucca Mountain project and make progress on solving the nation’s nuclear waste problem. Although the Obama Administration shuttered the project in 2010, deeming it “unworkable,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s release of the Volume Three Safety Evaluation […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/14/2014 A robust third quarter from Waste Control Specialists helped alleviate some of the operating loss experienced in the first half of the year, Valhi Inc., parent company of WCS, announced in its third quarter earnings report late last week. The company reported $6.9 million in operating income for the […]

The Department of Energy estimates it has $21.4 billion in future liabilities for failing to dispose of spent nuclear fuel, a Government Accountability Office report said yesterday. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, DOE is required to deal with the high level waste generated by commercial nuclear reactors, but due to the shuttering of the […]