Interim Storage & Waste Disposal

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/11/2014 The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved a plan this week that would give a $260 million tax credit over 10 years to Holtec International to locate some of its operations in Camden, N.J. The plan calls for the construction of a 600,000 square foot manufacturing facility and design […]

RW Monitor 7/11/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had to stop the cooling of a spent fuel pool in Unit 5 at the Fukushima Daiichi power station after a seawater leak was discovered in a pipe, the company announced this week. The leak has since been repaired partially, with some work […]

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority plans to vote on a proposal today that would give a $260 million dollar tax credit over ten years to Holtec International Inc. to locate some of its operation in Camden, N.J. The details of the plan are not known at this time, but both Holtec and the NJEDA […]

Savannah River liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation is seeking companies able to propose improvements or alternatives for plans involving future storage of vitrified waste. Savannah River’s Defense Waste Processing Facility processes high-level tank waste into glass canisters, but space at the existing Glass Waste Storage Building is expected to run out in the coming […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/3/2014 Waste Control Specialists received its first shipment this week using its new Type-B shipping container. WCS contracted with Robatel Technologies to provide three Type B casks capable of shipping Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. The first of the three casks was delivered by Robatel in January, while […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/3/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appears to have taken on the responsibility to complete the Yucca Mountain supplemental Environmental Impact Statement needed to complete the Yucca licensing review, according to a letter NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane sent to members of Congress this week. The NRC originally requested that the Department […]

RW Monitor 7/3/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Perma-Fix Environmental Services has settled an insurance claim for a fire that occurred at its hazardous waste facility in Valdosta, Ga. for approximately $8.5 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The fire, which occurred last August, badly damaged the facility and resulted […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appears to have taken on the responsibility to complete the Yucca Mountain supplemental Enviromental Impact Statement needed to complete the Yucca licensing review, according to a letter sent from NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane to members of Congress yesterday. The NRC originally requested that the Department of Energy complete the EIS, but […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/27/2014 The shipments of class B and C waste from the Zion decommissioning project to Waste Control Specialists are back on track after a slight delay. EnergySolutions had originally planned to ship the waste back in March using one of its type-B casks under an exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/27/2014 Michigan’s U.S senators sent a second letter last week to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to engage the Canadian government to stop the construction of a proposed low-level radioactive waste deep geologic repository near the Great Lakes. The two senators, Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Carl Levin […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/27/2014 The Sacramento Municipal Utility District was awarded late last week $53.1 million by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from the United States government for the Department of Energy’s failure to manage its spent nuclear fuel. The decision is the latest in a long line of payouts […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/27/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week withdrew its direct final ruling issued in April that would have enabled the storage of high burnup spent nuclear fuel in Areva’s Standardized Advanced NUHOMS Horizontal Modular Storage System. Areva was seeking an amendment to its certificate of compliance for its storage casks, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission withdrew its direct final ruling issued in April that would have enabled the storage of high burnup spent nuclear fuel in Areva’s Standardized Advanced NUHOMS Horizontal Modular Storage System, according to a posting in the Federal Register yesterday. Areva was seeking an amendment to its certificate of compliance for its storage […]

The shipments of class B and C waste from the Zion decommissioning project to Waste Control Specialists are back on track after slight delay. EnergySolutions had originally planned to ship the waste back in March using one of its type-B casks under an exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but an interruption occurred that called […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 Although the radiological release that occurred at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant earlier this year and the ongoing shutdown of the facility continue to send ripples through international waste repository planning efforts, communities looking to potentially host a storage site for high-level waste remain unfazed by […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/20/2013 The proposed Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill includes a reform to the nation’s nuclear waste policy that would enable the construction of a pilot interim storage facility, Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said during the subcommittee markup this week. This reform would […]

The following interview with Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, who announced this week plans to leave DOE in the fall, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. RW Monitor 6/20/2014 As the Department of Energy looks to move forward with a consent-based approach to siting new interim and permanent facilities for high-level waste, how […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 The Department of Energy’s loss of credibility in the handling of the nation’s high-level nuclear waste was the dominate obstacle impeding  a successful waste management program identified last week during the Bipartisan Policy Center’s first regional meeting held in Boston. The BPC’s project, named “America’s Nuclear Future: Taking Action […]

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill includes a reform to the nation’s nuclear waste policy that would enable the construction of a pilot interim storage facility, Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said during the subcommittee markup yesterday. This reform would address the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which designates […]

President Barrack Obama re-appointed late last week five members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The list includes the reappointment of Rodney Ewing as Chairman of the Board, a position that Ewing has held since 2012. The other members re-appointed include: Sue Clark, Linda Nozick, Kenneth Peddicord, and Paul Turinsky. The Board acts as […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 House appropriators are looking to breathe new life into the shuttered Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository project, including more than $200 million for the effort in the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill reported out of subcommittee this week. The bill would provide $150 million to the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 ORLANDO, Fla.—The Nuclear Regulatory Commission remains on track to issue a final version of its updated Waste Confidence rulemaking this fall, NRC Commissioner William Ostendorff said during a presentation at this year’s EPRI Low-Level Waste Conference, held here this week. The NRC had previously announced that a final ruling […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board is calling on the Department of Energy to increase the scope and analyses in its test plan for its upcoming study on high burnup spent nuclear fuel in dry cask storage. The Department’s study is aimed to better understand the effects of high […]

House appropriators continued to support Yucca Mountain as the solution to the nation’s high-level waste problem by dolling out over $200 million to the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to move forward with the process to construct a repository there, according to the fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill released […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Mississippi Public Service Commission passed a resolution this week calling on the Department of Energy to stop considering the state for any high-level waste disposal. The resolution stems from comments made by Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons that listed Mississippi as one of the potential […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 Perma-Fix Medical Corporation, a recently created subsidiary of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, is “rapidly” gaining more medical industry partners to help bolster its Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) technology, Perma-Fix CEO Lou Centofanti said in a presentation given at an energy conference held in Warsaw, Poland, this week. Perma-Fix formed the subsidiary in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Canadian Joint Review Panel responsible for evaluating Ontario Power Generation’s license request to build a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate waste in Kincardine, Ont. has scheduled a new set of public hearings for this fall to discuss information it has received in response to a request […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 this week against expediting the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from storage pools to dry cask storage. In a draft study issued last year, NRC staff determined that U.S. spent fuel pools were not in danger from severe earthquakes and that calls for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 The Bipartisan Policy Center announced this week the makeup of an advisory council for its efforts to address the nation’s high-level nuclear waste problem. Among the council’s 13 members are industry representatives, former regulatory officials and former members of Congress.  “These are well-informed people that have had experience on […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 Southern California Edison expects to completely transfer the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s spent fuel pool inventory to dry storage by 2019, according to a draft Irradiated Fuel Management Plan the company presented at last week’s Community Engagement Panel meeting. Local stakeholders have been vocal about their desire to […]