Decommissioning

The Environmental Protection Agency said in a recent letter it has not agreed to change cleanup plans for Building 324 and the contaminated soil under it at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “does not concur on any activities towards placing the 324 Building in a […]

The Environmental Protection Agency said in a recent letter it has not agreed to change cleanup plans for Building 324 and the contaminated soil under it at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “does not concur on any activities towards placing the 324 Building in a […]

The Department of Energy’s solid-waste cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state now recommends tearing down the above-ground portion of the decaying 324 Building before digging up radioactively-contaminated soil under the structure’s B cell. In an Aug. 23 presentation to the Hanford Advisory Board, Central Plateau Cleanup Co. President John Eschenberg said he […]

The Department of Energy on Friday released a little more than $3.5 million in funding for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to demolish facilities at the shuttered Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The task order calls for demolition of the C-727 and C-146-A facilities. Parts of each formerly housed hazardous waste, so the Kentucky Energy & […]

The Department of Energy on Friday released a little more than $3.5 million in funding for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to demolish facilities at the shuttered Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky.  The task order calls for demolition of the C-727 and C-146-A facilities. Parts of each formerly housed hazardous waste, so the Kentucky Energy […]

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Monday signed into law a state budget that would conditionally provide $150 million to restart the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert county. The funding, about half of what plant owner Holtec International says it needs from the state, is contingent on the federal Department of Energy providing a […]

The Department of Energy first discovered more contaminated soil under Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state last August and suspended work on stabilizing the structure in April, DOE said this month in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency. The timeline was laid out in a July 5 letter to David Einan, […]

The Department of Energy first discovered more contaminated soil under Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state last August and suspended work on stabilizing the structure in April, DOE said this month in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency. The timeline was laid out in a July 5 letter to David Einan, […]

Aspen Environmental Group, Agoura Hills, Calif., on Tuesday got a one-year contract extension, worth a little under half a million dollars, to continue work on an environmental impact report about decommissioning the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in southern California. Though owner Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is trying to keep Diablo Canyon online in Avila […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency on July 4 effectively endorsed the safety of a controversial Japanese plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown accident into the Pacific Ocean. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the United Nations nuclear organization, presented the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report to […]

Anyone who wants to argue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should unconditionally allow power plants to use their decommissioning funds to replace major equipment has until August to refute the agency’s new draft guidance that says otherwise. “The disposal of the MRC [major radioactive components] when performed during the operational phase of the reactor facility […]

Antinuclear activists on Wednesday sent a letter to the Michigan legislature urging state lawmakers not to approve a $300 million grant to help Holtec International restart the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station. In a letter dated Wednesday and mailed to all 148 michigan lawmakers — 110 representatives and 38 senators — 79 people and 43 organizations […]

Anyone who wants to argue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should unconditionally allow power plants to use their decommissioning funds to replace major equipment has until August to refute the agency’s new draft guidance that says otherwise. “The disposal of the MRC [major radioactive components] when performed during the operational phase of the reactor facility […]

New York’s governor had yet to decide whether she would sign a bill, passed Monday by the state legislature, that would punish anyone who discharges irradiated water into the Hudson River. The bill, S06893, passed the General Assembly 101-44 on the first day of a special session of the bicameral legislature’s lower chamber, where Democrats […]

New York state lawmakers were set to convene for a special session on Tuesday that will include consideration of a bill prohibiting discharge of irradiated wastewater into the Hudson River. The bill, S06893, would make it “unlawful to discharge any radiological substance into the Hudson River in connection with the decommissioning of a nuclear power […]

Antinuclear activists and state lawmakers on Tuesday demonstrated outside the New York governor’s office, demanding that she sign a bill to outlaw dumping of irradiated waste water into the Hudson River from the shuttered Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center. Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based nonprofit founded by activist Wenonah Hauter of Virginia, publicized the […]

Holtec International and Pacific Gas and Electric were scheduled to speak to Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Wednesday about novel regulatory efforts to extend the lives of two nuclear power plants. Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., was scheduled to go first, with their 10:00 a.m. Eastern presentation to commission staff about the regulatory pathway to restart […]

NorthStar Group Services plans to acquire the Vallecitos Nuclear Center, in Sunol, Calif., from General Electric Hitachi, adding four reactors to the privately held company’s decommissioning fleet. As of Friday, privately held NorthStar, New York, had not filed for a license transfer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Neither NorthStar nor General Electric (GE) Hitachi have […]

NorthStar Group Services said last week it plans to acquire the Vallecitos Nuclear Center, in Sunol, Calif., from General Electric Hitachi, adding four reactors to the privately held company’s decommissioning fleet. As of Monday, privately held NorthStar, New York, had not filed for a license transfer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Neither NorthStar nor General […]

A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]

Holtec International’s cost estimate for decommissioning a Michigan nuclear power plant is justifiable, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff said recently in a review that did not touch on the state’s biggest gripes about the plan. Excluding unforeseen increases, Holtec, Jupiter, Fla., estimates it will cost about $644 million in 2020 dollars to safely bring down Palisades, […]

Holtec International’s cost estimate for decommissioning a Michigan nuclear power plant is justifiable, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff said recently in a review that did not touch on the state’s biggest gripes about the plan. Excluding unforeseen increases, Holtec, Jupiter, Fla., estimates it will cost about $644 million in 2020 dollars to safely bring down Palisades, […]

A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]

Utah’s state-backed Carbon Free Power Project may need an exemption to existing Nuclear Regulatory Commission decommissioning funding requirements for the six NuScale Power small modular reactors the company plans to build at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, commission staff wrote in a letter to NuScale. The letter was published online May 1 and […]

One of the nuclear industry’s main trade groups planned to host a new conference for nuclear power plant decommissioning companies, an executive with the group told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday in a public meeting. “We’re targeting January, February 2024 to have a conference,” Bruce Montgomery, director of decommissioning and used fuel at the Washington-based […]

One of the nuclear industry’s main trade groups planned to host a new conference for nuclear power plant decommissioning companies, an executive with the group told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday in a public meeting. “We’re targeting January, February 2024 to have a conference,” Bruce Montgomery, director of decommissioning and used fuel at the Washington-based […]

In the first of a trio of reports after its testing last fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District said Tuesday the now-closed Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., is safe, from a radiological standpoint. The 460-page report “provides additional data from our structural surveys and sampling, all of which have confirmed […]

In the first of a trio of reports after its testing last fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District said Tuesday the now-closed Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., is safe, from a radiological standpoint. The 460-page report “provides additional data from our structural surveys and sampling, all of which have confirmed […]

The Department of Energy’s Enforcement Office is investigating a November 2022 accident at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, which resulted in an amputated finger for a carpenter working on construction of the new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Contractor APTIM – North Wind Construction was informed of the planned investigation […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services said April 14 its team lost the Department of Energy’s Integrated Tank Disposition Contract, potentially worth $45 billion over 10 years at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which went to a joint venture led by BWX Technologies. “Despite the loss of the [Hanford tanks] contract bid, the company expects to continue […]