Decommissioning

A California Public Utilities Commission administrative judge has recommended approval of a settlement agreement on the division of costs for the premature shutdown on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Judge Darcie Houck recommended June 22 that the CPUC approve the January agreement between the plant’s primary owners and several public watchdog organizations designed to […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued its final figures for fee collections that will provide the bulk of its funding for the current 2018 federal budget year. The nuclear industry regulator is budgeted at $922 million for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, up by $4.9 million from the prior fiscal […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing a petition contending FirstEnergy Solutions decommissioning trust funds have enough money to shut down and dismantle three nuclear power plants. The Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center submitted the petition earlier this year as FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy and announced it will shut down […]

The Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center has petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review whether FirstEnergy Solutions’ decommissioning trust funds will have enough money to shut down and dismantle three nuclear power plants. The ELPC contends that since FirstEnergy Solutions is closing its three Ohio and Pennsylvania sites — containing four reactors — […]

Executives with a major U.S. utility and the trade group for the nuclear industry last week said they were largely satisfied with the set of proposed regulations for power reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning. “Overall, we’re pretty pleased with the proposal as it came out. Our main goal obviously was just to […]

The Department of Energy has yet to determine whether certain members of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) had conflicts of interest that should have kept them from voting on an issue last month, sources said Tuesday. Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel, made a formal challenge […]

The state of California should by the first quarter of 2019 give formal approval for major decommissioning to begin on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), an executive with the decommissioning general contractor said Friday. SONGS Decommissioning Solutions, a partnership of AECOM and EnergySolutions, expects the California State Lands Commission will by the end of […]

The Energy Department’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant complex in Ohio is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and the state’s historic preservation office wants a voice in cleanup plans for the contaminated site. The Ohio History Connection said in a May 16 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it should be […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a Texas company are making plans for the shipbreaking of the STURGIS barge. The Army Corps in May issued a $1.9 million contract to International Shipbreaking Ltd., which is expected in September to tow the formerly nuclear reactor-equipped vessel to its facility in Brownsville. “We are currently working […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a Texas company are making plans for the shipbreaking of the STURGIS barge. The Army Corps in May issued a $1.9 million contract to International Shipbreaking Ltd., which is expected in September to tow the formerly nuclear reactor-equipped vessel to its facility in Brownsville. “We are currently working […]

The Energy Department’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant complex in Ohio is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and the state’s historic preservation office wants a voice in cleanup plans for the contaminated site. The Ohio History Connection said in a May 16 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it should be […]

The Energy Department and the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) aim by the end of 2018 to issue a final environmental impact report for cleanup of DOE’s portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Site (SSFL). The state and federal agencies have been working closely to finalize steps for remediation of groundwater and […]

Nearly 200 more used reactor fuel assemblies were moved from wet to dry storage from April 20 to May 20 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County, Calif., primary owner Southern California Edison said Friday. A total of 444 fuel assemblies from SONGS reactor Units 2 and 3 had been […]

The cleanup contractor for the West Valley Demonstration Project in upstate New York picked up 80 percent, or $365,000, of the potential fee available in the latest Energy Department review period. CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) could have earned nearly $456,000 for the period between Aug. 30, 2017, through Feb. 28, 2018. That was […]

The head of a local branch of the United Steelworkers (USW) at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site cleanup project in Ohio claims contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth is unfairly pushing workers to accept a shutdown during the week of July 4. For its part, Fluor-BWXT said implementation of a holiday week shutdown complies with the company’s collective […]

By John Stang Proposed changes in federal rules for nuclear reactors transitioning into decommissioning this week drew little or no concern from three nuclear power providers. Last week, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission unveiled a set of proposed regulations that would be specific to reactors that are no longer operational, covering areas ranging from physical […]

Exelon expects to spend nearly $1.5 billion over more than six decades for decommissioning, spent fuel management, and site restoration of its soon-to-close Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. The power company’s Exelon Generation subsidiary will close the single-reactor power plant by Oct. 31 of this year – more than a year earlier […]

Stakeholders urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to move cautiously as it studies potentially establishing a specific definition and category for what is now informally called very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW). In February, the agency issued a Federal Register notice seeking input on opportunities to enhance its regulatory framework for VLLW, given the significant amounts anticipated […]

The cleanup contractor for the West Valley Demonstration Project in upstate New York picked up 80 percent, or $365,000, of the potential fee available in the latest Energy Department review period. CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) could have earned nearly $456,000 for the period between Aug. 30, 2017, through Feb. 28, 2018. That was […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday unveiled a set of proposed rules for nuclear reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning. The recommendations developed by NRC staff are intended to reduce the need for nuclear plant operators to request exemptions to federal regulations or license amendments for facilities that pose […]

NorthStar Group Services on Monday told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it will have sufficient funds to both decommission the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and manage its spent fuel. The New York City company was responding to the agency’s latest request for additional information as it reviews the application to transfer the NRC license […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday unveiled a set of proposed rules for nuclear reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning. The proposed rules developed by NRC staff are intended to reduce the need for nuclear plant operators to request exemptions to federal regulations or license amendments for facilities that pose a reduced danger […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get a sizable budget boost in fiscal 2019, almost entirely from funding for its review of the license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada, under the energy and water funding bill approved Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The panel’s roughly 90-minute markup ended without any […]

An advisory body to the Department of Energy has declined to ask government agencies reconsider their approval of a planned on-site radioactive waste disposal cell Portsmouth Site in Ohio The Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board on May 10 voted 10-6 to urge DOE and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to reopen the formal 2015 record […]

The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District has issued a contract for the final move of spent reactor fuel into dry storage at the retired Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant. In a press release Wednesday, nuclear cleanup provider Orano USA (formerly AREVA) said its used fuel management branch Orano TN would move 944 fuel assemblies […]

The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District has issued a contract for the final move of spent reactor fuel into dry storage at the retired Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant. In a press release Wednesday, Orano (formerly AREVA) said its used fuel management branch Orano TN would move 944 fuel assemblies from the plant’s cooling […]

An official from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is expected to make the agency’s case Friday on Capitol Hill that the West Valley Demonstration Project is home to defense-related waste. It’s a distinction the state hopes will provide a quicker path to permanent disposal given the federal Land Withdrawal Act […]

The House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee on Friday will consider legislation reauthorizing appropriations for an Energy Department cleanup site in western New York state. Rep. Tom Reed’s (R-N.Y.) H.R. 2389 would reauthorize the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), through 2026 and redefine its radioactive waste as specifically defense-related. The bill would revise Section […]

The members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday received a proposed package of rules for commercial nuclear power reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning. “The proposed rule package was signed out by the Office of Executive Director and sent to the Office of the Secretary yesterday, so … the Commission has it,” […]

By John Stang Entergy and NorthStar Group Services are delaying providing extra financial information to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the planned sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by just over two weeks. The NRC has questions about whether Entergy and NorthStar have their finances in order to complete decommissioning of the […]