Decommissioning

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers anticipates completing decommissioning of the reactor on the radioactively contaminated STURGIS barge by June, after which what remains of the former floating nuclear power plant will be transported for shipbreaking. “We’re getting really close. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we can tell […]

Nuclear services provider EnergySolutions supports allowing use of nuclear power plant decommissioning trust funds for certain operations even before the facility ceases operation, an executive said last week. “We are very supportive of using the decommissioning funds early for legitimate decommissioning activities at nuclear power plants,” Daniel Shrum, senior vice president for regulatory affairs at […]

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday signed legislation that will cut radioactive waste disposal fees paid by EnergySolutions by more than $1.7 million per year. State Rep. John Knotwell (R) in January filed the bill to reduce the flat fee paid by radioactive waste disposal facilities in Utah by the amount they paid in taxes in […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Orano USA and Waste Control Specialists (WCS) are just weeks from formalizing their partnership to license, build, and operate a facility for centralized interim storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel, new WCS CEO Scott State said Monday. The joint venture, announced last week, will be called Interim Storage Partners. Its first job […]

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has formally requested to withdraw its application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for renewal of reactor Units 1 and 2 at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The utility instead plans to shut down California’s last operational atomic energy facility within a decade. “PG&E hereby requests to withdraw the […]

Centrus Energy is almost finished with decontamination and decommissioning of its American Centrifuge demonstration project at the Energy Department Portsmouth Site in Ohio, President and CEO Daniel Poneman said Thursday. “All the machines and plant equipment have been removed and are set for disposal, we have a few more limited tasks to wrap up,” Poneman […]

Several parties to the state regulatory review of the sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on March 9 called for approval of the new memorandum of understanding that lays out financial-assurance and site-restoration commitments for the deal. All but one of the parties to the Vermont Public Utility Commission proceeding agreed to […]

The licensee of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California is still waiting for state approval to begin full decontamination and decommissioning of the plant following its permanent closure in 2013. In a March 8 inspection report for SONGS, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that decommissioning general contractor SONGS Decommissioning Solutions (SDS) […]

By John Stang The owner and prospective buyer of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have agreed to a set of financial assurance and site-cleanup terms that should help the sale pass the state’s regulatory review. All but one of the parties authorized to intervene in the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) process signed […]

Salt Lake City-based nuclear services company EnergySolutions said this week it has centralized its decontamination and decommissioning team at an office in Charlotte, N.C. Roughly 30 employees, who had previously been spread around the nation, are now working in a 16,000-square-foot office on West Trade Street in the city’s downtown. In a press release, EnergySolutions […]

A public meeting is planned for March 14 in Richland, Wash., on permit changes to support the Department of Energy’s plan to stabilize the second waste tunnel at the Hanford Site PUREX Plant. It also will cover actions already taken to stabilize the first tunnel at the plant. After the older of two tunnels storing […]

A public meeting is planned for March 14 in Richland, Wash., on permit changes to support the Department of Energy’s plan to stabilize the second waste tunnel at the Hanford Site PUREX Plant. It also will cover actions already taken to stabilize the first tunnel at the plant. After the older of two tunnels storing […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) are accepting public comments through April 23 on environmental implications of the next phase of cleanup planned for the West Valley Demonstration Project (NVDP) in Ashford, N.Y. The state and federal agencies issued a notice of intent Wednesday in […]

SNC-Lavalin President and CEO Neil Bruce on Thursday praised the early benefits of his company’s acquisition of British engineering rival Atkins, which he called “the largest and most transformative in our history.” The Montreal-based infrastructure and engineering company in July 2017 completed its $3.6 billion (CAN) deal for Atkins, a significant player in cleanup of […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) are accepting public comments through April 23 on environmental implications of the next phase of cleanup planned for the West Valley Demonstration Project (NVDP) in Ashford, N.Y. The state and federal agencies issued a notice of intent Wednesday in […]

The Energy Department expects in April to file a permit application for storage of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste at its Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) cleanup in upstate New York. A total of 22 containers are expected to hold waste generated by ongoing environmental remediation at the site, according to a recent DOE notice. […]

Utility Pacific Gas & Electric and partnering organizations do not intend to contest the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) ruling on the closure plan for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Per CPUC guidelines, the parties would have to demonstrate the commission had made a legal error to receive a rehearing. While it disagreed with […]

Environmental services provider US Ecology this week reported higher revenue in 2017 but mixed numbers on income. Company-wide revenue rose 6 percent for the year, to $504 million, from $477.7 million in 2016. Revenue for its Environmental Services branch, which includes a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Washington state, was up by nearly $30 million, to $366.3 […]

Utility Pacific Gas & Electric and partnering organizations do not intend to contest the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) ruling on the closure plan for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Per CPUC guidelines, the parties would have to demonstrate that the commission had made a legal error to receive a rehearing. While it disagreed […]

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) last week introduced legislation that would block retired nuclear power plants from receiving exemptions to certain federal regulations until all of the site’s used nuclear fuel is in dry storage. If the Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2018 passes, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission would be barred from providing waivers […]

Two lawmakers from Vermont are again pressing legislation intended to provide states with more say in the planning for decommissioning of nuclear power plants. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) filed the Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2018 in their respective chambers on Wednesday. They previously introduced largely identical legislation in the […]

When completed, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemaking on decommissioning nuclear reactors could save millions of dollars over six decades, according to a new analysis of the costs and benefits of the process. As it approaches the end of the process started in 2015, agency staff plans to submit a draft of new proposed rules […]

By John Stang Utilities Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric have agreed to trim $775 million from the $3.3 billion charge to ratepayers for the premature closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), according to a settlement announced Tuesday. That translates to $68 per SCE residential customer over the next […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a full technical review of a request that would eliminate the requirement that the agency authorize dismantlement and disposal of the reactor on the retired nuclear-powered merchant vessel NS Savannah. The regulator as of early January had completed its acceptance review of the Oct. 31, 2017, license amendment […]

French nuclear fuel cycle company New AREVA officially has a new name as of Tuesday: Orano. Orano is the result of a corporate restructuring AREVA initiated in 2016 that late last year resulted in the sale of the company’s nuclear power business to French utility EDF and other entities. What was left was almost entirely […]

By John Stang The Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) this week postponed a status conference on talks over the sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to Feb. 5 because negotiations are still unresolved. The PUC had scheduled the status conference for Thursday with representatives from plant owner Entergy, prospective buyer NorthStar Group […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Tuesday canceled a public hearing and set of evidentiary hearings in its review of the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The move is intended to give the various parties to the process time to review and discuss a revised financial assurance proposal for […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission on Friday rescheduled to Jan. 18 its second public hearing on the proposed sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The hearing had been scheduled for last Thursday, but was interrupted by the massive winter storm that hit the East Coast at midweek. The session is now due […]

Brookfield Business Partners, a global asset management firm, announced Thursday it would purchase ailing nuclear energy and infrastructure giant Westinghouse Electric from Toshiba for $4.6 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Westinghouse is looking to focus more on nuclear services, including reactor decommissioning. “The company operates within a complex regulatory and licensing environment […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given final authorization for power company Entergy to use the decommissioning trust fund for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for management of the site’s spent reactor fuel. The regulator announced publication of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on the exemption to federal rules […]