Reactor Licensing & Regulation

After being confirmed by the Senate on July 28, David Wright was sworn in as chairman of the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Friday afternoon. Wright’s prior term expired at the end of June.  In an Aug. 1 emailed statement to ExchangeMonitor from a NRC spokesperson, Wright said: “Earlier this afternoon, I was sworn in […]

A California Democrat and a New York Republican in areas with retired reactors are having another go at passing a House of Representatives bill aimed at increasing safety oversight at nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning. Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) recently said they would reintroduce the Increasing Nuclear Safety Protocols for Extended […]

A California-based environmental group wants Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent decisions to forgo additional seismic risk evaluation at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. Diablo Canyon is a two-unit nuclear plant based in San Obispo, Calif. and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric. The company submitted a license […]

After being confirmed by the Senate on July 28, David Wright was sworn in as chairman of the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Friday afternoon. Wright’s prior term expired at the end of June.  In an Aug. 1 emailed statement to ExchangeMonitor from a NRC spokesperson, Wright said: “Earlier this afternoon, I was sworn in […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on Thursday reported a drop in second quarter net earnings despite higher sales largely due to lower performance on the Virginia-class submarine program and aircraft carrier construction at the Newport News Shipbuilding segment. Net income fell 12% to $152 million, $3.86 earnings per share (EPS), from $173 million ($4.38 EPS) a […]

The U.S. Senate confirmed David Wright’s nomination to serve a new five-year term with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a 50 – 39 vote Monday night. Nearly all Republican senators voted in support of Wright’s confirmation, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) did not vote. All 39 votes against Wright’s confirmation […]

A federal district judge in Texas has agreed to suspend proceedings until Sept. 29 in a lawsuit by Texas, Utah and Last Energy that challenges Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing for small reactors. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle issued the latest extension in the case June 30 at the request of the parties. “Since the […]

Second-term commissioner Annie Caputo has decided to resign from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an NRC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday morning.  Caputo’s resignation announcement comes the day after David Wright was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on NRC for a new five-year term. It also came a day before the White House announced the nomination […]

President Donald Trump this week nominated Ho Nieh, currently an executive with Southern Co.’s nuclear branch, to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The nomination of Nieh, who formerly worked in a staff management position at both NRC and the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency, was announced in a Wednesday press release by the White […]

Second-term commissioner Annie Caputo has decided to resign from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an NRC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday morning.  Caputo’s resignation announcement comes the day after David Wright was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on NRC for a new five-year term.  “It has been my honor and privilege to serve as a commissioner, […]

The U.S. Senate confirmed David Wright’s nomination to serve a new five-year term with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a 50 – 39 vote Monday night. Nearly all Republican senators voted in support of Wright’s confirmation, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) did not vote. All 39 votes against Wright’s confirmation […]

The full Senate voted Monday evening to limit debate on the renomination of David Wright to serve a new five-year term with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a key procedural vote that concluded after 6 p.m. Eastern Time with an unofficial tally of 51-to-45, the Senate invoked cloture, or limited debate on the Wright nomination. […]

A federal district judge in Texas has agreed to suspend proceedings until Sept. 29 in a lawsuit by Texas, Utah and Last Energy that challenges Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing for small reactors. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle issued the latest extension in the case June 30 at the request of the parties. “Since the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings on July 31 and Aug. 6 to discuss the potential restart of Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly known as Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, in Middletown, PA. The July 31 meeting will be held in-person at Capitol Union Building, on the Penn State Harrisburg campus, in […]

The United States Senate appears headed toward a Monday July 28 confirmation vote on David Wright’s reappointment as a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Next Monday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Wright to be a NRC commissioner for a five-year term that would […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Industry analysts told a subcommittee of the Government Oversight Committee Tuesday that Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards are slowing down advanced nuclear deployment.  At the same time, a former NRC chairman said stripping NRC of its independence could undermine public confidence in the safety of nuclear power plants. Alex Epstein, founder of […]

Holtec’s Palisades Nuclear Plant is inching closer to potential restart as ​the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved six licensing actions Thursday for the Michigan plant.   NRC staff has officially approved Holtec’s request to change Palisades facility license from a decommissioning status back to an operating license. NRC has also found no significant environmental impact. “The […]

While the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA),  was one of hundreds of organizations affected by a massive SharePoint hack, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) was not.  “It was not,” a DOE headquarters spokesperson said Thursday in response to an Exchange Monitor question While the bug was discovered last week, Microsoft […]

Global Laser Enrichment has submitted its full license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility in Paducah, Ky., the company said last week. The Wilmington, N.C. based company that licenses laser enrichment technology owned by Australia’s Silex Systems recently filed in its safety analysis report to complete its full license […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Industry members told a subcommittee of the Government Oversight Committee Tuesday that Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards are slowing down advanced nuclear deployment.  At the same time, a former NRC chairman said stripping NRC of its independence could undermine public confidence in the safety of nuclear power plants. Alex Epstein, president and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings on July 31 and Aug. 6 to discuss the potential restart of Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly known as Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, in Middletown, Pa. The July 31 meeting will be held in-person at Capitol Union Building, on the Penn State Harrisburg campus, in […]

Holtec’s Palisades Nuclear Plant is inching closer to potential restart as ​the Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to approve six licensing actions this week for the Michigan plant.   In a July 17 notification of significant licensing action, NRC staff said it intends to green light key issues for plant restart. By July 24, staff will “issue […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently accepted  for review the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  NRC told TVA in a July 9 letter it has completed the acceptance review for the second part of the construction permit application. The regulator previously completed the first half […]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) voted against David Wright’s renomination to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week citing concerns that NRC is losing its independence.  Wright’s nomination passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in a 10 to 9 vote on July 9.  All of the Republicans on the committee voted yes, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently accepted for review the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  NRC told TVA in a July 9 letter it has completed the acceptance review for the second part of the construction permit application. The regulator previously completed the first half […]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) voted against David Wright’s re-nomination to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week citing concerns that NRC is losing its independence.  Wright’s nomination passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in a 10 to 9 vote on July 9.  All of the Republicans on the committee voted yes, […]

Global Laser Enrichment has submitted its full license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility in Paducah, Ky., the company said last week. The Wilmington, N.C. based company that licenses laser enrichment technology owned by Australia’s Silex Systems recently filed in its safety analysis report to complete its full license […]

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has completed the second phase of its vendor design review for the ARC-100, concluding that there are no fundamental barriers to licensing, ARC Clean Technology said. The ARC-100 is a 100-megawatt sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor and is the first advanced reactor of its kind to complete a review of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pivoted to a 19-month review schedule of TerraPower’s construction permit application for its Natrium plant in Kemmerer, Wyo. TerraPower’s Kemmerer Unit 1 project’s construction permit application review is to be completed by Dec. 31, according to the NRC July 1 letter to the company. The agency expects to have TerraPower’s […]

An independent nuclear regulator is vital in order to preserve confidence in nuclear power in the United States and internationally, three former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairs said in a recent opinion piece. Former NRC chairs Stephen Burns, Allison Macfarlane and Richard Meserve published an opinion piece on Monday in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, […]