Reactor Licensing & Regulation

In the state’s latest attempt to kill the project for good, Nevada this week asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to end the long-idled licensing review of the U.S.’s only congressionally-designated storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Gov. Steve Sisolak’s (D) request, if approved by NRC, would re-open licensing proceedings for the Yucca Mountain site so […]

In the state’s latest attempt to kill the project for good, Nevada on Tuesday asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to end the long-stalled licensing review of the U.S.’s only congressionally-designated storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Gov. Steve Sisolak’s (D) motion, if approved by NRC, would re-open licensing proceedings for the Yucca Mountain site — […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week proposed a series of amendments to its regulations for packaging and transporting radioactive material, which the agency said would bring its oversight in line with international standards. The proposed changes, which NRC announced in a Federal Register notice Monday, are aimed at “harmonization with the International Atomic Energy Agency […]

The state of New Mexico was scheduled to present its case against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel to a panel of judges before Thanksgiving, court documents show. Santa Fe’s lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which aims to block two proposed private interim storage sites in New Mexico and Texas, is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission planned to hold a predecisional enforcement conference at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md., on Sept. 22 as part of a continuing investigation of a fatal fire BWX Technologies’ Lynchburg, Va., facility in 2020. The commission announced the planned meeting in a notice dated Monday and posted online. No one from BWX […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission planned to hold a predecisional enforcement conference at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md., on Sept. 22 as part of a continuing investigation of a fatal fire BWX Technologies’ Lynchburg, Va., facility in 2020. The commission announced the planned meeting in a notice dated Monday and posted online. No one from BWX […]

The state of New Mexico was scheduled to present its case against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel to a panel of judges before Thanksgiving, court documents show. Santa Fe’s lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which aims to block two proposed private interim storage sites in New Mexico and Texas, is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday proposed a series of amendments to its regulations for packaging and transporting radioactive material, which the agency said would bring its oversight in line with international standards. The proposed changes, which NRC announced in a Federal Register notice Monday, are aimed at “harmonization with the International Atomic Energy Agency […]

In a meeting with state lawmakers in New Mexico last week, a Holtec International executive sought to allay fears that the company’s proposed spent fuel storage facility in Eddy County would become a permanent repository for nuclear waste. “Interim storage — and it is interim — will be measured in decades,” Ed Mayer, the project […]

Speaking to state lawmakers last week, Holtec International’s interim storage chief sought to allay fears that the company’s proposed spent fuel storage facility in the Land of Enchantment would become a permanent repository for nuclear waste. “Interim storage — and it is interim — will be measured in decades,” Ed Mayer, the project lead for […]

In oral arguments this week, two federal appeals judges appeared skeptical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s power to license commercial storage of spent nuclear fuel.  Those two judges, by themselves, have the power to undo the commission’s September 2021 license of Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed spent-fuel storage site in Andrews County, Texas, which by […]

In oral arguments this week, two federal appeals judges appeared skeptical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s power to license commercial storage of spent nuclear fuel.  Those two judges, by themselves, have the power to undo the commission’s September 2021 license of Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed spent-fuel storage site in Andrews County, Texas. The site […]

Citing someone who might be interested in a public hearing about the decision, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing more time for complaints about a license amendment that Nuclear Fuel Services needs to purify uranium for nuclear-weapons programs, the commission wrote Tuesday in the Federal Register. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has extended the window […]

A federal judge Monday cast some doubt on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in west Texas. During an oral argument session in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Edith Jones, part of a three-member panel presiding over the state of Texas’s lawsuit against […]

The state of Texas was scheduled Monday to present its ongoing case against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ability to license interim waste storage to a federal court, court documents show. The oral argument session, planned for Monday at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ New Orleans courthouse, could be the first legal test of Texas […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week submitted its last set of arguments against a coalition of anti-nuclear and other groups suing the agency over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, court documents show. In its wrap-up brief, filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, NRC doubled […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is one step closer to having its executive committee back at full strength, as one of the agency’s two new top regulators took her oath of office this week, a spokesperson said. Annie Caputo was sworn in as an NRC commissioner Tuesday, the agency said in a press release dated Thursday. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is one step closer to having its executive committee back at full strength, as one of the agency’s two new top regulators took her oath of office this week, a spokesperson said. Annie Caputo was sworn in as an NRC commissioner Tuesday, an agency spokesperson told Exchange Monitor via email Wednesday. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monday submitted its last set of arguments against a coalition of anti-nuclear and other groups suing the agency over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, court documents show. In its wrap-up brief, filed Monday with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, NRC doubled down on its argument that […]

Nuclear services company NuScale’s advanced reactor design should soon be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be built in the United States, the agency said in a press release last week. The commission directed its staff to draw up a final rule approving NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) design, first proposed in 2016, according […]

The full Senate this week confirmed the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, bringing the nuclear safety regulator’s executive committee to five members for the first time in over a year. Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell, who the upper chamber approved to become NRC commissioners on a voice vote Tuesday night, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state of Texas traded blows this week about whether a recent Supreme Court decision moves the needle in the Lone Star State’s ongoing lawsuit against a proposed, privately owned interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, court documents show. Wednesday’s filings with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state of Texas traded blows Wednesday about whether a recent Supreme Court decision moves the needle in the Lone Star State’s ongoing lawsuit against a proposed, privately owned interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, court documents show. Wednesday’s filings with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are the […]

A bevy of safety violations at a New Jersey nuclear power plant under decommissioning have been resolved, the company dismantling the site told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a recent letter. Since NRC on Jan. 26 slapped Holtec International with around $50,000 in fines for several security violations at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Holtec […]

The full Senate Wednesday night confirmed the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, bringing the nuclear safety regulator’s executive committee to five members for the first time in over a year. Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell, who the upper chamber approved to become NRC commissioners on a voice vote Tuesday, will […]

Nuclear services company NuScale’s advanced reactor design should soon be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be built in the United States, the agency said in a press release last week. The commission directed its staff to draw up a final rule approving NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) design, first proposed in 2016, according […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously this week to advance the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the panel said in a press release. If the full Senate gives the green light to Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell, they will fill two positions on the nuclear safety regulator’s […]

The Senate this week proposed shifting federal funding for the Department of Energy’s interim storage inquiry into the government’s nuclear fuel cycle account, as the White House requested, according to budget documents published this week. The proposed energy and water appropriations act would provide about $1.76 billion for civilian nuclear power and waste programs at […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday joined the licensee of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in rejecting arguments that a recent Supreme Court decision invalidated the project’s license, court filings show. The new argument from local stakeholders and environmental groups center on the so-called major questions doctrine the Supreme Court invoked […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the panel said in a press release. If the full Senate gives the green light to Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell, they will fill two positions on the nuclear safety regulator’s executive […]