Reactor Licensing & Regulation

In a blow to advanced nuclear company Oklo, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week denied the company’s proposed modular reactor project, saying that it failed to properly address several key topics during the application process. Oklo’s application for its Aurora fast reactor “continues to contain significant information gaps in its description of Aurora’s potential accidents […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed fining Holtec International, Camden, N.J., $150,000 for unspecified security violations at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant that the company is decommissioning.  This summer, the NRC disclosed security violations related to spent fuel and falsified records about firearms at the shuttered plant in Lacey Township. “Holtec has 30 days to […]

A former in-house federal inspector at a Virginia nuclear plant is facing up to five years of prison time after he was found guilty of intentionally falsifying inspection reports, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general announced this week. Gregory Croon, NRC’s former resident inspector for the North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va., pleaded guilty […]

Nearly all staff members at the nation’s top nuclear power regulator have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a spokesperson said this week. 2,684 of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2,836 employees, around 95%, are fully vaxxed as of Wednesday, an agency spokesperson told RadWaste Monitor via email.NRC doesn’t track booster shots and isn’t required to, the spokesperson […]

Nearly all staff members at the nation’s top nuclear power regulator have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a spokesperson said Wednesday. 2,684 of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2,836 employees, around 95%, are fully vaxxed as of Wednesday, an agency spokesperson told Exchange Monitor via email. NRC doesn’t track booster shots and isn’t required to, the spokesperson […]

A former in-house federal inspector at a Virginia nuclear plant is facing up to five years of prison time after he was found guilty of intentionally falsifying inspection reports, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general announced Monday. Gregory Croon, NRC’s former resident inspector for the North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va., pleaded guilty in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday should give decommissioning company Holtec International the go-ahead to buy two Michigan nuclear power plants, according to a recent notice from the agency. In a Dec. 3 letter to the commissioners, the agency said NRC staff should issue an order Monday approving the sale of Palisades Nuclear Generating Station […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is trying to get a Texas-based minerals holding company booted off the Lone Star State’s lawsuit against a recently licensed interim storage facility in the state’s western reaches.  The company, Fasken Land and Minerals, has long opposed the planned Interim Storage Partners site at the existing Waste Control Specialists facility in […]

Plutonium pits, tank waste and contractor oversight again topped the Department of Energy inspector general’s list of the agency’s biggest management challenge, according to the latest edition, released before Thanksgiving. The most recent in the rolling series of special reports, “Management Challenges at the Department of Energy,” also assigned the same top priority to DOE’s […]

Plutonium pits, tank waste and contractor oversight again topped the Department of Energy inspector general’s list of the agency’s biggest management challenge, according to the latest edition, released before Thanksgiving. The most recent in the rolling series of special reports, “Management Challenges at the Department of Energy,” also assigned the same top priority to DOE’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will get a chance early next year to convince a federal judge to drop a lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel planned for New Mexico, according to a new court filing. The U.S. District Court for New Mexico will hold a hearing Jan. 20 on NRC’s […]

Texas skipped steps in the well-defined process for lodging disputes with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a recently licensed interim storage site in the Lone Star State and should not be allowed to take its beef over the site to court now, the commission told a judge Tuesday. The NRC presented the argument, for the […]

A federal court on Friday agreed to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s call to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage site in west Texas, according to case filings. Before the weekend, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals carried NRC’s Nov. 3 motion to dismiss Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s suit against the agency […]

Citing safety and security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission again delayed its review of a safety report required for licensing Holtec’s proposed interim storage site in New Mexico, the agency said Friday. Although NRC planned to have the safety and security report for Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site ready in time for a final licensing […]

As Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff trickle back into the office, the agency said this week that its current hybrid workplace model doesn’t yet have an expiration date. “We now are in a posture where most employees are teleworking about three days a week, and they’re in the office on varying days two days a week,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week allowed a new Exelon spin-off company to take ownership of over a dozen current and former nuclear power plants currently owned by the utility, according to a press release. As part of Exelon’s corporate restructuring, a currently-unnamed holding company will assume control of the utility’s 17 nuclear sites, NRC […]

Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to return to a pre-pandemic posture for its antiterrorism inspections at nuclear power plants, the agency will still allow exceptions to licensees who can prove the public health emergency is still causing problems, staff said at a public meeting this week. NRC’s plan is to “implement the full […]

The state of New Mexico is expanding its legal campaign against spent fuel storage with a new lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in Texas, according to a press release this week. State attorney general Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) asked a judge in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals […]

Fighting to keep its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site alive, Texas’ attorney general said this week that the Lonestar State deserves its day in federal court because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively licensed a permanent nuclear repository in the state. Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton “will argue that by licensing a de […]

Fighting to keep its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site alive, Texas’ attorney general said Tuesday that the Lonestar State deserves its day in federal court because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively licensed a permanent nuclear repository in the state. Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton “will argue that by licensing a de facto […]

As Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff trickle back into the office, the agency said Monday that its current hybrid workplace model doesn’t yet have an expiration date. “We now are in a posture where most employees are teleworking about three days a week, and they’re in the office on varying days two days a week,” a […]

The state of New Mexico is expanding its legal campaign against spent fuel storage with a new lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in Texas, according to a press release Monday. State attorney general Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) asked a judge in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was to meet this week to give the interested public an update on its plans for fully resuming antiterrorism drills at nuclear power plants, according to a meeting notice. During the meeting, to be held virtually Thursday, NRC’s security and incident response office will discuss how the agency will conduct its […]

Happy Friday and happy belated Veterans Day, fellow nuke-watchers. Before the weekend begins, here are some other updates from around the civilian nuclear power space that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. Keeping Diablo Canyon Open Could Reduce Emissions, Save Billions, Stanford Study Says The state of California could significantly reduce its carbon emissions and […]

Texas has “a strong leg to stand on” in opposing an interim storage facility planned there, according to an op-ed published over the weekend by the Texas state lawmaker who sponsored the state’s recently-enacted ban on high-level nuclear-waste storage. With the passage of House Bill 7 in September, the Texas legislature “prevented radioactive waste of […]

An inspection at Holtec International’s headquarters found that the company violated some federal regulations in its spent fuel cask program, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent letter. In a letter to Holtec president and CEO Krishna Singh, dated Oct. 28 and made public Thursday,  NRC said its investigation team in May discovered three […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. With the Decommissioning Strategy Forum a wrap, here are some updates from the civilian nuclear power world that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week from our conference hub outside of Las Vegas: Industry Holding on for a Hero in Congress for Spent Fuel Solutions SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The nuclear industry needs someone […]

A federal judge should toss Texas’s suit against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel because the state has not attempted to settle its grievance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outside of court, the agency said Thursday.  It’s the same legal defense that the agency, which licensed Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed storage […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission greenlit Wednesday a proposed rule aimed at streamlining the decommissioning process for nuclear power operators, the agency said in a statement. The newly-approved rule would implement “specific regulatory requirements” for reducing agency-mandated safety and emergency preparedness protocols at nuclear power plants that become unnecessary when the site is being decommissioned, NRC […]

SUMMLIN, NEV. — Federal regulators should approve the sale of a Michigan nuclear power plant early next year, a Holtec executive said Monday at the Exchange Monitor’s annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum. Holtec International expects the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve its acquisition of the Palisades Power Plant from Entergy “no later than January of 2022,” […]