Reactor Licensing & Regulation

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest update to Congress. That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as of […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen.-elect Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) on Friday called on three top Democratic lawmakers to ensure the upcoming federal appropriations bill does not provide a cent for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility. There have been rumors, but no confirmation, that the budget bill needed to keep a number of […]

Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI) expects to move all of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s used fuel assemblies from wet storage to dry storage by 2023, according to documents submitted earlier this month to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The data point is included in a set of documents provided as part of the Nov. 16 […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the […]

Three administrative judges of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel have been selected to rule on requests for intervention in the agency’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas. However, a number of environmental organizations quickly petitioned that the judges be disqualified […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission is scheduled next week to issue its decision on approval of the sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Parties to the three-member panel’s review of the deal received notice Thursday in a one-sentence memorandum from Clerk of the Commission Judith Whitney: “The Vermont Public Utility Commission has […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week called on the top leaders and appropriators in the House of Representatives to prevent any funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in her state in the next federal budget bill. “We are about a week out from the deadline to fund the government and there are efforts […]

Nearly lost amid higher-profile nomination hearings in high-octane committees this week is a nuts-and-bolts piece of legislation that could open the door for more whistleblower disclosures in the nuclear weapons, waste, and power industries. The bill, slated for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee along with several other pieces of legislation, […]

The Sierra Club and a host of other environmental organizations are requesting disqualification of a board of three Nuclear Regulatory Commission administrative judges established this month to rule on petitions to intervene in the licensing proceeding for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in Texas. The primary contention is that the same three-member Atomic […]

Three administrative judges of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel have been selected to rule on requests for intervention in the agency’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas. Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, wants […]

Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI) expects to move all of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s used fuel assemblies from wet storage to dry storage by 2023, according to documents submitted earlier this month to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The data point is included in a set of documents provided as part of the Nov. 16 […]

A story in Monday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing (Public Gets Chance for Input on SONGS Canister Handling Mishap) should have said a spent fuel canister at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California was in danger of falling about 20 feet.

An August incident in which a spent fuel canister nearly took a 20-foot free fall at a retired nuclear power plant in California will be the subject of a Nov. 29 meeting of the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel (CEP). The meeting will include two public comment periods in addition to a presentation on spent […]

A board of three administrative judges with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in January to hear arguments from groups that want to intervene in the review of the license application for interim storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Most, but not all, of the 18 entities that have petitioned oppose […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nov. 6 issued its first request for additional information for Interim Storage Partners’ license application for a temporary spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in West Texas. The request covers 28 distinct questions regarding physical security at the planned installation on Waste Control Specialists’ waste disposal property in Andrews […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nov. 6 issued its first request for additional information for Interim Storage Partners’ license application for a temporary spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in West Texas. The request covers 28 distinct questions regarding physical security at the planned installation on Waste Control Specialists’ property in Andrews County. The […]

A board of three administrative judges with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in January to hear arguments from groups that want to intervene in the review of the license application for interim storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Most, but not all, of the 18 entities that have petitioned for a […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory in September spent $11,645 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund on federal court litigation, according to the latest expense report to Congress. The September expenses, totaling $12,564, leave the nuclear industry regulator with access to $430,746 in unobligated money from the federal fund intended to pay for licensing, […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]

The electoral defeat this week of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) could remove one major political obstacle to funding and other legislative measures that would advance the long-awaited Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) took slightly more than 50 percent of the statewide vote to beat Heller and three independent-party candidates […]

The defeat of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) could remove one major political obstacle to funding and other legislative measures that would advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) took slightly more than 50 percent of the statewide vote to unseat Heller in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The first-term congresswoman, who […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory in September spent $11,645 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund on federal court litigation, according to the latest expense report to Congress. The September expenses, totaling $12,564, leave the nuclear industry regulator with access to $430,746 in unobligated money from the federal fund intended to pay for licensing, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday denied two groups’ petitions for dismissal of license applications for interim spent fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico. “The NRC’s regulations allow interested persons to file petitions to intervene and requests for hearing in which they can raise concerns regarding a particular license application. These regulations do […]

Nevada and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission through Thursday continued to wrangle over against a state request that a federal judge block Commissioner David Wright from participating in adjudicating the license application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Lawyers for both sides in recent days filed counter-claims and counter-counter-claims in the U.S. Court of Appeals […]

By John Stang Entergy and Holtec International are at least a couple weeks behind schedule in submitting the license transfer application and associated paperwork for the proposed sale of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. In late September, the two companies said they anticipated they would in October deliver to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]

Three managers at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are receiving promotions effective Dec. 23. Daniel Dorman will succeed the retiring Michael Johnson as deputy executive director for reactor and preparedness programs. K. Steven West will assume a job Dorman currently holds on an acting basis: deputy executive director for materials, waste, research, state, tribal, compliance, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday denied two groups’ petitions for dismissal of license applications for interim spent fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico. “The NRC’s regulations allow interested persons to file petitions to intervene and requests for hearing in which they can raise concerns regarding a particular license application. These regulations do […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nov. 8 will conduct an online public meeting to discuss its preliminary findings on a spent fuel handling error at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. In an initial report issued earlier this month, NRC staff cited “multiple performance deficiencies” by Southern California Edison, majority owner […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday gave interested parties just over two additional weeks to file requests for hearings and intervention on a license application for temporary storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in West Texas. The deadline has been pushed back from Monday to Tuesday, Nov. 13, according to an order from Annette Vietti-Cook, […]