Reactor Licensing & Regulation

A second round of state depositions has been scheduled for January on the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Depositions were previously held in October as the Vermont Public Utility Commission considers whether to authorize transfer of ownership of Vermont Yankee from power company Entergy to nuclear decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group […]

The House Appropriations Committee this week unveiled a peculiar budget bill that would provide full-year fiscal 2018 appropriations for the Pentagon, but keep other federal agencies including the Department of Energy funded at prior-year levels through Jan. 19. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) introduced the bill Wednesday. The Department of Energy (DOE), like […]

Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it has been years since any U.S. company has expressed interest in developing commercial spent fuel reprocessing or recycling capabilities. “I think in 2009, the agency received some expressions of interest from potential developers of reprocessing capability in the United States,” NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki told members […]

Holtec International has submitted at least the majority of its responses to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request for supplemental information regarding the company’s application to build a consolidated interim storage facility for used nuclear reactor fuel. The information, spread across 11 attachments and hundreds of pages, was delivered in October and posted this week to […]

The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff have both formally affirmed their intention to participate in any renewed adjudication of DOE’s license application for the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The parties’ easily anticipated confirmations were included in responses submitted in recent weeks to an Oct. 27 request for information […]

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday on oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All three sitting commissioners — Chairman Kristine Svinicki, along with Stephen Burns and Jeff Baran — are scheduled to appear before the panel to answer questions on NRC policy, and financial and management matters. […]

The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository will stay on hold and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will escape a proposed budget cut until at least Dec. 22, under a short-term continuing resolution Congress approved on Thursday. At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor, President Donald Trump was expected to sign the stopgap budget bill before midnight, when federal […]

The current and prospective owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant believe they can count on additional legal wins against the Department of Energy to help finance decommissioning of the shuttered facility. Power company Entergy and nuclear decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services also say they should not need a new Nuclear Regulatory Commission exemption […]

There was no word this week on when the three nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission might get confirmation votes from the U.S. Senate. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Oct. 25 sent the Trump administration’s Sept. 5 nomination of sitting Commissioner Jeff Baran for a floor vote by the full […]

Power company Entergy last month notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of plans for a new $4 million disbursement from its decommissioning trust for the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. “The disbursement request is expected to include, among other things, site-specific decommissioning costs related to licensing/emergency planning contractor costs, insurance and property tax,” according to […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,707 from its remaining available balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund, according to the agency’s latest update to Congress. That left the regulator with $527,408 in unspent, unobligated funds from the account intended to pay for development of a permanent repository for U.S. high-level radioactive waste and […]

There was no word Tuesday on when the three nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission might get confirmation votes from the U.S. Senate. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Oct. 25 sent the Trump administration’s Sept. 5 nomination of sitting Commissioner Jeff Baran for a floor vote by the full chamber. […]

A lawmaker from New York state has introduced legislation aimed at easing the way for placing spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste into interim storage until a permanent repository is built. The “Removing Nuclear Waste from our Communities Act of 2017,” from Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), would authorize the energy secretary to enter into contracts […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing a request from the Omaha Public Power District that would exempt the utility from certain emergency planning requirements for the recently retired Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska. The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) says now that Fort Calhoun is permanently shut down and defueled it poses less risk […]

Northwest Medical Isotopes (NWMI) could be just a few months away from securing approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a plant for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. “Ninety-nine percent of the work is done, so now you’re just going through the procedural process in getting it approved,” NWMI Chief Operating Officer […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has thrown its support behind limiting compliance to 1,000 years in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s update to its Part 61 rule on storage of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). “DOE is fully supportive of moving to a single 1,000-year time of compliance and sees no unintended consequences,” according to comments submitted […]

The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) it is safe to store spent nuclear fuel generated by the San Onofore Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) on site. “The NRC has concluded that storage of spent fuel at reactor sites (and at away-from-reactor sites) can safely continue until a repository becomes available,” […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has thrown its support behind limiting compliance to 1,000 years in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s update to its Part 61 rule on storage of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). “DOE is fully supportive of moving to a single 1,000-year time of compliance and sees no unintended consequences,” according to comments submitted […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will work with the Energy Department and a New York state agency in drafting a scoping plan for Phase 2 cleanup of the West Valley Demonstration Project near Buffalo, N.Y. In late September DOE asked the NRC to participate in the supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) process to ensure the West […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Kristine Svinicki and an agency staffer in August 2016 used a chartered flight to reach an isolated area of Saskatchewan, Canada, the NRC told senior members of the House of Representatives. Eugene Dacus, director of the NRC’s Office of Congressional Affairs, responded on Oct. 25 to an Oct. 17 query from […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on Monday recommended licensing for construction of a radioisotope production facility in Missouri. Corvallis, Ore.-based Northwest Medical Isotopes intends to build its plant at the Discovery Ridge Research Park in the city of Columbia for production of molybdenum-99, an isotope that decays into technetium-99m, which is […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Kristine Svinicki and an agency staffer in August 2016 used a chartered flight to reach an isolated area of Saskatchewan, Canada, the NRC told senior members of the House of Representatives. Eugene Dacus, director of the NRC’s Office of Congressional Affairs, responded on Oct. 25 to an Oct. 17 query from […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects more work on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle as additional power plants shut down and spent fuel remains stored on-site at those facilities, a senior official said Tuesday. Twenty atomic energy facilities are already in decommissioning status, and a number of others are scheduled for closure […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled in November to release the final regulatory basis for its decommissioning rulemaking. The agency expects in 2019 to complete the rulemaking, which is intended to clarify and enhance the process of decommissioning nuclear power plants through amendments to current regulations. The focus is on reducing the need for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the final stages of revising its draft guidance on reviews of requests for alternative disposal of very low-level radioactive waste. As part of the process, the document is available for public comment through Dec. 18. Very low-level waste, or low-activity waste, is not an official designation, but rather refers […]

Thomas Gardiner The last of three Trump administration nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is headed for a Senate floor vote following approval Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The panel backed Commissioner Jeff Baran’s reappointment on a voice vote alongside two nominees for assistant administrator spots at the Environmental Protection Agency […]

The last of three Trump administration nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is headed for a Senate floor vote following approval Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The panel backed Commissioner Jeff Baran’s reappointment on a voice vote alongside two nominees for assistant administrator spots at the Environmental Protection Agency and the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking input on the draft regulatory analysis that will lay out updated cost and benefit figures for its revised Part 61 rule on low-level radioactive waste storage. The draft analysis was issued in September 2016 alongside NRC staff’s proposed final rule package. The commission itself last month directed a […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced Friday afternoon that it had scheduled its vote on confirming Jeff Baran for another term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The panel will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday for a business meeting to vote on Baran’s nomination, along with the nominations of four people to serve in […]

Thomas Gardiner The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has unanimously voted to cut off a potential rule that would have required commercial nuclear facilities to promptly remediate radioactive contamination of surrounding ground, subsurface, and groundwater while still in operation. The three sitting commissioners voted in November and December 2016 to end the rulemaking. The notice was posted […]