Reactor Licensing & Regulation

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Monday said it has initiated a special inspection of a uranium hexafluoride leak reported Saturday at the Honeywell Metropolis Works in Illinois. “This special inspection will analyze all details of this incident,” said Victor McCree, the NRC’s Region II administrator, in a press release. “While no workers were affected […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/24/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff recommended this week that the commission enable Texas to license and regulate the disposal of Greater Than Class C (GTCC) waste, while the NRC staff would add another wrinkle to the 10.CFR.Part 61 update by adding TRU waste disposal to the rulemaking. The recommendation […]

AREVA TN’s EOS (Extended Optimized Storage) System license application could receive Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval as early as 2016, the company announced yesterday. The new EOS system is an evolution of AREVA’s NUHOMS extended spent nuclear fuel storage containers, holding up 89 BWR fuel assemblies. The company said that the NRC formally accepted its letter […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/17/2015 The Obama administration this week nominated Jessie Roberson to fill the vacancy on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Roberson, who currently serves as Vice Chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, would return the commission to its full five members. If approved by the Senate, she would represent the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/10/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission remains on-schedule to complete the Yucca Mountain supplemental Environment Impact Statement within the estimated timeframe of 12-15 months, according to the NRC’s monthly update to congressional leaders on Nuclear Waste Fund expenditures. “The Commission has approved the staff’s schedule and revised cost estimate for completing […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/12/2015 As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission makes plans to reorganize the agency under the direction of Project Aim 2020, industry officials and NRC Staff predicted this week that the effort could end up growing divisions within the NRC dealing with waste issues. The Commission directed staff this week to begin […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/12/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied again this week an appeal of its Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule as it relates to the licensing/re-licensing reviews of nuclear power reactors. The appeal, filed by a collection of environmental groups, sought to halt licensing/re-licensing reviews of a series of nuclear […]

NRC Blocks Longstanding Challenge to MOX License Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/22/2015 Rejecting a longstanding challenge to the operating license of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility regarding security concerns, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently struck down an appeal by activist groups in a 2-1 vote. The groups, including Nuclear Watch South, Blue Ridge Environmental […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for SHINE Medical Technologies’ construction authorization permit application to build a molybdemun-99 production facility in Janesville, Wis., the NRC announced this week. The NRC found in its draft report that a construction permit could be […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on the draft environmental impact report for SHINE Medical Technologies’ construction authorization permit application to build a molybdemun-99 production facility in Janesville, Wis., the NRC announced yesterday. The NRC found in its draft report that a construction permit could be issued after finding the environment impacts from […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) advised Nevadans this week not to dismiss scientific evidence in favor of Yucca Mountain too easily, according to an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Shimkus has championed Yucca Mountain as the only solution for the nation’s nuclear waste problem, pushing both the Department of […]

RW Monitor 5/1/2015 IN THE NRC The Department of Energy filed for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment for its Idaho Spent Fuel Facility independent spent fuel storage installation, according to a filing in the Federal Register this week. The license amendment would allow the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility to make changes to the Quality […]

The Department of Energy filed for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment for its Idaho Spent Fuel Facility independent spent fuel storage installation, according to a filing in the Federal Register yesterday. The license amendment would allow the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility to make changes to the Quality Assurance Program, the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program, […]

Navajo Nation President Ben Shell called on the prompt completion of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment that would enable the cleanup of the Church Rock uranium mine site, according to a statement released late last week. The NRC Staff issued last week in the Federal Register a finding of no significant impact for amendments […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/23/2015 An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week cut the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain in half to $25 million when compared to an earlier version of the bill. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s total allocated funding […]

RW Monitor 4/24/2015 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to hold its first public meeting on the proposed 10.CFR.61 rulemaking next week at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Md., NRC Director of the Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs Larry Camper said this week at the Low-Level Waste Forum in Alexandria, Va. Next […]

An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill yesterday reduced the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain by $25 million. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s allocated funding by $50 million, with $25 million coming from the originally planned $50 million for the Yucca review and another […]

Northwest Medical Isotopes has submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the first half of its construction permit application for a medical isotopes production facility, according to a Federal Register posting yesterday. The NRC received the application on Feb. 5, the posting said. NWMI originally submitted the first section of its permit application late last year, […]

House Appropriators included $200 million in the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water spending bill to push forward the Yucca Mountain licensing review, according to the bill released yesterday. The bill would appropriate $150 million to the Department of Energy for nuclear waste disposal activities as outlined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and $50 […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had pushed for completion of its rulemaking by 2019, that timeline would be “extremely challenging,” according to an NRC staff SECY paper released this week. In the NRC’s Staff Related Memorandum that initiated the rulemaking, the Commission directed staff to complete the rulemaking by […]

RW Monitor 4/3/2015 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed this week a $17,500 civil penalty against Dominion Energy’s Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant for a security-related violation. According to the NRC, the violation stemmed from a routine agency security inspections that occurred between June and December of last year. Details about security-related violations were not […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed yesterday a $17,500 civil penalty against Dominion Energy’s Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant for a security-related violation. According to the NRC, the violation stemmed from routine agency security inspections that occurred between Jane and December of last year. Details about security-related violations were not made public, but the plant has already […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decommissioning rulemaking most likely will not be completed until 2020, according to the NRC Staff’s Jan. 30 SECY-paper, released yesterday. In the NRC’s Staff Related Memorandum that initiated the rulemaking, the Commission directed Staff to try to complete the rulemaking by 2019, but according to the Staff, that would be an […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released this week its proposed 10.CFR.61 rulemaking, including a new three-tiered approach to evaluate performance assessment periods for low-level waste disposal sites, according to a posting in the Federal Register. Part 61 proposed rule contains all of the Commission’s direction from last year regarding the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to release this week its proposed 10.CFR.61 rulemaking, initiating a 120 day comment period before the introduction of a final rule. The proposed rule will appear in the March 26 edition of the Federal Register, said Steven Dembek, project manager in the NRC Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/20/2015 PHOENIX, Ariz.—The legal challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule, formerly known as Waste Confidence, will not see major action until the fall of 2015, two attorneys involved in the dispute said here this week at this year’s Waste Management conference. A coalition […]

The legal challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule, formerly known as Waste Confidence, will not see major action until the fall of 2015, two attorneys involved in the dispute said yesterday during a panel on the rulemaking at the Waste Management Conference. A coalition of states and environmental […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/13/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially will move forward with the supplemental Environmental Impact Statement needed for the Yucca Mountain license review, according to the Staff Requirements Memoranda released this week. NRC Chair Steven Burns had said last month the NRC would complete the EIS in the Department of Energy’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially will move forward with the supplemental Environmental Impact Statement needed for the Yucca Mountain license review, according to the Staff Related Memorandum released yesterday. NRC Chair Steven Burns had said last month the NRC would complete the EIS in the Department of Energy’s stead, but this SRM gives the Staff […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/6/2015 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) ripped the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule this week for allowing the indefinite storage of spent fuel on-site at reactors. The NRC issued last August its revised Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel […]