Reactor Licensing & Regulation

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 this week against expediting the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from storage pools to dry cask storage. In a draft study issued last year, NRC staff determined that U.S. spent fuel pools were not in danger from severe earthquakes and that calls for […]

RW Monitor 5/30/2014 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted an exemption to Dominion’s Kewaunee Station to enable access to the site’s decommissioning trust fund, according to a notice in the Federal Register this week. The funds from the trust will go towards paying for activities related to irradiated fuel management. Kewaunee plans to begin […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will exclude NRC-conducted force-on-force inspections from the normal security requirements and inspections for decommissioning plants. The unanimous vote from the Commission, the results of which were released this week, helps address an omission from the 10.CFR.Part 73 rule update completed by the NRC in 2009, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 ZionSolutions could face a civil penalty of $17,500 for security-related violations stemming from a routine agency security inspection at the Zion nuclear power station, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission release issued this week. Details about security-related violations are not made public, but the NRC did say the violations […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will exclude NRC-conducted force-on-force inspections from the normal security requirements and inspections for decommissioning plants. The unanimous vote from the Commission helps address an omission from the 10.CFR.Part 73 rule update completed by the NRC in 2009, but the decision may only add fuel to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not require the expedited transfer of spent nuclear fuel pools to dry cask storage. The Commission voted 4-1 to close the Tier 3 Japan lessons-learned activity, concluding that the NRC Staff’s recommendation satisfied safety requirements. The NRC Staff’s draft study on spent fuel pools, released last year, determined that U.S. […]

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) reiterated her desire for the expedited transfer of spent fuel to dry cask storage while chastising the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for granting safety and security regulation exemptions for reactors undergoing decommissioning, during a hearing on nuclear reactor decommissioning held yesterday. Boxer has been vocal about […]

All five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are set to appear before the House Energy and Power subcommittee this morning to discuss the NRC Fiscal Year 2015 budget request and other policy issues. The NRC’s fiscal year 2015 budget request is $1,060 million, to support 3,882 employees resulting in a $3.6 million increase and […]

AREVA TN announced yesterday that it has received a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for a cask capable of transporting high burnup used nuclear fuel. The NUHOMS MP197HB Transport Package has a heat load capacity of 32 kilowatts and is capable of transporting nine different canister types. “Our MP197HB offers utilities the flexibility to transport used […]

A group of Senate lawmakers are calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop granting exemptions to security and emergency response requirements to shutdown reactor sites, according to a letter sent to NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane late last week.  The Senators, made up of Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received a petition to consolidate all regulations that relate to the environmental impacts of spent fuel storage and disposal, according to a posting in the Federal Register yesterday. The petitioners include the same group of 34 activist organizations that grouped together to petition the NRC to consider the expedited transfer […]

With at least one commissioner spot on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission opening up this summer, potential candidates have begun to emerge as possible nominations, RW Monitor has learned. The leading candidates reportedly include Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, the current chief of staff for NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane, Sam Fowler, a long-time Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not identify any areas needing improvement in Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction in 2013, contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services announced Friday. The annual review conducted by NRC’s resident inspectors aims to identify potential construction and procedure safety issues at the MOX project, which is currently slated for suspension by […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will renew the charter for the Advisory Committee On The Medical Uses Isotopes for a period of two years, according to a posting in the Federal Register late last week. The purpose of the committee is to provide the Commission with advice dealing with the regulation and technical policy of medical […]

Language referring to the availability of a repository "when needed" within the Waste Confidence rulemaking may change or be deleted altogether when the final ruling comes out, said Andy Imboden from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards during a Commission meeting Friday on the status of the Waste Confidence review. […]

NRC Commissioner William Magwood is leaving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to serve as Director General of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. Magwood will be taking over the position in September, but according to the NRC, he has not yet set a departure date due to previous commissioner commitments in […]

NRC Commissioner William Magwood said yesterday at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Information Conference that the Commission’s Waste Confidence update remains on track, although he anticipates more legal challenges to “whatever we come up with.” “We are on track for this fall that that process for Waste Confidence should be over,” Magwood said. “We have […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel late last week ruled in favor of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility contractor in a longstanding challenge to the facility’s license application over security concerns. The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board released an initial decision Feb. 27, but said the details of the decision will need to […]

The case for Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane’s recusal from all Yucca Mountain licensing review decisions was dismissed late last week by the Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit due to a lack of jurisdiction. The petitioners, made of a group led by Nye County, called for Macfarlane’s recusal due to her […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering updating its rulemaking process for power reactor license renewals in anticipation of an upcoming wave of renewal applications, according to a policy issue options paper released last week by the NRC staff.  With an aging reactor fleet, this potential update would create clearer guidance in the rulemaking to ensure […]

A group made up of 34 organizations is petitioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to halt all reviews of new licenses and license renewals due to new findings the NRC Staff reported in its Expedited Spent Fuel Transfer Proceeding that said a small nuclear reactor pool fire could render 9,400 square miles uninhabitable and displace 4.1 […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has directed a three-tier approach as the performance assessment analysis for a low-level waste disposal site, including a time of compliance of 1,000 years, according to the 10 CFR Part 61 Staff Requirements Memorandum issued this week. Previously, the NRC staff’s draft rulemaking would require low-level radioactive waste disposal sites to […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission risk assessment report has found that the transportation of spent nuclear fuel would cause low radiological impact to the environment or public, even in the case of an accident. The report, commissioned by the NRC to analyze the effects advancements in transportation technology have had on shipment risks, concluded that “if […]

The Staff Related Memorandum related to the revision of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 10 CFR Part 61 waste classification system should be issued “soon,” NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane said yesterday at the Platts 10th Annual Nuclear Energy Conference. For the SRM to be issued, all five commissioner’s votes need to be in. “Sometime soon,” Macfarlane […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety Licensing Board won’t provide an initial ruling on the operating license application for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility until next month, the NRC said late last week. The ASLB had expected to provide its assessment of the licensing request by Shaw AREVA MOX Services by late January. In […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety Licensing Board won’t provide an initial ruling on the operating license application for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility until next month, the NRC said late last week. The ASLB had expected to provide its assessment of the licensing request by Shaw AREVA MOX Services by late January. In […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/24/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Inspector General determined that the Commission’s process for addressing bankruptcy of NRC materials licensees needs improvement, according to a report released this week. The report concluded that the NRC’s initial efforts to learn of bankrupt licensees could be more effective and more efficient. “NRC’s methods […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/24/2014 The Sierra Club will continue its challenge against the Barnwell low-level waste disposal facility license renewal early next month in the South Carolina Court of Appeals. The Sierra Club initially loss its challenge in the Administrative Law Court, which upheld the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/24/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Waste Confidence final ruling should occur no later than Oct. 3, the NRC said this week. Originally, the schedule had called for the release of the final ruling in September of 2014, but the government shutdown last year caused delays in the public meeting schedule […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/17/2014 The Fiscal Year 2014 omnibus spending bill released this week includes language that would stipulate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission revert its sensitive document policy towards Congressional requests for information back to its 2011 version of the Commission policy. The provision would cancel the much-maligned sensitive document policy update that […]