Reactor Licensing & Regulation

Constellation Energy’s Limerick Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania has been approved for a $167-million upgrade by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). According to Constellation’s Tuesday press release, NRC approved a license amendment that greenlights Limerick’s Digital Modernization Project. The upgrade is part of a $5.1 billion investment across Pennsylvania to preserve 5,100 megawatts of power […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nuclear power’s expansion in the United States hinges upon a strong and independent regulator, witnesses told a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday morning. Democratic lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy subcommittee expressed misgivings about nuclear safety and the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under President Donald Trump’s White […]

After being sworn in as a commissioner just last month, President Donald Trump has picked Ho Nieh to serve as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman effective Thursday Jan. 8. David Wright, appointed chairman in January 2025, will be replaced by Nieh, but will still stay and serve as a commissioner, according to NRC’s Thursday press […]

Two senior Democrats in the House of Representatives, one in Maryland and one in California, have announced plans to retire once their current term is up. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the member of House Democratic leadership who has served in Congress for 45 years, announced this week he would not seek re-election. Meanwhile, Rep. Julia […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) appointed two of its long-time staffers this week to serve in high-level management positions. NRC appointed Sabrina Atack as deputy executive director for reactor and preparedness programs and Caroline Carusone as deputy executive director for nuclear materials, administrative and corporate programs.  Both hirings are effective immediately according to NRC’s Tuesday […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nuclear power’s expansion in the United States hinges upon a strong and independent regulator, witnesses told a House subcommittee Wednesday morning. Democratic lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy expressed misgivings about nuclear safety and the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under President Donald Trump’s White House.  […]

Constellation Energy’s Limerick Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania has been approved for a $167-million upgrade by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). According to Constellation’s Tuesday press release, NRC approved a license amendment that greenlights Limerick’s Digital Modernization Project. The upgrade is part of a $5.1 billion investment across Pennsylvania to preserve 5,100 megawatts of power […]

Holly Harrington has retired as a senior level adviser with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) after a long career as a fed. “It’s been nearly 40 years of government service and it’s been a good run!” Harrington said via her LinkedIn page over the New Year’s weekend. “At the NRC, I was part of our […]

Nuclear industry officials and the director of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory are scheduled to testify before a House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. House Energy & Commerce’s subcommittee on energy will convene a hearing at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday on “American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:    January 08: Webinar: :The Energy Communities Alliances hosts a webinar starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on nuclear generation and spent fuel storage sites.  26: Conference: Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit is set for Jan. 26 through 28 in Arlington, Va.  […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a hybrid public workshop on probabilistic risk assessment Wednesday at its headquarters in Rockville, Md. from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Probabilistic risk assessment is a tool NRC uses to assess plant safety by estimating the likelihood and consequences of potential accidents, according to NRC’s Dec. 19 […]

Charlotte, N.C.-based energy utility Duke Energy has submitted an early site permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a site near Stokes County, N.C. The site will be near Duke’s Belews Creek Station in Stokes County. The submission of the application comes after two years of environmental assessment and technical analysis, Duke said […]

In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration, he established himself as an unabashed nuclear energy advocate – both promoting new projects and remaking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in an effort to speed up approvals. While history will tell if 2025 spawns a full-scale nuclear resurgence, it is indisputable that there have […]

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s four nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors in a 53 – 43 vote on Dec. 18. The confirmation of Arthur Graham, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Randall Jones were among a large bloc of other Trump nominees who were awaiting confirmations. The four confirmed […]

Doug Weaver was officially sworn in as a Nuclear Regulatory Commission member this week. Weaver, nominated in November by President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the full Senate last week in a 71-to-29 vote. He will now serve the remainder of former commissioner Annie Caputo’s term, set to expire on June 30, 2026. Weaver, a […]

Doug Weaver was officially sworn in as a Nuclear Regulatory Commission member on Monday. Weaver, nominated in November by President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the full Senate last week in a 71-to-29 vote. He will now serve the remainder of former commissioner Annie Caputo’s term, set to expire on June 30, 2026. Weaver, a […]

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s four nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors in a 53 – 43 vote on Dec. 18. The confirmation of Arthur Graham, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Randall Jones were among a large bloc of other Trump nominees who were awaiting confirmations. The four confirmed […]

New nuclear projects have the potential to provideup to 30% of electricity for developing countries, according to a December report by the Rockefeller Foundation. The report, “The Role of Nuclear Energy in Powering Universal Energy Abundance for Emerging Economies”, said countries with an emerging market and developing economy could use nuclear power to deliver up […]

President Donald Trump Thursday signed the $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law that would allow nearly $26 billion in funding to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That is the highest authorization limit yet for the agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and $100 million more than […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating licenses for all three units at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama.  Browns Ferry’s Unit 1 operating license will now expire in December 2053, June 2054 for Unit 2 and July 2056 for Unit 3.  “The subsequent license renewal at Browns Ferry marks a […]

The license extension request for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant recently received a key approval from a California state agency. On Dec. 11, the California Coastal Commission voted 9-to-3 to allow Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon permission to continue running through 2030. Along with the approval, PG&E must take substantial measures mitigating the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has extended the operating licenses by 20-years for three reactors in Illinois. NRC extended Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Center’s Unit 1 in Clinton, Ill. and Dresden Clean Energy Center’s Units 2 and 3 near Morris, Ill., according to NRC’s Tuesday press release. Clinton Unit 1’s boiling water reactor license […]

The Senate has confirmed Douglas Weaver to fill the final vacancy on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a 71 – 29 vote Wednesday evening. The confirmation vote came after the Senate invoked cloture on Weaver’s nomination in a 69 – 27 vote. Weaver will now serve the remainder of former commissioner Annie Caputo’s term, […]

A coalition of 88 citizen groups critical of nuclear energy are asking a regional authority for the Northwest to reject a plan by EnergySolutions to import up to 1.3 million cubic yards of low-level radioactive waste from Ontario, Canada to the company’s disposal site in Clive, Utah. The groups, including Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has extended the operating licenses by 20-years for three reactors in Illinois. NRC extended Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Center’s Unit 1 in Clinton, Ill. and Dresden Clean Energy Center’s Units 2 and 3 near Morris, Ill., according to NRC’s Tuesday press release. Clinton Unit 1’s boiling water reactor license […]

The license extension request for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant recently received key approval from a California state agency. On Dec. 11, the California Coastal Commission voted 9-to-3 to allow Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon permission to continue running through 2030. Along with the approval, PG&E must take substantial measures mitigating the plant’s […]

A recent report by the United Coalition for Advanced Nuclear Power (UCAN Power) says America’s commercial power industry will benefit from the Pentagon’s growing role in nuclear technology. The report drafted in November outlines “34 tangible recommendations” that the Department of Defense (DoD), or as the White House calls it the Department of War (DOW), […]

EnergySolutions and another Utah-based company, Creekstone Energy, have teamed up to explore nuclear power options for data centers, the companies said last week. Creekstone and EnergySolutions said in a Dec. 11 press release they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore advanced nuclear options at the Utah Creekstone Gigasite in Delta, Utah and […]

Finland’s nuclear regulator has received its third extension to complete the assessment of Posiva Oy’s operating license application for its spent nuclear fuel deep geological repository, Onkalo. The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority’s May to November oversight report said it expects to submit its opinion on the application by June 2026. The previous due […]

The Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation of Douglas Weaver to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week.  Senate Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) filed a cloture motion on the nomination of Weaver on Dec. 11. Additionally in the motion, several other nominees are to be considered, including the four Tennessee […]