Reactor Licensing & Regulation

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a draft study on whether removing spent nuclear fuel from storage pools reduces risks to public health and safety. The study, called for in response to the Fukushima plant disaster following an earthquake and tsunami, concludes there is approximately a one-in-10-million-years chance of a severe earthquake […]

The one-in-10-million-years chance of a severe earthquake causing a radioactive release from a spent fuel pool becomes even less hazardous when pools are packed to low density, and if mitigating measures are enacted after an incident, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff told an internal agency review board yesterday.  A spent nuclear fuel storage pool like the […]

An independent review board within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is likely to add to a chorus of stakeholder disagreement with the staff’s choice of 10,000 years as a period of performance in its draft 10 CFR Part 61 rulemaking, after arguments over the technical merits of that time frame dominated a meeting held yesterday. The […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday announced that Mark Satorius, head of the Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management, will replace current Executive Director of Operations Bill Borchardt effective Aug. 25. The position, appointed by NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane, serves as the chief operating officer of the NRC, and directs the operational and […]

  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday released its finale rule adjusting security regulations for the transport of spent nuclear fuel. The amendments to regulations enhance preplanning and coordination with states and local law enforcement agencies; improve communications among movement control personnel; require armed escorts throughout the shipment route; develop normal and contingency response procedures; and […]

  The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing today to consider the renomination of Allison Macfarlane to serve a full term as Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Macfarlane was nominated a year ago, after the March 2012 resignation of then-Chairman Gregory Jaczko, and Macfarlane was set to serve the […]

  The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing today to consider the renomination of Allison Macfarlane to serve a full term as Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Macfarlane was nominated a year ago, after the March 2012 resignation of then-Chairman Gregory Jaczko, and Macfarlane was set to serve the […]

Petitioners in a case that would force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to complete the Yucca Mountain licensing process Friday urged the court to lift a hold on the case that has been in place since last August. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit placed the petition in abeyance until Dec. 14 to […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko will write a book on his time at the agency, to be released in 2014, according to an announcement yesterday. In a release posted to PublishersMarketplace April 17, Simon & Schuster announced they would publish the book, “Splitting the Atom,” being “an account of [Jaczko’s] controversial years as […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a civil penalty of $36,400 against CB&I for a violation related to action a Shaw subsidiary took against an employee who raised a safety concern. The NRC noted two violations in a release posted Friday. In May 2011 a Shaw Nuclear Services quality assurance supervisor was fired after notifying […]

Petitioners in a case to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository submitted a filing with the Court urging them to act soon in light of the enactment yesterday of a funding bill for the remainder of the fiscal year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit […]

All five Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners will appear at a joint House subcommittee meeting this week. The House’s Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy and the Subcommittee on Energy and Power scheduled the joint hearing for Thursday, Feb. 28, at 9:30 a.m. to discuss policy and governance challenges. NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane will testify along with […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission kicked off efforts to address the ‘phantom four’ isotopes during a public hearing held in conjunction with the Waste Management Symposium in Phoenix, Ariz. last week. The consistent over-reporting of Carbon-14, Technetium-99, Iodine-99 and Cesium-137 came up as an issue as the NRC began work on the ongoing Site Specific Assessment rulemaking. […]

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in its latest annual review of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility did not identify any areas needing improvement. “The applicant performance review concluded that overall MFFF construction activities were conducted in a manner that was consistent with the Commission’s rules and regulations and the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s waste confidence efforts are unlikely to be among the programs impacted by sequestration, NRC Executive Director of Operations Bill Borchardt said yesterday at the agency’s Regulatory Information Conference. “The waste confidence rule is a very high-priority activity, so I think I can say with a fairly high degree of confidence that sequestration […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Nevada are pushing back against calls for a speedy decision by the federal court in the petition to force a restart of the agency’s Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings, stating that Congress could chime in during the upcoming lame duck session. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted a minor violation regarding construction of the Mixed Fuel Fabrication Facility in its latest quarterly inspection report, posted Friday. Contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services failed to meet “MOX Project Quality Assurance Plan requirements for welding of safety-related ventilation ductwork,” according to a Feb. 14 letter from the NRC to the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must create an agency-wide mechanism to search classified studies, as they may be pivotal to aid in major agency decisions regarding managing spent nuclear fuel before a permanent disposal solution is found, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Sept. 13. Because the NRC cannot easily access classified studies […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday issued a license to General Electric-Hitachi for construction and operation of a proposed laser enrichment plant in North Carolina. The issuance comes after an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board authorized the move last week. GE-Hitachi subsidiary Global Laser Enrichment has yet to make a decision on whether or not […]

New legislation introduced yesterday by Massachusetts Congressmen would prevent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from granting license renewals to nuclear facilities more than ten years prior to the expiration of a current license. Reps. John Tierney (D) and Ed Markey (D) introduced the Nuclear Reactor Safety First Act (HR 6554) as a way to "provide greater […]

Petitioners in a case seeking to restart Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing proceedings for Yucca Mountain are urging the Court to make a decision in light of the recent enactment of the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the first few months of FY 2013. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit […]

After more than two years of review, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday gave final construction license for International Isotopes’ depleted uranium deconversion and fluorine extraction facility. The final Environmental Impact Statement was published Aug. 31, and the Safety Evaluation Report approval was issued in May. INIS applied on Dec. 30, 2009 for a license to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday announced it would stop finalizing license renewal applications for nuclear reactors until its Waste Confidence Decision on nuclear waste stored at power plant sites is revised. Though the NRC’s commissioners voted in 2010 to update Waste Confidence, asserting surety that storing spent nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants was safe […]

New Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Alison Macfarlane said Tuesday that she intends to draw more attention to the convergence of geology and nuclear issues. “I want to work on that,” she told reporters at the National Press Club. “Geology clearly matters. If that wasn’t one of the main lessons of Fukushima, I don’t know what […]

The Huffington Post reported yesterday, for allegedly interfering with an agency probe into safety concerns at a nuclear power plant in Michigan. According to the news outlet, the incident under investigation took place at Palisades Power Plant while Ostendorff was touring the facility with then-Chairman Gregory Jaczko, when a leak of potentially contaminated water was […]

The four Type B casks owned and/or scheduled by EnergySolutions—currently the only casks used to transport Class B and C waste in the U.S.—will not experience any lapse in service after plans to fix a design flaw discovered this spring were approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week. EnergySolutions’s 10-106B casks were approved Monday […]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has made good on his promises to contribute financially to former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s legal fund, with his PAC, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, donating $10,000 in July according to Federal Election Commission documents, Politico reported this week. Former Reid aides also began the fundraising site www.JaczkoLegalFund.com, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement on International Isotopes’ proposed depleted uranium deconversion and fluorine extraction facility in Lea County, N.M. “The FEIS contains the staff’s assessment that there are no impacts that would preclude licensing the proposed facility,” NRC said in a statement. International Isotopes applied on Dec. 30, […]

A group of 19 organizations are calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to undertake a formal nuclear proliferation assessment on GE-Hitachi’s proposed Global Laser Enrichment plant in North Carolina before granting it an operating license. The NRC is in the final stages of licensing the plant, and is expected to make a decision later this […]

The House Subcommittees on Environment and the Economy and on Energy and Power will call on new Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane and the four other commissioners to testify at a joint hearing on NRC policy and government oversight, set for July 24. Macfarlane was sworn in July 9 to complete the final year […]