Reactor Licensing & Regulation

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today will hold its last public meeting on 10 CFR Part 61 low-level waste regulatory issues before staff return to the Commissioners for further feedback on the ongoing site specific assessment rulemaking. Unlike the other public meetings held earlier this year, the meeting—which will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. […]

The House Energy & Commerce hearing on Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight will be held July 24, with new Chairman Allison Macfarlane and the four other commissioners testifying. Macfarlane was sworn in July 9 to complete the final year of former chairman Gregory Jaczko’s term, after he abruptly resigned May 21 following months of criticism about […]

Only two weeks into her new job as Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman, Allison Macfarlane defended her previous work analyzing the Yucca Mountain geologic repository before a joint meeting of House Energy and Commerce subcommittees yesterday, saying that work will not be a factor in her new role as independent regulator. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) asked […]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called NRC Commissioner William Magwood, a fellow Democrat, a “first-class rat,” “miserable liar,” “shit-stirrer” and “tool of the nuclear industry” in an interview with The Huffington Post, released yesterday. “You know, when you’re in this government, this business of politics, the only thing that you have is your word,” […]

In light of the resignation of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko last month, NRC Commissioner William Ostendorff said yesterday he is optimistic about the future of the Commission. Ostendorff emphasized the importance of the decision last fall by the four commissioners to send a letter to the White House complaining of Jaczko’s management practices. […]

Though the Senate Environment and Public Works hearing yesterday on nominating both Allison Macfarlane and Kristine Svinicki to Nuclear Regulatory Commission posts was tempered by the high likelihood of approval for both candidates, two conflicting narratives of the premature end to current Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s term, divided along party lines, persisted. Committee Democrats accused Svinicki […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today is planning to consider the nomination of Allison Macfarlane to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the renomination of Kristine Svinicki to another term on the Commission.  The meeting comes with Kristine Svinicki’s term set to expire June 30, while Macfarlane was nominated to head the agency […]

Though it may add months to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ongoing site-specific analysis rulemaking, stakeholders told NRC representatives on Friday that the agency should expand the rule to fully address necessary changes to 10 CFR Part 61. After Larry Camper, director of the NRC’s Division of Waste Management, confirmed last week that staff would seek […]

The Department of Justice is supporting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s position in a petition to force the NRC to restart the Yucca Mountain licensing process. A DOJ filing released Friday argues that the $10 million NRC currently has for licensing is not enough for the agency to complete its review, and that general appropriations cannot […]

Lawmakers largely responded along party lines yesterday after a long-awaited Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General report on the tenure of Chairman Gregory Jaczko was released. The IG found that, though Jaczko did not exceed his authorities in calling for emergency actions following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011, at other times he […]

The long-awaited Inspector General report on former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko was finalized last week, and in more than 100 pages the report describes dozens of instances wherein Jaczko manipulated information to advance his own policy agenda and used bullying tactics to get his way, creating an atmosphere of confusion and, at times, […]

Late last week, with just hours to go before Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Kristine Svinicki’s term officially expired and the agency was left with just four members, the Senate confirmed Svinicki to another four-year term and also confirmed Allison Macfarlane to serve out the remaining year of current Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s term. The naming of a […]

Allison M. Macfarlane, sworn in as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday, has named Phil Niedzielski-Eichner as her new Chief of Staff. Niedzielski-Eichner has been leading the Department of Energy’s working group charged with drafting a report on how the agency will implement the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future’s recommendations, due to […]

The White House officially renominated NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki yesterday, responding to Republican criticism that, despite promising to renominate her on April 19, Svinicki had not yet been given the official nod. Svinicki may now be considered by the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee, though if the renomination process is not completed by the […]

After receiving no response to their March 12 letter to Nuclear Regulatory Chairman Gregory Jaczko, Congressional Republicans sent a follow-up yesterday, reiterating their request for Jaczko to clarify or amend testimony he gave the committee during hearings in December regarding his managerial conduct. Jaczko’s lack of effort to respond “suggests a pattern of disregard for […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General report on Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s controversial management style is set to be released within weeks, RW Monitor has learned. The report was triggered after October, when Jaczko’s four fellow commissioners sent a letter to the White House saying his managerial style was creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation […]

EnergySolutions yesterday officially petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow shipments of Class B and C wastes in Type B casks to continue while it works to address a design flaw in those transportation containers. EnergySolutions is working to fabricate a part that will solve the design flaw, however “the design, licensing and modification will […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Gregory Jaczko abruptly resigned yesterday, pending the confirmation of a successor, catching most in the nuclear industry by surprise and raising questions about the content of an internal review that was set to be released within 30 days. Jaczko’s announcement yesterday follows several months of public scrutiny of his allegedly manipulative and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Inspector General confirmed it will release its report on allegations of mismanagement by Chairman Gregory Jaczko, even after Jaczko yesterday announced he would resign. “When the report is completed we will of course distribute it to the appropriate venues. We are not changing anything with regard to how we […]

Though Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Gregory Jaczko has submitted his resignation, his departure is contingent on a successor being named by the President, then confirmed by the U.S. Senate—a process that could take some time. Comments by both Jaczko and his former boss and current political advocate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in the days […]

Class B and C radwaste can begin moving across the country, including to Waste Control Specialists, again after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission late last week issued approvals for EnergySolutions’ Type B casks. EnergySolutions owns and/or schedules all four of the 8-120B casks that constitute the entire fleet of containers capable of transporting Class B and […]

Given that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to hold the nomination hearings for Nuclear Regulatory Commission nominees Allison Macfarlane and Kristine Svinicki as early as next week, the House subcommittees on Environment and the Economy and on Energy and Power have postponed their planned NRC oversight hearing. Originally set for May 31, […]

After several preliminary drafts, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed final Branch Technical Position on Concentration Averaging was released to the public for a 120-day public comment period yesterday. The BTP is being updated as part of ongoing NRC efforts to address unique waste streams such as blended radioactive waste in regulations. Major changes were made to the […]

Representatives from low-level radioactive waste disposal site host states continued to prod the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday for additional oversight of the generators that ship them waste, even as they complained of being underfunded and short-staffed. At a meeting with all five NRC Commissioners yesterday, Earl Fordham, Chair-Elect of the Conference of Radiation Control Program […]

Though the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is capable of authorizing a centralized interim storage facility for U.S. spent nuclear fuel now, as the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommended in January, actual operation of such a site could be significantly delayed until current national law gets tweaked, NRC officials said yesterday. Currently, the Nuclear […]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday called for the prompt re-nomination of Kristine Svinicki to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with McConnell suggesting that the appointment is being held up because of her criticism of NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko. “If Commissioner Svinicki isn’t re-nominated by […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting in Piketon, Ohio, tonight to discuss the agency’s recent review of safety performance at USEC’s American Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility with USEC officials. The review, which covered a period from July 2010 through January 2011, found no areas needing improvement in safety operations, radiological controls, facility […]

As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Inspector General works to complete a report on his management, Chairman Gregory Jaczko again denied that he harasses women at a hastily called press conference Friday afternoon. “There has been a little bit of talk recently about my treatment of women,” Jaczko said. “Any of these accusations that I specifically […]

Republican lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are questioning Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko on revisions made last year to Internal Commission Procedures. “Understanding the development of the Internal Commission Procedures revisions will provide necessary insight into the current governance struggles of the Commission,” according to a Committee release. While the four […]

Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee continued their investigation into Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s leadership of the agency, sending a letter Friday to Jaczko suggesting that his actions have created a hostile workplace at the agency. “You yourself have often spoken of the NRC’s [open collaborative work environment] as a critical […]