Vol. 7, No. 40 GAO urges Congress to create under secretary for nuclear waste
-
Reactor Licensing & Regulation
Biden admin taps Crowell, former commissioner Caputo for vacant NRC slots
The White House Tuesday announced its nominees to fill the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s two open executive seats, including one former commissioner who left the agency last summer. If Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell’s nominations, which the Joe Biden administration announced in a press release Tuesday, get through Congress, they would fill two seats on NRC’s […]
-
Warhead & Weapons Development
Nuclear Weapons Council heading to Senate for open testimony today
Members of the joint Department of Energy-Pentagon body that coordinates nuclear weapon procurements were set to testify late this afternoon before a Senate Armed Services panel. The six-member Nuclear Weapons Council is dominated by Pentagon personnel and chaired by the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment — William LaPlante, in the Joe Biden administration. […]
-
National Laboratories
No Los Alamos evacuations yet due to Cerro Pelado fire; lab telework possible
As of late Tuesday, the Cerro Pelado fire in New Mexico was five-and-a-half miles away from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, with no evacuations ordered so far around the federal facility. Lab management could reduce its on-site headcount, however, if the fire inches much closer to Los Alamos National Laboratory or the […]
-
Transuranic Waste
WIPP managers pursue New Mexico approval of new underground disposal areas
The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has updated its pending 10-year permit renewal application with the state of New Mexico to reflect the latest plans for transuranic waste disposal within the mine’s Panels 11 and 12. The proposal was submitted as part of the facility’s updated permit renewal application with the New Mexico […]
-
Decommissioning
NRC moves decom rule comment deadline to August
The interested public now has until the end of the summer to provide their feedback on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed rules change for decommissioning nuclear power plants, the agency said Tuesday. August 30 is now the deadline for comments on NRC’s proposed decommissioning rulemaking, the agency said in presentation slides for an upcoming public […]
-
Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Senate unanimously approves extension of compensation program for sickened nuclear test participants, downwinders, uranium miners
Certain people sickened after exposure to radiation from either atmospheric nuclear-weapon tests or uranium mining would get two more years to file for government compensation if a bill passed unanimously by the Senate last week becomes law. The Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Extension Act of 2022 on Thursday, giving […]
-
Decommissioning
Inspection procedures at Diablo Canyon still pass muster after feedwater leak investigation, NRC says
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission took issue Tuesday with a report from its inspector general suggesting that the agency had been lax in its inspection of a soon-to-close nuclear power plant, according to new documents. Although NRC’s inspector general alleged in a March report that an improper inspection of Diablo Canyon Power Plant back in 2020 […]