Vol. 10, No. 39 
Yucca ‘Alternatives’ Would be ‘Wise,’ Energy Secretary Says
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC Ends Prompt Cleanup Rulemaking
Thomas Gardiner The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has unanimously voted to cut off a potential rule that would have required commercial nuclear facilities to promptly remediate radioactive contamination of surrounding ground, subsurface, and groundwater while still in operation. The three sitting commissioners voted in November and December 2016 to end the rulemaking. The notice was posted […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC Nominees Remain in Stasis
Thomas Gardiner The timeline for advancing the three nominees for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission remained murky Thursday, more than a week after the confirmation hearing for sitting Commissioner Jeff Baran. The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee has not scheduled a vote on giving Baran a full five-year term to June 30, 2023. Similarly, […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
Schedule Set for New Review of SONGS Closure Settlement
Thomas Gardiner The California Public Utilities Commission this week laid out an open-ended schedule for finally resolving the settlement over the premature retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) after parties failed to reach an agreement by the August deadline. The ruling sets forth an expedited schedule for hearings and filings to speed what […]
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International
U.K. Audit Office Lashes Management of Magnox Decommissioning Contract
Taxpayers in the United Kingdom are on the hook for up to £122 million in costs associated with a botched contract for decommissioning of the nation’s Magnox nuclear facilities, the U.K. National Audit Office said in a blistering report Wednesday. The government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced in March that the £6.1 billion cleanup contract awarded in 2014 […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
NRC Gets Formal Notice of Revised Palisades Closure Schedule
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received formal notice of Entergy’s intent to close its Palisades Power Plant in Michigan more than three years later than it had recently planned. Power operations will end in spring 2022, Charles Arnone, site vice president for Entergy Nuclear Operations, said in a Sept. 28 letter to the NRC. The […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
Wrap Up: Indian Point Gets Break on NRC Post-Fukushima Requirements
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request to effectively suspend the requirement that the Indian Point Energy Center in New York state complete fresh assessments of earthquake and flooding risks. The regulator in 2012 required that all holders of nuclear power reactor licenses and construction permits conduct the evaluations in the wake of the […]