Vol. 11, No. 25 
Senate Queues Up Second Conference Battle Over Yucca Appropriations
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Budget & Policy
Senate Approps Bill Gets More Money for Nuclear Fuel Recycling, Isotope Production as Vote Nears
By John Stang The Senate appears set to vote Monday on its version of a fiscal 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill that merges three funding measures covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a number of other agencies. The upper chamber of Congress closed up shop for the week on Thursday, but not before scheduling […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
DOE Pledges Annual Summary of Nuclear Waste Fund Finances
The Energy Department said recently it had nearly $38 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund, in the first of what it pledged will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal account intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC Clarifies Rad Waste Disposal Licensing Authority
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirmed to two U.S. senators recently that is only authorized to license the Department of Energy for permanent disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), top members of the Senate Environment and Public Works clean air and nuclear safety, […]
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Decommissioning
NRC Reviewing Petition on FirstEnergy’s Nuclear Decommissioning Funds
By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing a petition contending FirstEnergy Solutions decommissioning trust funds have enough money to shut down and dismantle three nuclear power plants. The Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center submitted the petition earlier this year as FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy and announced it will shut down […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
UniTech Receives NRC Export License for Rad Waste
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an export license for UniTech Services Group to return up to 10,000 metric tons of radioactively contaminated material to Canada. The export license dated April 30 covers “tools, metals and other solid materials contaminated with byproduct materials,” and was signed by David Skeen, deputy director for the NRC’s […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
Entergy Making Ops Fixes at Pilgrim Plant Even as Shutdown Looms
By John Stang Executives with power company Entergy said Tuesday bringing the struggling Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts up to operational snuff will not affect its scheduled closure by June 1, 2019. During a briefing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Commissioner David Wright asked Entergy officials to rate the likelihood of the boiling-water reactor […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: Feds Find Potential Increased Danger of Cancer Near Contaminated Creek in Missouri
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on Monday reported that exposure to radioactive materials near St. Louis, Mo., could be linked to a heightened danger of various types of cancer. Coldwater Creek in north St. Louis County was contaminated by upstream storage facilities for radiological waste from uranium extraction operations in […]