Vol. 12, No. 36 
Senate Energy Bill Cuts $66.5 Million From NRC Budget Plan
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Decommissioning
Three Mile Island Reactor Shuts Down
Exelon on Friday shut down its reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Unit 1 powered down for the last time at noon, according to an Exelon press release. Workers will now spend several weeks removing used fuel from the reactor for cooling. The reactor retirement came more than a week earlier […]
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Decommissioning
NRC Staff Expects to Complete Decommissioning Rulemaking in 2021
By John Stang Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects completion by 2021 of an overhaul of regulations covering nuclear power reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning. That is two years later than anticipated when the NRC commissioners in 2014 told staff to proceed with the rulemaking, Bruce Watson, chief of the […]
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Commercial Low-Level Waste
NRC Won’t Rescind Update on VLLW Disposal Regulatory Authority
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week it would not withdraw a 2016 finding re-establishing the scope of its authority to regulate disposal of very low-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the trade association for the nuclear industry, in February requested the agency rescind Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2016-11. […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
NRC Extends Comment Period for GTCC Waste Disposal Regulatory Basis
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is giving stakeholders an additional 60 days to comment on a document that could lay the groundwork for an update to regulations on disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste. The public comment period for the draft regulatory basis had been scheduled to close on Sept. 20. But the […]
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Budget & Policy
Fleischmann Stays Out of Tenn. Senate Race
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Sept. 12 said he would not seek to succeed Lamar Alexander in the Senate. “I’m not going anywhere,” Fleischmann said during a presentation at the U.S. Energy Department’s National Cleanup Workshop. “I’m staying in the House. I’m not running for the Senate.” After Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Appeals Filed on Interventions in Texas Used Fuel Storage Licensing
By John Stang Appeals were filed Tuesday with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over petitions to intervene in the federal licensing of a proposed site in western Texas for temporary storage of used fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. On Aug. 23, an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that only the Sierra Club has […]
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Decommissioning
Wrap Up: Former Texas Environmental Staffer Becomes Commissioner
A former staffer at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) who worked on radioactive waste issues has returned as a commissioner. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday appointed Bobby Janecka to the third spot on the commission, according to a press release. The other members are Chairman Jon Niermann and Commissioner Emily Lindley. […]