Vol. 14, No. 37 
Congress Keeps ONE, NRC Funding at 2021 Levels Until Budget Row Over
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Texas Files Suit Over Interim Storage Site
Texas started legal proceedings this week aimed at overturning the Nuclear Regulatory’s Commission’s decision to license a commercially operated interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the Lone Star state. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, alongside Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), asked a judge in the U.S. […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
NWPA Needs an Update for Consent-Based Siting, GAO Report Says
Congress needs to make some changes to federal law before the Department of Energy can tackle the spent fuel storage problem, congressional investigators said this week. “Congress needs to take action to break the impasse over a permanent solution for commercial spent nuclear fuel—used fuel removed from nuclear power reactors,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Next Steps on Interim Storage Coming 2022, NE-1 Says
The next phase of the Department of Energy’s spent fuel storage inquiry should begin next year, the head of the agency’s nuclear energy office told congressional investigators this month. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) is “resuming consent-based siting activities,” acting ONE assistant secretary Kathryn Huff told the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a Sep. […]
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Advanced Nuclear & SMRs
Advanced Nuclear Has Key Role in Global Clean Energy, Granholm Tells IAEA Conference
Nuclear energy and advanced nuclear technologies should be a “critical part” of a net-zero energy economy, the secretary of energy said in Vienna this week at the U.N.’s big nuclear conference. “[T]oday, we see that transitioning to net-zero represents a great economic opportunity: a global clean energy market that will grow to at least 23 […]
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International
Members of Congress Urge Biden to Oppose Canadian Rad Waste Repository on Great Lakes
A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently pressed the Joe Biden administration in a resolution to oppose a Canadian geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel planned for the Great Lakes Basin. In the Sep. 17 resolution led by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), the coalition of delegates from Great Lakes states like Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota urged […]
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Decommissioning
In Final Ruling, CA Judge Scuttles Enviros’ Petition to Stop SONGS Decommissioning
A state regulator didn’t violate environmental law when it signed off on the decommissioning of a California nuclear power plant, a judge ruled last week. In the ruling dated Sep. 13, Superior Court of California judge Mitchell Beckloff torpedoed the environmental watchdog Samuel Lawrence Foundation’s argument that the California Coastal Commission ignored its own regulations […]
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Decommissioning
No Need for Resident Inspector at Indian Point, NRC Tells NY County Exec
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission nixed a New York county executive’s request for a full-time inspector to oversee the decommissioning of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant, according to a recent letter from the agency. Placing a full-time resident inspector at Indian Point Energy Center “is not necessary to provide for the protection of the public health […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
NRC Adds Another Year to Zion License Transfer Agreement
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission again extended the deadline on the license transfer agreement for an Illinois nuclear power plant under decommissioning to give agency staff more time to clear the site for unrestricted use, according to a recent notice. The transfer of Zion Nuclear Power Station back to Exelon from EnergySolutions won’t need to be […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC Putting Together COVID-19 Review for Reactor Regulation Division
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reactor regulation department is building a team to assess some key takeaways from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft mission statement. NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) will designate a working group to investigate “lessons learned and best practices on the oversight of power reactors during the COVID-19 pandemic […]