Vol. 15, No. 6 
DOE Seeking Input on Nuke Credits Auction Process
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Federal Law Does Not Allow Private Interim Storage, TX AG Argues
No existing federal law allowed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas, the Lone Star State’s attorney general told a federal judge this week, rolling out his long-awaited argument in the state’s lawsuit against the agency. NRC “lacks authority” to grant a license to […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Facing Legal Reality Check, NM Legislators Water Down Proposed Rad Waste Ban
A bill making its way through the New Mexico state legislature aimed at blocking a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the state will no longer ban the storage of such waste outright, according to amendments adopted in committee Monday. A package of amendments on House Bill 127, adopted by unanimous vote […]
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Advanced Nuclear & SMRs
GOP Lawmakers Ask GAO to Audit NRC’s Regs for Advanced Reactors
A pair of Republican legislators last week asked Congress’s investigative arm to look into whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is prepared to handle applications for future advanced nuclear reactors, according to a recent letter. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) should investigate NRC’s “preparedness to review and approve applications for advanced nuclear reactor designs,” Sen. Shelley […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
DOE ‘Not Ruling Anything Out’ on Interim Storage RFI, Agency Says
When it comes to potential host communities for a future federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the Department of Energy plans to cast a wide net, the agency’s acting nuclear waste chief told members of a California decommissioning advisory board this week. DOE’s November request for information (RFI) on federal interim storage is […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
FERC Gives FirstEnergy Three Months to Fix Accounting Improprieties
By John Stang After a federal audit showed FirstEnergy Corp. put $10.9 million of lobbying costs into the wrong accounts, the company has until early April to come up with a plan to fix this and several other accounting problems, which could result in refunds to ratepayers. A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission audit report released […]
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Decommissioning
Experts, Stakeholders Urge Calif. Gov. Newsom to Halt Diablo Canyon Closure in Letter
Dozens of stakeholders, headed by a former secretary of energy, pressed the governor of California in a letter last week to prevent the state’s last operating nuclear power plant from shutting down. “With the accelerating threat that climate change poses to life on Earth, we write today to urge that the state reverse the decision […]
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Advanced Nuclear & SMRs
TVA’s New Nuclear Program to Seek NRC License for Advanced Reactor at Clinch River
A federally-owned utility this week said that its New Nuclear Program that will prepare an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced reactor at a Tennessee test site. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) New Nuclear Program, approved by the utility’s board Thursday, will “develop a Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit application and potentially […]
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Decommissioning
NRC Cans Request for Decommissioning Fund Regs Change
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a request to let companies fund disposal of major components of shuttered nuclear plants by tapping into the plants’ decommissioning trust funds, according to a recent notice from the agency. The proposed rulemaking, which NRC rejected in a Federal Register notice published Feb. 4, would have updated federal regulations to […]
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Budget & Policy
DOE Announces New Appointees to Nuclear Energy Advisory Council
The Department of Energy this week appointed nearly a half dozen nuclear scientists, engineers, policy experts and industry leaders to a federal council tasked with advising the agency on its current and future nuclear energy programs, according to a press release. Bill Magwood, director-general of the intergovernmental Nuclear Energy Agency, will chair the 11-person Nuclear […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
Wrap-Up: Oyster Creek Host Getting Federal Cash; WV is Back on the Nuclear Power Train; NNSA and Nuclear Energy
Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we close up shop and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather in D.C. this weekend, here are a few other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. Oyster Creek Host Community to Receive $160K Fed Grant The New Jersey community that played host to a nuclear power plant for over 50 years […]