Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Southern California Edison said Wednesday it is preparing to temporarily ramp down some decommissioning operations at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The utility expects in the next few days to determine which deconstruction activities will be temporarily frozen and what work can continue at the […]

PHOENIX – Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has reduced costs and staff since its January 2018 sale to a private-equity firm, part of a wider program to update its operations and attract new customers, an executive told an industry audience here last week. The changes have been “dramatic,” according to Dan Burns, senior vice president of […]

The Department of Energy is still preparing a report to Congress on “innovative options” for meeting its legal requirement to dispose of tens of thousands of tons of U.S. nuclear waste. “The Department is currently working on the report, and we’ll follow up once it’s public,” a spokesperson said by email Monday. The spokesperson did […]

By John Stang Telecommuting and social distancing are in play across the nation’s radioactive waste industry as the novel coronavirus 2019 sweeps the United States. The limited number of companies that responded to inquiries this week reported no COVID-19 cases among their workforce and no cutbacks in operations, though they did not rule out slowdowns […]

A California regulator has authorized Southern California Edison to withdraw $405.5 million this year from the trusts that will pay for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The March 6 decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejects a challenge from a state watchdog organization, even though Southern California Edison acknowledged […]

By John Stang Coming off a strong 2019, Perma-Fix Environmental Services anticipates taking a significant revenue hit in the second quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Atlanta-based radioactive waste management specialist expects the novel coronavirus 2019 to affect its customers, slowing their on-site work and shipments to Perma-Fix’s waste processing plants In […]

PHOENIX – Two Nevada officials with distinctly different opinions on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository last week offered distinctly different views on what the Trump administration’s latest budget might mean for the future of the always-embattled project. In February, the White House issued a fiscal 2021 spending plan that included nothing to resume licensing […]

All field work was halted Wednesday at a large-scale cleanup project for radioactive contaminants spread across two municipalities in Ontario, Canada, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In a late-morning Tweet, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories said it had suspended field operations at the Port Hope Project and Port Granby Project, which are managed jointly under […]

Energy Harbor Corp. on March 13 said it had reversed its decision to retire the two reactors at its Beaver Valley Power Station in Pennsylvania. The announcement came just weeks after the former FirstEnergy Solutions emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a new name and no longer owned by FirstEnergy Corp. Management at the Akron, […]

A “small number” of Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees are in self-imposed isolation after attending an event in which other participants subsquently tested positive for infection by the 2019 novel coronavirus, the agency said Friday. “To our knowledge, all of those employees are asymptomatic; however, out of an abundance of caution these employees have elected to […]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) latest legislative push to establish a pilot program for interim storage of radioactive waste got stuck in Senate gridlock this week when the big, bipartisan energy bill stalled out amid a fight about climate change. Feinstein’s proposal was one of many amendments being balled up into a legislative package known as […]

PHOENIX – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering merging two long-running efforts to update federal regulations on disposal of radioactive waste, a senior official said here Monday. Agency staff is currently determining the paths forward for both a potential rulemaking on Greater-Than-Class C Waste and the continuing Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rulemaking, according to Patricia […]

PHOENIX – Another company indicated Monday it would be ready to bid on an anticipated procurement from the Department of Energy to design a facility for interim storage of nuclear waste. “We are interested in interim storage,” Rod Baltzer, chief operating officer for Deep Isolation, told RadWaste Monitor. “With our design, we do think you […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday formally nominated Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to the No. 2 position at the Department of Energy. If confirmed by the Senate, Menezes would assume the DOE deputy secretary position left vacant in December when Dan Brouillette was sworn in as secretary of energy. “Congratulations to my friend and colleague […]

By John Stang Incumbent David Wright and newcomer Christopher Hanson sailed through a Senate committee hearing Wednesday on their way toward confirmation as members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a nomination hearing, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee quizzed Hanson, Wright, and Douglas Benevento, the Trump administration’s candidate for deputy administrator at the Environmental […]

A working group of staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recommended downshifting the standard schedule for inspections of spent reactor fuel storage pads from roughly every two years to three years. That was the No. 1 recommendation in the draft final version of Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) Inspection Enhancement Initiative, issued on […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a means for simplifying the process by which very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW) can be shipped to certain landfills for disposal. The agency on March 6 announced plans for an interpretive rule to issue “specific exemptions” that would enable landfills to receive VLLW without needing approval for each shipment. […]

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday preliminarily recommended licensing a facility in New Mexico for temporary storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The tentative support is provided in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for Holtec International’s planned consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Lea County, in the state’s southeast. […]

President Donald Trump on Monday nominated a Democratic Party staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fill a vacancy on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has already scheduled a March 11 hearing to consider Christopher Hanson’s nomination, along with the nomination of serving Commissioner David Wright to a full […]

The John Wood Group said Wednesday it expects later this month to complete the sale of its nuclear business to Jacobs, following regulatory approval in the United Kingdom. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has signed off on the deal, the Scotland-based energy services multinational said in a brief press release. “Wood and Jacobs continue […]

By John Stang The Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to adequately review questionable safety findings from one of its scientists regarding an underground gas line that passes through the property of the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear power plant in upstate New York, according to the agency’s inspector general. A New York senator voiced anger at […]

By John Stang The schedule for decommissioning of reactor Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania is being coordinated with the timetable for teardown of Unit 1, even though they have separate owners. There is a hint that the two reactors could together accelerate their schedules for decommissioning, possibly by […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday announced the cancellation of a major conference set to begin Tuesday just outside of Washington, D.C., as participants dropped out in the face of the spreading coronavirus outbreak. “In recent days, a number of organizations and presenters have changed their attendance plans, with indications that others would reach similar […]

A longtime nuclear industry executive has joined used fuel management specialist NAC International as chief strategy officer. William Gallo “will lead the development of business strategies, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions to drive NAC’s growth and profitability,” according to a press release Monday form the Peachtree Corners, Ga.-based company. President and CEO Kent Cole said Monday […]

WASHINGTON —Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette on Tuesday would not commit to supporting a congressional rewrite of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act to exclude mandatory construction of a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “If we were to consider a repeal of the 1987 amendment that designated Yucca Mountain as the […]

The Department of Energy plans to take bids on the design of a facility for interim storage of used reactor fuel from nuclear power plants, a senior official said Tuesday. Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal discussed the upcoming procurement in a hearing on the Energy Department’s latest budget proposal before the House Appropriations […]

By John Stang The head of a suburban Seattle venture told a House of Representatives subcommittee Tuesday that a new type of nuclear power reactor now in development would dramatically cut the amount of spent fuel generated in operations. TerraPower, of Bellevue, Wash., is working on a breed-and-burn reactor, which would use depleted uranium — […]