Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week cited a Westinghouse fuel facility in South Carolina with two violations of federal nuclear rules, but details were scarce this week. The two Severity Level IV violations were identified in an inspection of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) from Nov. 18-21, 2019, according to a Jan. 10 […]

The state of New York is objecting to a request by power company Entergy for federal approval to reduce staffing at the Indian Point Energy Center as its two remaining operational reactors are retired over the next 16 months. Three separate state agencies have reviewed the plan, filed last April with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory […]

The Trump administration is less than a month away from releasing its latest annual budget request, but so far no one is saying officially whether it will feature another attempt to revive the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The White House’s fiscal 2021 spending proposal is due on Feb. 10, a senior administration official confirmed […]

By John Stang One senator expressed concern Wednesday about the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s consideration of cutting back on inspections of spent fuel storage facilities at the nation’s nuclear power plants. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) raised the issue during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee featuring testimony from two senior NRC […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette has started off the new year by giving more authority to DOE Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes, effectively making him acting second in command at the agency until a deputy is in place. Brouillette said in a Jan. 10 email to Energy Department staff that to “ensure continued operational effectiveness,” […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled the first in a planned series of workshops for next week to consider a set of recommendations from the nuclear industry to increase efficiency in licensing of dry storage systems for radioactive spent fuel at power plants. The meeting is set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. […]

The U.S. Department of Energy expects in June 2022 to complete its program for designing and certifying railcars intended to be used to transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but has not determined what it will do with the designs at that point. The agency does not anticipate transport of the radioactive material in […]

By John Stang Deep Isolation, a nuclear waste disposal startup wants to raise $10 million to $15 million in venture capital investment, the company said this week. The company is developing a borehole disposal concept, in which fuel assemblies containing spent fuel rods are placed in a canister and buried some 2,000 feet below the […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a significant reduction in the number of hours dedicated annually to inspection of loading operations for used fuel into dry-cask storage at the nation’s nuclear power plants. At least one member, Commissioner Jeff Baran, expressed concerns about the potential change during a public briefing last […]

By John Stang A year into the first-of-its-kind arrangement, decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant appears to be proceeding smoothly, according to the head of a local citizens organization. NorthStar Group Services completed the purchase of Vermont Yankee from power company Entergy in January. The New York City-based demolition specialist assumed ownership of all […]

By John Stang A California environmental organization called this week for a second utility to justify a request for a threefold spending increase from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning trust fund. On Tuesday, San Diego County-based Public Watchdogs asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to hold an evidentiary hearing on San Diego […]

By John Stang The Omaha Public Power District calculates that switching to an accelerated decommissioning will cost roughly $165 million less in the long run for its Fort Calhoun reactor near Omaha. The OPPD submitted its revised post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Dec. 16, 2019. The revised PSDAR figure, […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) expects to complete decommissioning of a long-retired nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir, Va., in 2025, after which the property would be available for unrestricted use. The five-year schedule would cover the full scope of decommissioning the SM-1 reactor and associated infrastructure: site preparation, material removal, disassembly, cleanup, […]

David Blee, president, founder, and CEO of the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council business consortium, died Sunday apparently while visiting family in Kentucky. His death was confirmed Monday by USNIC Director Caleb Ward. “From what I understand, David had a negative reaction with the medication he was taking to get over his cold,” Ward said in […]

The Trump administration is not saying yet whether it will try again to transfer a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nuclear cleanup program to the Department of Energy, even as it continues to argue the benefits of the move. Congress blocked the White House request for the 2020 federal fiscal year to relocate the Formerly […]

A joint venture of Perma-Fix Environmental Services and ERRG in December sealed a contract worth at least $15 million for cleanup services at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The 18-month contract covers remediation, construction, and waste management at the Alameda County complex, according to a Dec. 23 press release […]

Holtec International believes it can complete decommissioning of the three nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York in 15 years at a cost of $2.3 billion, according to a new filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The New Jersey energy technology specialist plans to buy the Buchanan, N.Y., facility […]

By Llewellyn King Special to RadWaste Monitor David Blee could have been anything he wanted to be, so long as the job involved people. David, who died suddenly and tragically early at 66, was dynamic in everything he did — and he did nothing better than people. He could lead them, inspire them, cajole them, […]

By John Stang Cramming work from three other years into 2020 justifies a threefold increase in spending this year from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning trust fund, Southern California Edison wrote Thursday. The new estimate of $461.8 million dwarfs the old estimate of $166.3 million, which the company drew up in 2017: the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission since July has conducted more than a dozen unannounced inspections of spent fuel transfer operations at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. The inspections are part of the agency’s response to several problems in the project, notably an August 2018 incident in which a canister was put […]

The members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday rejected requests for an immediate stay of agency staff’s approval of the license transfer for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. All four of the serving commissioners, without discussion, voted in favor of a memorandum and order upholding the earlier decision. The staff order […]

A group of 11 nuclear security and health experts on Wednesday urged the heads of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services to find that the federal government no longer needs to export weapon-grade uranium for foreign production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). Allowing exports to continue would present a continued […]

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected a clean-energy advocacy organization’s petition to submit a late argument against licensing a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. The Austin-based Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition said it should be allowed to file the late contention […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be budgeted at $842.2 million for salaries and expenses in the current federal fiscal year, under a wide-ranging appropriations package passed by Congress this week. The Senate on Thursday voted 71-23 in favor of the domestic priorities and international assistance minibus, two days after the House’s 297-120 vote. President […]

RadWaste Monitor will not be published on Friday, Dec. 27, in observance of the Christmas holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020.

Unanimously and without discussion, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday recommended confirmation of Department of Justice attorney Robert Feitel as the new inspector general for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Feitel would succeed Hubert Bell, who retired last December after more than 22 years as NRC inspector general. “We cannot be […]

Congress again provided no direct funding for nuclear waste storage or disposal in a massive fiscal 2020 appropriations bill that was waiting on President Donald Trump’s signature Friday afternoon. While the House and Senate had left little doubt they would reject the administration’s latest request for money for the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, they […]