Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

By John Stang A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $103 million to the owners of three retired nuclear power plants for failing to meet its legal mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from the properties. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Nancy Firestone ruled on Feb. 21 that the […]

Legislation filed on Feb. 22 in the Texas Legislature aims to give Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists a competitive edge in the national market for disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). Members of the state House and Senate introduced identical bills that would lower certain charges and reserve LLRW disposal capacity for Texas and Vermont at the […]

WASHINGTON — A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and other issue experts made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to argue for a top-to-bottom rethinking of management of the nation’s nuclear waste. “The situation in the U.S. is terribly broken, has been for decades, and without some major change to the program I don’t […]

While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will readjust its classification of high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of the […]

Donald Schneider will step down as president of bankrupt nuclear power provider FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) effective Saturday, but he will stay on as executive chairman until his retirement on May 1. Schneider’s voluntary retirement package will include a lump-sum payment of slightly over $1 million, along with company health insurance for 18 months and a […]

By John Stang Earnings reports from two California utilities this week focused far more on the impact of massive wildfires in the state than on their nuclear power plants. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. reported an $11.8 billion increase from 2017 to 2018 in wildfire expense such as repairing damages to the utility’s property or […]

Nevada’s congressional delegation is refreshing its opposition to building a nuclear waste repository in their state ahead of the imminent rollout of the White House’s next budget proposal. The Trump administration is expected to issue its fiscal 2020 spending plan on or around March 12, delayed several weeks by the recent partial shutdown of the […]

Current and former executives with connections to the nuclear industry are among the eight members announced Wednesday to the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB). Former EnergySolutions Chairman and CEO David Lockwood and Edison International President and CEO Pedro Pizarro joined leaders from the energy industry, defense establishment, and other sectors on the panel’s […]

By John Stang FirstEnergy Corp.’s finances improved with the 2018 bankruptcy filing of subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), but the proceeding still haunts the parent corporation. This week, FirstEnergy Corp. reported $981 million in full-year 2018 earnings on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, on $11.3 billion in revenue. That equated to $1.99 per basic and diluted […]

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and a local watchdog organization this week petitioned for intervention and a hearing in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the license transfer application for the nearly retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. An affirmative decision from the NRC is required for owner Entergy to sell the plant to Holtec […]

The looming potential for the United Kingdom’s “hard exit” from the European Union could impact procedures for shipping radioactive waste and spent reactor fuel to and from the nation, the U.K. Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said this week. Following a 2016 referendum, the U.K. is due to leave the EU on […]

By John Stang Entergy Wholesale Commodities, which operates three nuclear plants in the northeastern United States, on Wednesday posted another steep loss for the fourth quarter of 2018. The business reported a $373 million loss on an as-reported basis attributable to parent Entergy Corp., $2.04 per share. The loss on an operational basis was recorded […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday announced plans to provide another $60 million in funding for domestic commercial programs to produce the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) intends to begin negotiations with four companies on cooperative agreements, each worth as much as $15 million. The anticipated recipients are: […]

By John Stang US Ecology said Thursday it does not anticipate resuming waste treatment for several months at its Grand View, Idaho, facility following a November explosion that killed one employee and injured eight others. On Feb. 7, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality authorized the Boise-based environmental services provider to resume disposal of bulk wastes […]

Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Feb. 15 expressed no misgivings about a preliminary federal finding that there would be no major impact in renewing the license for continued in-state storage of waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The state agency, though, reminded the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that […]

The trade group for the U.S. casino industry this month, in a letter to Congress, reaffirmed its opposition to development of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Addressing all members of the 116th Congress, the American Gaming Association noted that the long-planned underground repository would be built 90 miles from the nation’s mecca […]

The New Hampshire legislature is considering a bill intended to shut the door on disposal of nuclear waste in the state even while establishing three bodies to address the issue. House Bill 704 would formalize the legislature’s opposition to building a facility for high-level radioactive waste in New Hampshire “and finds that the north-east is […]

Three more nuclear power plants operated by Exelon Generation are at risk of early closure, parent company Exelon Corp. said in a Feb. 8 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Generation’s Dresden, Byron, and Braidwood nuclear plants in Illinois are also showing increased signs of economic distress, which could lead to an early […]

By John Stang Duke Energy is keeping its options open for eventual decommissioning of its retired Crystal River nuclear plant in central-western Florida. In a request last week to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to release the bulk of the Crystal River property for unrestricted use, the Charlotte, N.C.-based power company mentioned that “Duke Energy […]

US Ecology has received approval from the Idaho state government to restart some operations at a waste facility where an explosion in November killed one worker and injured eight others. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said Monday it had signed off Feb. 7 on the Jan. 25 request from US Ecology Idaho. The […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could soon award a new tranche of funding to support U.S. commercial manufacturing of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), a senior official said this week. “We’re working through the competitive procurement process and I hope that we can make an announcement on that soon,” William […]

By John Stang The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 8 directed the potentially responsible parties for environmental remediation of the West Lake Landfill in Missouri to study potential groundwater contamination at the site. The potentially responsible parties are Bridgeton Landfill LLC, Cotter. Corp. LLC, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Under a decision handed […]

Decommissioning of the two standing reactors at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) will produce “significant and unavoidable” environmental affects, even with mitigation measures, the California State Lands Commission said Monday in its final environmental impact report (EIR) on the upcoming project. The finding is in line with the draft version of the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December spent $1,566 of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay the agency’s licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. That left the industry regulator with an unobligated, unexpended balance of $412,552, according to its latest report to Congress, posted this week on […]

A Chicago-based environmental organization has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reconsider a proposed decision to dismiss a petition against nuclear power operator FirstEnergy Corp. over the state of decommissioning funding for three power plants due to close in coming years. The facts that form the basis for the proposed NRC director’s decision will be […]

A senior Department of Energy official on Thursday urged the Senate to confirm nominees to fill four leadership vacancies, including a candidate to oversee the agency’s nuclear power and waste activities. “I’d like to kindly ask the committee for consideration … around the leadership positions that are still open for us as a department. We […]

AECOM on Tuesday reported $5 billion in revenue for the quarter ended Dec, 31, about 3 percent more than the $4.9 billion reported in the same period one year earlier. Net income attributable to AECOM came in at $52 million, down 54 percent from $111 million reported in the same quarter a year ago.  The […]

Southern California Edison (SCE) on Tuesday gave newly elected Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) the business over his recent warning about the safety of spent nuclear fuel in storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). “There is no credible scenario in which this tweet from @MikeLevinCA would be factual,” the California utility, majority owner and licensee for […]

By John Stang Duke Energy has requested that the federal government release 3,854 acres of its 4,738 acres at its retired Crystal River nuclear plant site for unrestricted use. The Charlotte, N.C.-based power company wants to find still-to-be-determined uses for the acreage at the Crystal River Energy Complex on Florida’s Gulf Coast, about 85 miles […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the current federal fiscal year anticipates collecting $781.9 million in fees from its licensees, slightly less than it brought in last year. The agency’s budget for fiscal 2019, under the multi-agency “minibus” appropriations bill signed into law in September, is $911 million. That is down by $11 million from […]