Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

In approving a very-short-term federal appropriations bill this week, Congress postponed a possible tussle over funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Several federal agencies are still waiting on a full budget for fiscal 2019, operating on a continuing resolution since Oct. 1. That bill expires today. Rather than try to […]

By John Stang The Vermont Public Utility Commission (VPUC) on Thursday approved the sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant from owner Entergy to a New York company for decommissioning. The three-person panel authorized an amendment to the 2002 certificate of public good regarding the ownership and operation of the single-reactor facility. This […]

By John Stang Southern California Edison (SCE) hopes to restart moving used nuclear fuel to dry storage at its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20, 2019. The utility announced that target Thursday at a San Onofre Community Engagement Panel meeting focused on an Aug. 3 mishap in placing a canister […]

Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI) expects to move all of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s used fuel assemblies from wet storage to dry storage by 2023, according to documents submitted earlier this month to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The data point is included in a set of documents provided as part of the Nov. 16 […]

By Darrell Proctor POWER A research group that provides information to institutional investors said cost estimates to decommission U.S. nuclear plants fell in 2017 for the first time in a decade. The Callan Institute, headquartered in San Francisco, California, in a report released November 28 said decommissioning cost estimates dropped by 2.5% last year, to […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the […]

Three administrative judges of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel have been selected to rule on requests for intervention in the agency’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas. However, a number of environmental organizations quickly petitioned that the judges be disqualified […]

A Michigan Senate committee next week will again consider legislation that would set specific radioactivity limits for disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) in state landfills. The bill from Sen. Tom Casperson (R) would add a number of amendments to the 1994 state Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, including citing a […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission is scheduled next week to issue its decision on approval of the sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Parties to the three-member panel’s review of the deal received notice Thursday in a one-sentence memorandum from Clerk of the Commission Judith Whitney: “The Vermont Public Utility Commission has […]

By John Stang It is unknown how long it will take to determine the cause of a Nov. 17 explosion that killed one man and injured three others inside a US Ecology building about 50 miles south of Boise, Idaho. “US Ecology mobilized a team of national experts and internal resources to complete a comprehensive […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week called on the top leaders and appropriators in the House of Representatives to prevent any funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in her state in the next federal budget bill. “We are about a week out from the deadline to fund the government and there are efforts […]

By John Stang The Omaha Public Power District Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to have the Nebraska utility remain in charge f decommissioning the Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant, with assistance from a hired contractor. There was little public discussion on the decision before the board voted on a resolution setting the path […]

The owner and prospective owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts on Friday filed the application and related paperwork for transferring the plant’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. Entergy wants to sell the soon-to-close single-reactor facility to Holtec, which would then own its decommissioning trust fund and all responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and […]

Reduced charges for disposal of low-level radioactive waste at the Waste Control Specialists facility in West Texas officially took effect on Nov. 8. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in October approved the updated charges as part of a broader rulemaking covering the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact facility, which Waste Control Specialists operates […]

RadWaste Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Please look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Nov. 30.

A board of three administrative judges with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in January to hear arguments from groups that want to intervene in the review of the license application for interim storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Most, but not all, of the 18 entities that have petitioned oppose […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Nov. 6 issued its first request for additional information for Interim Storage Partners’ license application for a temporary spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in West Texas. The request covers 28 distinct questions regarding physical security at the planned installation on Waste Control Specialists’ waste disposal property in Andrews […]

The nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy on Thursday pledged to follow the law when it comes to disposal of nuclear waste – which for now means supporting the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Rita Baranwal was among three nominees to different federal agencies who came before the Senate Energy […]

International Isotopes has significantly cut its losses on the back of higher revenue in its latest earnings quarter and through the first nine months of 2018, according to the company’s new 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The numbers build on the Idaho Falls, Idaho, nuclear medicine specialist’s prior earnings report, which […]

US Ecology has nearly doubled its net income in 2018, including a $5 million spike in its latest quarter, according to the latest earnings report from the environmental services provider. The Boise, Idaho-based company brought in $13.4 million in net income for the earnings period ended Sept. 30, or $0.61 per diluted share, up from […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory in September spent $11,645 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund on federal court litigation, according to the latest expense report to Congress. The September expenses, totaling $12,564, leave the nuclear industry regulator with access to $430,746 in unobligated money from the federal fund intended to pay for licensing, […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week began its full review of a license transfer application that would return control of the nearly decommissioned La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin to its owner. The nuclear power plant has been closed since 1987, and Dairyland Power Cooperative in March 2016 received NRC authorization to transfer […]

A second defendant has been added to a lawsuit seeking to recoup costs for the remediation of the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill in Missouri. Then, in a petition filed Thursday, landfill owner Bridgeton Landfill LLC suggested it would add yet another defendant to the complaint: multinational investment bank Citigroup. On Oct. 23, Bridgeton Landfill […]

Southern California Edison could face up to five violations from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a mishap in placing a canister of used nuclear fuel into storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). Two potential violations are considered “escalated” — a major classification, according to an NRC online briefing Thursday on its […]

By John Stang Paris-based waste and water management multinational Veolia said Thursday net income rose on a boost in revenue for the first nine months of 2018. “Veolia’s nine-month results are very satisfying. Revenue growth is sustained and solid, and provides operating leverage resulting in growth in net current income of 20 percent as to […]