Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed set of rules for nuclear power reactors in decommissioning could leave taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in costs in the event of a major accident, according to four U.S. senators. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) aired a number […]

By John Stang Exelon and Holtec International aim by the end of this month to submit their application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to transfer the operating license for the soon-to-close Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey. The two companies had initially hoped to submit the transfer application by Aug. 17. However, at an Aug. 15 […]

A recent meeting between senior U.S. and South Korean officials ended with a pledge to cooperate on dealing with used nuclear reactor fuel and other atomic operations, according to the Department of Energy. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Friday led the second plenary of the High […]

President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 signed the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2019, accepting its prohibition on funding for disposal of defense nuclear waste. The final bill is another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to revive plans for a radioactive waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, state […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix expects its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system to go into fuller production in late 2018 at its Washington state location, according to President and CEO Mark Duff. Early this year, the Atlanta-based waste management company entered into a contract with Veolia Nuclear Solutions to install its patented vitrification technology in Perma-Fix’s […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it is opening a special inspection of a recent mishap in loading used reactor fuel into a storage pad at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. The announcement comes as watchdog groups in California are demanding action, with one reportedly planning a lawsuit, in […]

The Senate on Wednesday voted 87-10 in favor of advancing the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides no support for shipping radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs to the always-controversial planned repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. This is the latest hit to the Trump administration’s efforts to resume licensing for the underground […]

A committee of the United Kingdom Parliament on Tuesday declined to rule out construction of a geologic repository for nuclear waste under one of the nation’s nuclear parks. The House of Commons’ Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee published its findings regarding the government’s draft national policy statement for geologic disposal infrastructure, issued in January. […]

The ExchangeMonitor is taking its August recess, and RadWaste Monitor will not be published during the second and third weeks of the month. We’ll still be in the office, so keep the news tips coming, and look for the next weekly newsletter in your inbox on Friday, Aug. 24.

All spent fuel at the retired Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station has been moved to dry storage, owner Entergy announced Thursday. The transfer campaign, conducted by Holtec International, began in June 2017. It involved removing nearly 3,000 sent fuel assemblies from wet storage and placing them in 45 storage casks, which were then transported to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week denied the latest, and last, request to extend the comment period on the scope of its environmental impact statement for a proposed spent nuclear fuel storage site in southeastern New Mexico. Monday was the agency’s deadline for public input on this aspect of the broader technical review of the […]

By John Stang NextEra Energy Resources plans to shut down Iowa’s sole nuclear power reactor in 2020, the latest in a series of announced shutdowns of atomic energy plants around the nation. The 615-megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center boiling-water reactor, about 10 miles outside of Cedar Rapids, has a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to operate […]

French nuclear company Orano’s revenue dipped by nearly $100 million over the first half of 2018, while operating income posted a large gain even as net income fell even further into the red. The Paris-based nuclear fuel cycle specialist, part of what remains of the former AREVA, reported 1.71 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in revenue […]

By John Stang Holtec International announced this week it would buy three nuclear power plants set to close in coming months and years, then turn them over for decommissioning by a joint venture recently formed with a Canadian engineering corporation. On Tuesday, Chicago-based power company Exelon said it would sell its Oyster Creek Generating Station […]

Former Waste Control Specialists President and CEO Rod Baltzer said Wednesday he has joined another radioactive waste management company as chief operating officer. “I am the Chief Operating Officer of Deep Isolation … a startup company focused on the storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel deep underground,” Baltzer said in an update to his […]

Exelon Generation on Thursday reported a net income increase, on a generally accepted accounting principles basis, to $178 million in the second quarter of 2018, compared to a net loss of $235 million in the same period of 2017. Operating earnings were up year over year from $217 million to $331 million. Exelon Generation is […]

A court in the United Kingdom is scheduled on Aug. 17 to hear a government agency’s prosecution of the manager of the Sellafield nuclear site over a 2017 worker accident. On July 20, the Workington Magistrates Court directed the case to the Carlisle Crown Court, according to a notice from the U.K.’s Office of Nuclear […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved exempting the Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey from some emergency planning requirements following its closure this fall. In individual votes cast between July 5 and July 11, four of the five commissioners approved Oyster Creek owner Exelon’s entire request to forgo some emergency preparedness […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should address water supply and quality and a number of other issues in its environmental impact statement (EIS) for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage site in southeastern New Mexico, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The environmental evaluation is a key part of a broader NRC technical review […]

By John Stang The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved Thursday a settlement agreement on the division of costs for the premature shutdown on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The five commissioners followed the June 22 recommendation from CPUC Administrative Law Judge Darcie Houck in favor of the January agreement between the plant’s primary […]

Draft guidance for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ongoing reactor decommissioning rulemaking could create additional hassles for nuclear utilities – the opposite of the purpose of the process, according to an organization representing closed nuclear power plants around the nation. “There are multiple instances in which the proposed guidance documents do not align with the stated […]

The final version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which now needs only Senate approval and a presidential signature to become law, authorized no funding to send high-level nuclear waste generated by U.S. defense programs to the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) quickly claimed credit for the lack […]

A Canadian research firm has selected a decommissioning provider for its SLOWPOKE-2 nuclear reactor, and will return a small amount of spent fuel from the site to the United States. The Saskatoon-based Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) on Monday announced that Candu Energy, a subsidiary of engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin, would decommission the Safe Low-Power […]

By John Stang About three dozen environmental and antinuclear organizations have requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission extend the end of its current comment period on a proposed temporary used nuclear reactor fuel storage site in New Mexico from July 30 to Oct. 30. The nuclear industry regulator through Monday is taking comments on […]

Nearly a week after a technically bipartisan delegation of House members and staff visited Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., lawmakers still have not set a date to begin final negotiations on a 2019 budget bill that, technically, could include funding for the proposed waste-repository. Those negotiations, a bicameral conference committee of lawmakers from the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission pushed back publication of new supplemental rules for Part 61 low-level radioactive waste disposal to early 2019, the independent federal agency said this week. Previously, the commissioned planned to publish the new supplemental rules this summer. “The staff encountered some complexities in implementing the changes required in the supplemental rule, so […]