Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Power company Entergy on Tuesday reported higher earnings on both an as-reported and operational basis for the third quarter of the year. After-tax as-reported earnings rose from $388.2 million ($2.16 per share) in third-quarter 2016 to $398.2 million ($2.21 per share) in the latest earnings period. Operational earnings, on a non-generally accepted accounting principles basis, […]

The House of Representatives is now considering two pieces of legislation that would provide $15 per kilogram payments to communities stuck with spent reactor fuel at nuclear power plants. Rep. Joe Courtney’s (D-Conn.) “Stranded Nuclear Waste Accountability Act of 2017” and Rep. Brad Schneider’s (D-Ill.) “STRANDED Act of 2017” were both introduced in the first […]

The government of the United Kingdom this week largely kept mum regarding reports that it might directly take over decommissioning of its shuttered Magnox nuclear sites. Industry sources told the Financial Times it appeared probable that the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) would establish a subsidiary to manage cleanup of the 10 Magnox nuclear power […]

Thomas Gardiner Former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Wednesday endorsed consolidated-interim and consent-based storage for U.S. nuclear waste while the federal government pursues a permanent repository. “I think we’ve got to reach point where questions of moving fuel away to consolidated storage can’t be held hostage to a lack of progress getting a geological […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Jeff Baran told senators recently he has not determined his position on licensing of the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. “I have not formed an opinion on the merits of the Yucca Mountain geologic repository application. As a Commissioner, I have a responsibility to be open-minded and unbiased […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking input on the draft regulatory analysis that will lay out updated cost and benefit figures for its revised Part 61 rule on low-level radioactive waste storage. The draft analysis was issued in September 2016 alongside NRC staff’s proposed final rule package. The commission itself last month directed a […]

A House bill that would make it easier for the federal government to build a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain took a big step toward a floor vote this week, though none was scheduled as of Friday. On Thursday, House leadership at last placed H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of […]

Taxpayers in the United Kingdom are on the hook for up to £122 million in costs associated with a botched contract for decommissioning of the nation’s Magnox nuclear facilities, the U.K. National Audit Office said in a blistering report Wednesday. The government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced in March that the £6.1 billion cleanup contract awarded in 2014 […]

Thomas Gardiner The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has unanimously voted to cut off a potential rule that would have required commercial nuclear facilities to promptly remediate radioactive contamination of surrounding ground, subsurface, and groundwater while still in operation. The three sitting commissioners voted in November and December 2016 to end the rulemaking. The notice was posted […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received formal notice of Entergy’s intent to close its Palisades Power Plant in Michigan more than three years later than it had recently planned. Power operations will end in spring 2022, Charles Arnone, site vice president for Entergy Nuclear Operations, said in a Sept. 28 letter to the NRC. The […]

Thomas Gardiner The timeline for advancing the three nominees for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission remained murky Thursday, more than a week after the confirmation hearing for sitting Commissioner Jeff Baran. The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee has not scheduled a vote on giving Baran a full five-year term to June 30, 2023. Similarly, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request to effectively suspend the requirement that the Indian Point Energy Center in New York state complete fresh assessments of earthquake and flooding risks. The regulator in 2012 required that all holders of nuclear power reactor licenses and construction permits conduct the evaluations in the wake of the […]

In congressional testimony Thursday, Energy Secretary Rick Perry stressed the importance of getting spent nuclear fuel away from the power plants that generated it, even if that means finding “alternatives” to a planned permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “I don’t want to get stuck that Yucca’s the only place that you can go,” […]

Thomas Gardiner The California Public Utilities Commission this week laid out an open-ended schedule for finally resolving the settlement over the premature retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) after parties failed to reach an agreement by the August deadline. The ruling sets forth an expedited schedule for hearings and filings to speed what […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a supplemental inspection of the Columbia Generating Station in Washington state from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 to ensure the nuclear power plant has adequately addressed errors that led to mislabeling of a radioactive waste shipment last year. The regulator in July issued a “white” finding, indicating low to moderate safety significance, […]

After Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, the author of a bill to update U.S. nuclear waste laws and clear the way for the Energy Department to build the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the state said he is in no rush to get the measure to the floor. “In light of the tragedy, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing a new strategic plan to guide its operations from fiscal years 2018 to 2022. The is the seventh volume of the regulator’s strategic plan, which must be updated every four years, and is not a major departure from the document covering fiscal 2014 to 2018, according to an […]

Thomas Gardiner Federal legislation introduced this week could mean millions of dollars in relief for communities still housing spent reactor fuel at nuclear plants, according to two lawmakers from Illinois. The catalyst for the bill is the former Zion plant in Illinois, where used fuel remains in storage nearly two decades after the facility’s closure […]

Thomas Gardiner Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.) had some tough questions for Jeff Baran during his confirmation hearing Wednesday for reappointment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, drawing particular attention to the nominee’s position on the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Barrasso’s panel is the gatekeeper for Baran’s nomination for […]

A new buyer for Waste Control Specialists is expected to be announced in October, four months after a federal judge blocked a prior acquisition attempt, President and CEO Rod Baltzer said Monday. Baltzer mentioned the timeline during a presentation at the Nuclear Decommissioning and Used Fuel Strategy Summit in Charlotte, N.C., according to multiple industry […]

An AREVA Nuclear Materials-NorthStar Group Services joint venture no longer expects to seal the deal in 2017 on its first acquisitions of nuclear plants for decommissioning, an executive said this week. The two companies in February announced the formation of Accelerated Decommissioning Partners, which would buy closed nuclear plants and take charge of decommissioning, site […]

The federal government is likely to rack up tens of billions of dollars in liability over the Department of Energy’s decades-long failure to meet its legal mandate to build a permanent home for spent fuel from U.S. commercial power reactors, lawmakers and panelists said Tuesday during a congressional hearing on U.S. nuclear waste management. More […]

Thomas Gardiner The Palisades Power Plant in Michigan will remain operational more than three years longer than planned, to spring 2022, owner and operator Entergy announced Thursday following the mutual termination of plans for state utility Consumers Energy to buy the companies’ power purchase agreement. The announcement comes less than a week after the Michigan […]

Thomas Gardiner Degrading safety equipment in the spent nuclear fuel pool at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts forced plant owner and operator Entergy to devise a plan to more than double its current number of used fuel assemblies in dry cask storage. The current storage situation, in which close to 3,000 spent fuel […]

Canada’s Port Hope Project is scheduled by the end of November to complete the first of four storage cells of an above-ground engineered mound for storage of radioactive waste, with transport and storage due to start early in 2018. The Port Hope Project, one part of a broader radioactive waste cleanup program covering two municipalities […]

Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment hopes to persuade lawmakers to change state law to increase its ability to regulate disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) waste in state landfills. The state’s 1963 Radiation Control Act prohibits the Colorado government from developing regulations for management of TENORM until the U.S. Environmental […]