Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Exelon said May 30 that “absent needed policy reforms” it will retire its 837 MW Three Mile Island Generating Station (TMI) near Harrisburg, Penn., by September 30, 2019. Chris Crane, president and chief executive of Exelon, held out the caveat that the reactor could operate beyond that point if Pennsylvania follows the lead of New […]

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Entergy are no fans of a bill again being proposed by a trio of Northeast lawmakers to speed up the transfer of nuclear spent fuel into dry cask storage. Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (ID-Vermont), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the Dry Cask Storage Act legislation May 26. […]

There is no cause for concern regarding the shipment into the United States of 10,000 metric tons of radioactively contaminated material from Canada, according to a senior manager with the company that will process the waste. UniTech Services Group, of Longmeadow, Mass., in October filed for separate Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses to import and export […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not resume consideration of the Energy Department’s application to license Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear waste repository, despite media reports to the contrary sparked by a routine notice published in the federal register this week. The notice that appeared Wednesday in the federal government’s official journal is essentially a […]

Ed McGinnis was appointed deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, a promotion for the long-time DOE civil servant who had been deputy assistant secretary for international nuclear energy policy and cooperation since 2007. In his new role, which did not require Senate confirmation, McGinnis is the number-two man at the DOE office responsible for civilian […]

James Voss will step down as managing director of Waste Management Symposia at the end of June. The organization helms the annual Waste Management Symposium, which is widely considered a must-attend show among nuclear-cleanup experts in industry and government. Voss broke the news late Tuesday in a widely distributed email. The text of that email […]

The Department of Energy this week officially canceled its oft-foiled plan to test deep boreholes for storage of nuclear waste, as the Trump administration further formalized its intention to put that waste in Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “Due to changes in budget priorities regarding nuclear waste policy, the Department of Energy does not intend to […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive $118 million in its upcoming budget for continued cleanup of former federal nuclear sites, under the fiscal 2018 funding proposal released Tuesday by the White House. The funding level for the Army Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) is the same as listed in a budget […]

A federal judge on May 19 authorized the state of Nevada and nuclear power industry representatives to intervene in Texas’ lawsuit demanding the federal government move ahead expeditiously with a permanent repository for the nation’s nuclear waste. Judge Patrick Higginbotham, of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, did not provide the reasoning for his separate […]

By Wayne Barber The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday adopted a cost estimate for decommissioning the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant that is over $1 billion less than the amount sought by owner Pacific Gas & Electric Co. In April, state Administrative Law Judge Darcie Houck issued a proposed decision that would reduce […]

By Wayne Barber The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, in a ruling earlier this month, held that an Entergy subsidiary is due more than $560,000 in spent fuel “characterization” costs from the U.S Energy Department. The court had already awarded utility Entergy Gulf States total damages exceeding $47.5 million for site modifications, additional security, and […]

By Wayne Barber The Nuclear Regulatory Commission budget request for fiscal 2018 puts funding back into licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada even as it reflects overall belt tightening and a continuing reduction in employee headcount at the agency. The regulator is requesting $952 million for the budget year that starts Oct. […]

The Donald Trump administration requested $150 million for 2018 across the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart DOE’s application to license Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a nuclear waste repository. The $120 million of funding within DOE encompasses $110 million for Yucca licensing and $10 million for an interim storage […]

By Wayne Barber While he realizes the odds are slim, a state senator from rural Nevada would like to see policymakers seriously consider building an interim nuclear waste storage facility at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), which was long used for nuclear weapons testing. The prevailing political mindset on high-level nuclear waste in Nevada […]

The Nevada Senate this week approved a joint resolution that would make official the state Legislature’s opposition to the Energy Department’s proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository. The measure, Assembly Joint Resolution 10, passed 19-2. The Nevada General Assembly approved the measure by a 32-6 vote in in March, with four lawmakers absent. The resolution now […]

International Isotopes on Monday reported another net loss in the first quarter of 2017 on the back of a spike in operating expenses. President and CEO Steve Laflin said this week, though, that a new product offering and other opportunities in coming years could finally drive the company to profitability. The Idaho-based medical isotopes manufacturer […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff recommended the agency authorize construction of a medical isotope production facility in Missouri following completion of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project. That leaves completion of the safety review for the plant and the NRC’s ruling on the permit application. “After weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits […]

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled on May 25 to decide whether to approve the latest, disputed cost estimate for decommissioning the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., owner of the two-reactor site in San Luis Obispo County, in 2015 estimated it would cost $3.8 billion to decommission the plant […]

U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a license application for export of 10,000 tons of nuclear material back to Canada after it has been decontaminated at a facility in Tennessee. Massachusetts-based UniTech Group Services last October filed for import and export licenses for the material, which would […]

The Trump administration is proposing a modest increase in funding from current levels for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to leaked data that appears to outline its spending plan for the next budget year. The regulator would receive just over $939.1 million for salaries and expenses in fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1. That would […]

By Wayne Barber Power provider Entergy is wrestling with regulatory issues for the spent fuel pool at its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its latest quarterly report for the Massachusetts facility. Entergy has announced plans to retire the 680-megawatt Pilgrim reactor by June 1, 2019, primarily due to continued low […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is recommending allowing nuclear plant operators to spend money from their decommissioning trust funds on certain separate expenses without having to obtain authorization from the federal agency. The recommendation, if enacted by the NRC as part of a larger rulemaking, would still require that nuclear utilities ensure their accounts maintain a […]

The seller and buyer for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station should not be allowed to change certain commitments for decommissioning and site restoration at the shuttered plant, the nongovernmental New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution said in a motion filed on May 5 with a state regulator. The Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) must approve the […]

The parent company of Waste Control Specialists (WCS) on Tuesday suggested deep doubts about the likelihood of securing a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to build and operate an interim spent fuel storage facility for spent reactor fuel. The statement from holding company Valhi Inc. comes as its subsidiary is said to be wrestling with ongoing […]

Nuclear remediation and waste treatment provider Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Wednesday reported improvements in both revenue and operating losses for the first quarter of 2017. The Atlanta-based company brought in $12.7 million in revenue for the three months ended on March 31, up from $10 million in the same quarter of 2017. Revenue in the […]

AECOM, a near-ubiquitous presence on the Energy Department’s legacy nuclear cleanup sites, said this week that operating income at its Management Services division sank 55 percent year over year to slightly more than $50 million in the quarter ended March 31. Management Services’ earnings from joint ventures — including some of AECOM’s partnerships for DOE nuclear […]

The possibility that U.S. nuclear waste could be used in a radiological “dirty bomb” if not interred at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is not a compelling argument in favor of the always controversial project, experts said after a lawmaker from Texas cited the threat. Republican Rep. Pete Olson late last month at a House Energy […]