Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Holtec International said this week it plans by March 31 to submit its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility in southeast New Mexico. The company plans to build a 120,000-metric-ton capacity facility about 12 miles from the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday fielded an onslaught of complaints from the public about the safety culture at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, following a controversial email leak in December that revealed troubling inspection findings at the beleaguered Massachusetts plant. At the request of a host of officials from the state, NRC staff held a public […]

President Donald Trump has chosen Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Kristine Svinicki to replace Stephen Burns as NRC chairman, an official with the agency said Thursday, confirming the first significant decision from Trump concerning the agency. Svinicki, a Republican who disagreed with discontinuing Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings in 2010, started her second five-year term in 2012. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting in Massachusetts on Jan. 31 to discuss preliminary findings from an ongoing inspection at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the agency announced Monday. The agency scheduled the meeting after Gov. Charlie Baker and other state officials raised concerns about an NRC email leak in December that […]

Waste Control Specialists’ (WCS) application to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for nuclear waste in West Texas is ready for Nuclear Regulatory Commission review, the agency said in a letter to the company Thursday. The NRC in June said the application filed two months earlier lacked the technical detail needed for the […]

U.S. Entergy has withdrawn its plan submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to permanently shut down its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant – a potential signal the utility is confident of closing the sale of the facility to fellow power company Exelon. The $110 million deal, which would allow the struggling plant to remain […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not be affected by President Donald Trump’s new federal hiring freeze, as the agency has been under a self-imposed suspension on hiring for more than a year as part of Project Aim. Trump signed a presidential memorandum Monday, effectively suspending hiring in most of the executive branch, save for positions in military, […]

Holtec International this week revealed a “cutting-edge” decommissioning approach it said will allow utilities to convert nuclear plant sites to greenfield status about five-and-a-half years after reactor shutdown. The “proto-prompt” system features a friction-stir welded Metamic HT fuel basket, which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed in 2008. The nuclear waste company developed the concept to […]

A group of scientists with decades of experience consulting for the federal government sent a letter on Monday to Secretary of Energy-designate Rick Perry, urging the Energy Department to complete the Yucca Mountain licensing process. The Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force Science Panel, a five-member board that includes scientists from DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories, urged […]

DAY 1 – JAN. 20, 2017: Inauguration Day. Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. We’ll check in with one long, big-picture update every 25 days, with a regular flow of updates in between to keep you up […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has identified six findings of very low safety significance at the Clinton Power Station in Illinois and is treating the issues as non-cited violations. Operator Exelon had planned to close the nuclear facility in 2017, but passage of a state energy subsidy program in late 2016 allowed the utility to forgo […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to meet with Massachusetts officials and residents in response to the public backlash following an NRC email leak that revealed troubling inspection findings at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), the state’s two senators and nine representatives, and a long list of local lawmakers demanded […]

Idaho National Laboratory officials still hope to bring in a shipment of spent nuclear fuel for a research project with South Korea this spring. But it appears unlikely that will be allowed due to ongoing delays at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit. Under Idaho’s 1995 settlement agreement with the Energy Department, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Entergy for its failure to minimize introduction of residual radioactivity into subsurface groundwater at the Indian Point Energy Center. The NRC notified the utility of the violation, an issue the regulator regarded as “very low safety significance,” in a Jan. 17 letter, which was made public Wednesday. The citation […]

U.S. Mark Lombard, director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Division of Spent Fuel Management, has been promoted to deputy director of the agency’s Office of Administration. Michael Layton, director of the Division of Security Operations in the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, will replace Lombard, who has spent five years in the position. […]

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, President Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary, did not rule out the prospect of Nevada storing high-level radioactive waste during his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, but he said he would explore alternatives. The Obama administration in 2009 cancelled plans to bury high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel at a repository […]

The Donald Trump administration could save a lot of money by building a deep geologic repository just for Cold War nuclear waste, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said here Wednesday after his farewell speech to the Beltway press corps. The key, Moniz told reporters after prepared remarks at the National Press Club, is whether the incoming […]

French multinational nuclear company AREVA on Wednesday announced the formation of a new subsidiary to manage its operations in the United States. The move is part of the troubled company’s broader restructuring, in which it is focusing on nuclear fuel cycle work and selling off its reactor business. Sam Shakir, an executive with AREVA for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday approved Entergy’s request for additional time to comply with a safety equipment update at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York. The NRC ordered a series of design improvements for American nuclear reactors following the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in […]

Ken Grumski, vice president of federal services at Waste Control Specialists, on Wednesday announced he is leaving the company to take an executive position with SECUR LLC. In an email to dozens of industry and government officials, Grumski said Friday will be his last day at the Dallas-based company that operates a complex near Andrews, Texas, for storage of […]

After roughly a year traveling around the country and gathering public input on nuclear waste management strategy, Department of Energy officials on Thursday released an initial version of the agency’s consent-based siting process. The draft document outlines the department’s strategy in establishing the locations for nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities. Consent-based siting — the Obama administration’s strategy for managing […]

Nevada lawmakers and a Republican congressman this week introduced dueling bills concerning federal plans for permanent storage of U.S. nuclear waste. Two other Republican congressman also introduced a bill that would allow the Energy Department to contract private nuclear waste storage companies. The Obama administration in 2009 canceled the planned Yucca Mountain geologic repository in Nevada, […]

Entergy said Monday it will shut down its Indian Point Energy Center by 2021, citing declining revenue and increased operating costs at the New York nuclear plant, which has been at the center of a controversy concerning bolt degradation. The utility plans to shut down the Unit 2 reactor in April 2020, followed by Unit […]

John Kotek, a key leader in the Energy Department’s consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage, has left his post to join the Nuclear Energy Institute as vice president for policy development and public affairs, the nuclear industry’s lobbying arm announced on Jan. 6. Kotek started in his new position on Monday. “I couldn’t be more […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Dec. 29 issued a white inspection finding at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, confirming that operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) failed to “adequately maintain the (plant’s) emergency core cooling system.” Located about 12 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo, Diablo Canyon is the last operating nuclear plant in California […]

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy said Tuesday it has won a three-year contract to support disassembly of two reactors at Sweden’s Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant. The work, expected to start in January and wrap up by the end of 2019, involves segmentation of the reactor pressure vessel internals for reactor Units 1 and 2 at the […]