Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

A federal court last week awarded the Dairyland Power Cooperative a $73.5 million settlement for the government’s breach of contract concerning nuclear waste retrieval at the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor power plant in Genoa, Wis. About 74,000 metric tons of spent fuel is now stored at American nuclear sites, resulting from the Energy Department’s […]

U.S. The Department of Energy’s solicitation for deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test closes Monday. The estimated five-year, $35 million project would produce data on the feasibility of storing DOE-managed nuclear waste in 16,000-foot boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations. It is one storage method the Obama administration is exploring as an alternative to the canceled […]

A group of conservationists held a rally at the Massachusetts State House on Thursday, calling on Gov. Charlie Baker (R) to support shutting down the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, which has been plagued by operational issues since 2013. Cape Downwinders — a group consisting of residents from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket —joined the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with an environmental impact review of Waste Control Specialists’ plan to build and operate a 40,000-metric-ton consolidated interim nuclear waste storage facility in West Texas, a senior NRC official told the agency’s commissioners Tuesday. The NRC has yet to accept the overall license application, however, as it continues […]

The Fort Calhoun Station will cease operations on Monday, a manager with the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week, as the company ramps up its $1.2 billion decommissioning project at the Nebraska nuclear facility. OPPD’s Board of Directors in June unanimously approved shutting down the 43-year-old, Blair, Neb., facility, […]

A coalition of electric utilities filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the New York Public Service Commission in an attempt to reverse approval of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which is projected to pay upstate nuclear power plant operators nearly $8 billion in energy subsidies over the program’s lifetime. The coalition argues that Cuomo’s zero-emission-credit […]

Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) said Wednesday it is accepting public input on an updated plan for storage of radioactive waste at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) revamped project description for the Near Surface Disposal Facility now involves management of a small amount of intermediate-level and mixed waste, rather than […]

Sweden-based nuclear technology company Studvik’s third-quarter sales dipped by 12.7 percent from the same period of 2015, from 189.8 million Swedish krona (SEK) ($21.3 million) to 164.6 SEK ($18.5 million), according to the company’s earnings report Friday. Studsvik President and CEO Michael Mononen said during Friday’s earnings call that “there is no secret that I […]

Environmentalists suing the North Dakota Health Council over rules it improperly adopted in 2015, which boosted landfill radiation-level allowances, have asked the court for attorney’s fees and $1,000 in damages. The nongovernmental Dakota Resource Council and North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition sued the council in an attempt to vacate the rules, which were first […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday accepted NextEra Energy Resources’ license amendment request as the company addresses concrete degradation issues, known as alkali-silica reaction (ASR), that have long plagued the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire. The NRC can now conduct a detailed technical review of the application. Agency spokesman Neil Sheehan stated by email […]

A watchdog group fired back at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staff on Tuesday, saying it would be wrong for the regulator to deny a hearing over potentially relaxing post-Fukushima safety rules at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. NRC’s staff last week recommended the commission deny Pilgrim Watch and seven other petitioners’ request for […]

A location near Nara Visa, N.M., is in the running with a handful of other sites for the Energy Department’s deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test. A group led by Georgia-based Enercon Federal Services, Inc. and DOSECC Exploration Services presented plans this week for a potential test site in Quay County, N.M., about 300 […]

Consumer rights group Public Citizen is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject Entergy’s application to sell its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant to fellow power provider Exelon, arguing that the utilities failed to address the impact the $110 million deal would have on New York state’s power market. If the deal […]

A venture capitalist behind new plans for interim spent nuclear fuel storage and reprocessing in South Carolina said Wednesday he is reaching out to state utilities to further develop the concept. Mike Stake, who is leading the Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Group, plans to reprocess spent fuel from the state’s nuclear reactors at a facility […]

The United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) as of Wednesday has complied with a 2015 regulatory demand that it improve management of higher-active radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site in Berkshire. The U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) issued the improvement notice in July 2015 because the Defense Ministry contractor had not met the terms […]

Progress must be made on both Yucca Mountain licensing and consolidated interim storage in order for the U.S. to reach a permanent solution for nuclear waste management and disposal, incoming Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick said Friday. “I do believe it (all) needs to move together,” Korsnick said at a media briefing. “We have […]

U.S. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Inspector General’s Office said in a new report the agency has an opportunity to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) oversight program through centralizing regulatory guidance documents. Guidance documents aid NRC licensees and applicants in implementing specific regulations, NRC staff techniques for evaluating specific problems […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Nuclear industry representatives voiced concerns Monday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2019 decommissioning rulemaking could force unnecessary burdens on current facility decommissioning projects. Southern California Edison (SCE) has received everything it needs from NRC’s exemption process to proceed with decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, but the company will require […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has identified a “white” inspection finding, or low to moderate safety issue, concerning an emergency cooling system at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. The agency detailed the Sept. 12 finding in a letter to operator Pacific Gas & Electric on Monday. Located about 12 miles southwest of San Luis […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering action against Waste Control Specialists for an apparent license violation in 2014 in which the company improperly moved some 70 waste box containers of transuranic waste between two facilities at its storage complex in Andrews, Texas. According to NRC documents, WCS moved the containers from a storage pad outside […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Entergy is moving forward with decommissioning paperwork for its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, despite the tentative $110 million sale of the facility to Exelon, a senior executive said Monday. “We submitted all the regulatory submittals that we need for the early items that you need for decommissioning: post-shutdown plan, the […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Holtec International executive said Monday that the company is reviewing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s communication with Waste Control Specialists to make sure Holtec’s eventual application to operate a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico does not lack the additional information WCS is now relaying to the regulator. […]

U.S. The Nuclear Energy Institute on Tuesday announced the selection of Chief Operating Officer Maria Korsnick as the industry lobbyist’s next president and chief executive officer. Korsnick will take over for Marvin Fertel upon his retirement on Dec. 31 of this year. Fertel has led NEI for nine years. “Maria is well known throughout the […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump skirted questions on the canceled plans for a nuclear waste repository Yucca Mountain in Nevada during an interview with local television station KSNV this week, saying he’s going to “take a very strong look at it.” Trump was asked why Nevada should have to store nuclear waste at a repository planned about […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Monday recommended the agency deny a watchdog group’s call for a public hearing on Entergy’s request to forgo certain NRC Fukushima lessons learned program requirements at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The utility is asking the agency to relax requirements for installing a hardened containment venting system (HCVS) at the Massachusetts […]

U.S. Holtec International said last week its HI-STAR ATB-1T cask design for nuclear waste transport successfully passed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 30-foot “free drop” test. According to Holtec, the HI-STAR ATB-1T is the first “large, rectangular” cask for high-level waste to pass the test without any breach of containment boundary. The tests require that casks […]