Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The cost to decommission Soviet-designed, first-generation nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia could total up to 11.4 billion euros ($12.7 billion), according to a report issued Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors. Additionally, financing is not keeping up with the rising costs. The gap between decommissioning costs and financing is now €1.56 billion […]

Even with U.S. use of molybdenum-99 dropping in recent years, the nation faces a possible shortage of the crucial medical radioisotope when Canada’s National Research Universal reactor halts regular production next month, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report also found that global efforts to minimize and ultimately […]

Congress adjourned for the week without passing a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded at 2016 levels until Dec. 9, leaving lawmakers only another week to put finishing touches on the bill or risk another government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) began the week with hopes that the upper chamber by […]

A South Carolina-based venture capitalist backed by a board specializing in nuclear energy intends to submit an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate an interim spent nuclear fuel storage and reprocessing facility in the Palmetto State. Mike Stake – owner of personal concierge and handyman service Everything at Stake and chairman […]

Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station returned to full power early Monday morning, after a nearly two-week shutdown brought on by excessive water levels in the plant’s reactor vessel. The Massachusetts facility, which is scheduled for closure by 2019, was reconnected to the electrical grid Saturday and returned to 100 percent power at about 3 a.m. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it is accepting comments through Oct. 17 regarding the proposed transfer of the operating license for the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York from power company Entergy to anticipated new owner Exelon. Interested parties also have until Oct. 5 to request a hearing or petition to […]

An article in the Sept. 9 edition of RadWaste Monitor incorrectly stated that Exelon is a potentially responsible party at the West Lake Landfill. The article also incorrectly stated that B&K Construction illegally dumped materials at the site.

In its continued effort to apply lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded a research contract worth up to $2.2 million for two groups to analyze severe disasters at nuclear power plants. At Fukushima, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a 15-meter tsunami, cutting the plant’s power […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemaking intended to streamline the agency’s decommissioning processes remains on schedule, an NRC official said last week. Reactor Decommissioning Branch Chief Bruce Watson, who appeared at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit in Las Vegas, said the NRC will look to issue a final rule in 2019. The next milestone is scheduled […]

Waste Control Specialists said Friday it has hired a new executive to manage its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for development and operation of a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Mike Ford’s title will be vice president of licensing and corporate compliance. He replaces Scott Kirk, WCS’ former vice president […]

U.S. The Nuclear Regulatory Commision has scheduled a meeting for next week as part of its efforts to collect comments on the license termination program and partial site release for the shuttered La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor power plant in Wisconsin. “The license termination plan provides site radiological information, the planned demolition and decommissioning tasks, […]

Holtec International is now eyeing March for submitting its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Holtec had originally planned to submit the application in November, but spokeswoman Caitlin Marmion said by email Monday that the company “is […]

About a dozen companies “are engaged” in the solicitation process for the Energy Department’s new request for proposals (RFP) for its $35 million deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing. The department on Tuesday held a pre-proposal meeting in Las Vegas to discuss the […]

Entergy failed to restart its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday, after bringing the reactor to 9 percent power before discovering an issue with the facility’s turbine turning gear, prompting the utility to shut the unit down. The Massachusetts plant was first shut down Sept. 6 after a malfunction in which excessive water levels were […]

The Department of Energy plans to draw up a draft design for its consent-based process for nuclear waste storage by the end of 2016, acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek said Wednesday. The consent-based siting process is the Obama administration’s replacement for the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Kotek, who […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said Thursday that if the next president maintains the Obama administration’s anti-Yucca Mountain stance, it will be the final death knell for the nuclear waste geologic repository in Nevada. “I suspect by this time next year we will have an indication of whether Yucca Mountain is going to […]

The San Onofre Community Engagement Panel will meet Sept. 15 to discuss the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station decommissioning. The regular quarterly meeting is set from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the QLN Conference Center, 1938 Avenida Del Oro, Oceanside, according to Thursday’s announcement. The 18-member panel consists of government officials, scientists, and environmental […]

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday lambasted the Nuclear Energy Institute for “impeding” the Energy Department’s consent-based siting program for nuclear waste storage, and for ignoring Nevada’s opposition to the canceled plan for a geologic waste repository at Yucca Mountain. During the recently closed comment period on the consent-based siting initiative, NEI, the nuclear industry’s legislative and […]

Sampling of a stormwater area at Missouri’s West Lake Landfill in June did not turn up any radiologically impacted material (RIM), the Environmental Protection Agency reported Wednesday. The landfill, which is adjacent to the Bridgeton Landfill, where an underground fire has been burning since 2010, contains waste from the former uranium production facility at Mallinckrodt […]

LAS VEGAS — A senior Energy Department official said Wednesday there’s no doubt the agency will find an agreeable site for its deep-borehole nuclear waste storage field test, despite failing to secure two separate locations over several months this year in North Dakota and South Dakota. Following his appearance at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit here, DOE […]

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could add the Environmental Protection Agency’s West Lake Landfill Superfund site to its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program under the next administration, FUSRAP National Program Manager Nicki Fatherly said Thursday. Lawmakers have been calling for FUSRAP to replace EPA at the troubled Missouri landfill, where […]

Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was still shut down Thursday following a malfunction two days earlier in which excessive water levels were recorded in the plant’s reactor vessel, the latest failure for the Massachusetts facility. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said by email Tuesday the reactor shut down because of a high water level “resulting from […]

U.S. The Department of Energy has scheduled a public meeting for Sept. 15 to summarize the public feedback it has received regarding its consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage, for which it has received more than 11,000 public comments. Department officials, who will also discuss the next steps for consent-based siting, will be on […]

A 132-canister shipment of highly active nuclear waste departed the United Kingdom on Thursday and is en route to Japan, according to the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The five-flask transport, loaded aboard the Pacific Grebe nuclear transport vessel, is set to arrive in Japan in the second half of October, as the regulator continues cleanup efforts at the Sellafield nuclear site […]

Nearly 70 percent of the 100 Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed nuclear reactors are now in compliance with new emergency response safety equipment standards the agency has implemented through its Fukushima Lessons Learned initiative. That’s according to the latest documents detailing the progress in implementation of the NRC’s “flex” equipment. Flex equipment, which is considered the foundation […]

AREVA has begun transferring nuclear fuel cycle activities to its newly formed NewCo, the French company announced Tuesday as part of a mass restructuring meant to raise at least 5 billion euros for the company through government investment and asset sales. The company has drawn up a draft partial transfer agreement, which AREVA SA will […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns in a recent letter to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) defended the agency’s issuing of exemptions for decommissioned nuclear power plants from emergency response and security regulations, a practice Markey and other lawmakers have denounced. Markey, whose state is home to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, which is scheduled to […]