Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

French waste management group Veolia recorded a 6.4 percent increase in year-over-year net income for the first half of 2016, according to the company’s latest earnings report released Monday. Veolia reported a 1 percent decline in year-over-year revenue, recording $13.4 million (€12 million) for the first six months of the year, compared to $13.7 million […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has opted to keep two rulemakings tied to Yucca Mountain alive, despite staff’s recommendation in February to discontinue those and eight other rulemakings. The agency announced the decision in a July 29 Federal Register notice. The Yucca Mountain efforts – which concern nuclear fuel tracking, emergency planning, and drug and fatigue […]

New York’s Public Service Commission on Monday approved Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which could pay upstate nuclear power plant operators up to $1 billion in zero-emission energy credits over the first two years of the program. The four-member board voted 3-1 in support of the plan, with one commissioner registering a “concur” vote, […]

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) continues to press the Department of Energy to find a new home for about 1,800 tons of high-level nuclear waste that has accumulated in his district at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Issa submitted a letter to DOE on July 29, ahead of the department’s Sunday deadline for accepting […]

Like Congress, the ExchangeMonitor is going on recess in August, and RadWaste Monitor will not be published during the second and third weeks of the month. We’ll still be in the office, so keep the news tips coming, and look for the next weekly newsletter in your inbox on Friday, Aug. 26.

Uranium conversion services provider ConverDyn has reached a settlement in federal court with the Energy Department, ending the company’s lawsuit alleging its business could suffer “irreparable harm” as a result of DOE increasing uranium transfer activities in 2014. Colorado-based ConverDyn sued DOE following a 2014 secretarial determination (an official decision handed down by the energy secretary), which […]

Power company Entergy on Tuesday reported $797.3 million in consolidated earnings for the first half of 2016, a 78 percent increase from the $446.9 million earnings reported in the same period for 2015. The utility recorded $567.3 million in as-reported earnings for the second quarter, compared to $148.8 million for the same period of 2015. […]

Legislation that would have given Massachusetts discretion over $25 million in annual funding for the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station failed during this legislative session, and the state instead will form an advisory panel to direct decommissioning activities. Plant operator Entergy, citing economic factors, announced in October 2015 that it would shut Pilgrim […]

U.S. Holtec International said on July 29 it has successfully completed design and safety analysis simulation for the storage system it plans to use at a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The analysis, using Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved simulation methods, showed that a number of safety margins are unaffected or are […]

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) said this week it will delay by two weeks filing its joint proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) as it begins plans to close its Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant by 2025. PG&E had was originally scheduled to file on Thursday, but opted for the delay to continue discussions […]

A North Dakota judge has denied the state’s request to dismiss a lawsuit over rules the North Dakota Health Council improperly adopted in 2015 that boosted landfill radiation-level allowances. State District Court Judge Thomas Schneider denied the Health Council’s motion in an order Monday, stating that “genuine issues of material fact exist.” The nongovernmental Dakota […]

Waste Control Specialists will not need to gain unanimous consent from waste transport corridor communities for its application to operate an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas, a government affairs expert helping the company work through regulatory issues said Wednesday. In its post-Yucca Mountain plan for nuclear waste storage, the Obama administration […]

Environmentalists said the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) staff zero-emission credit proposal for upstate nuclear power plants under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard would rip off New York consumers, while ignoring cleaner, more affordable energy options. That’s one of the takeaways from comments four environmental groups submitted before PSC’s deadline for public input […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns said Tuesday that from a legal standpoint, his short-handed commission is adequate, but he hopes for a fuller board soon. The commission is now down to three members, with Commissioner William Ostendorff leaving his post in June, after six years with the agency, for a teaching position at his […]

U.S. The 2016 Democratic Party Platform does not address America’s commercial nuclear waste storage problem. The 51-page document was released last week, ahead of this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton was officially named the party’s presidential candidate. Though Republicans in their own 2016 platform vowed to end the Obama administration’s “disregard […]

Edison International recorded a net income of $276 million, or $0.85 per share, for the second quarter of 2016, down from $379 million, or $1.16 per share, in the same period for 2015, the California utility announced Thursday in its latest earning report. Based in Rosemead, Calif., Edison International is the parent company of Southern […]

North American environmental services company US Ecology recorded $122.4 million of total revenue for the second quarter of 2016, down from $139.7 million in the same quarter last year, according to the company’s latest earnings report Thursday. Total revenue for the first half of 2016 was $235.7 million, down from $276.4 million in the first […]

Waste Control Specialists on Wednesday clarified capacity details concerning its application to operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County, Texas, following a Nuclear Regulatory Commission determination that the application is incomplete. The commission in a June 22 letter said the company’s 3,000-page application, filed in April, lacked the technical […]

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California was intentionally operated past its capacity, creating a steam leak that resulted in the shutdown of the facility’s two operating reactors in 2012, according to a report released Tuesday. Citing Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents obtained through an open records request, Vinod Arora, a former fire protection […]

U.S. There are no on-site safety threats at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in upstate New York, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined following last month’s leak from the facility that created an oil sheen in Lake Ontario. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Monday via email that the oil originated from a vent […]

Sweden-based nuclear technology company Studsvik’s sales remained largely flat year over year in the second quarter of 2016, according to its earnings report Friday. Sales decreased slightly from 177.7 million Swedish krona (SEK) ($20.6 million) in second-quarter 2015 to 176.3 million SEK ($20.4 million) in the same timespan this year, the report shows. The company’s profit per […]

The Republican Party has formally announced its intention to revive plans for a national repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “We will end the Administration’s disregard of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act with respect to the long-term storage of nuclear waste,” the 2016 Republican Party Platform states. The finalized 58-page document was […]

The North Dakota Health Council will reconsider rules it illegally adopted in 2015 that boosted radiation-level allowances at state landfills, according to documents released Tuesday. The decision follows Monday’s court hearing in which a state attorney defended approval of the rules. The Health Council will consider the rules, which went into effect Jan. 1., for […]

Parties disputing the $4.7 billion settlement for the premature closing of California’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) have not shown that the substantive terms of the deal are unreasonable, plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) argued Thursday. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reopened the settlement case, which dictates that state ratepayers shoulder […]

The Department of Energy and Battelle Memorial Institute are calling it quits on their $35 million contract for a deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test, after failing to gain public support and secure two separate sites in North Dakota and South Dakota. “We wanted to let you know that the Department of Energy and […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said Monday it has won approval to build two new vaults and an extension to a third vault at its Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR). With the approval from planners in Cumbria, the facility, located near Drigg, will continue operation through 2050, creating about 120 construction jobs, according to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week formally notified power provider Exelon that it was increasing oversight of its Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey after the federal agency identified a safety violation during a Jan. 4 test. The “white” — low to moderate safety significance — determination was reported to Exelon Generation Senior Vice President […]