Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

U.S. The Department of Energy will host another of its consent-based nuclear waste storage siting roadshows on Tuesday in Denver. DOE has said the purpose of its public meetings is to gather public feedback as it develops its consent-based siting program. The three-part effort envisions plans for a pilot storage facility, interim facilities, and eventually one […]

The Senate on Thursday at last united to pass a fiscal 2017 spending bill with $31 billion for the Department of Energy, but the House cannot even begin floor votes on its own backlog of spending bills until Monday because Congress still has not agreed on overall spending levels for the next budget year. It […]

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes said Wednesday it is upgrading its production operations at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR), adding a new high-capacity filling line the company says will ultimately quadruple its dispensing capacity for the medical radioisotope molybendum-99. Moly-99 is used in imaging procedures for cancer, heart disease, and bone and kidney disease. The […]

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced Monday that it is reopening the settlement case that resulted in state ratepayers shouldering $3.3 billion of the $4.7 billion cost to prematurely shut down the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County. CPUC said it will re-evaluate whether the settlement is still reasonable, in […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said the national nuclear waste repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada remains unworkable, despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s finding last week that the facility would have a “small” impact on local groundwater. Department spokesman Bill Wicker said by email that the NRC’s final supplement to DOE’s Yucca Mountain […]

The cost to decommission and dismantle the STURGIS barge is estimated to grow from $34.6 million to $51.5 million, resulting in part from compatibility issues between a 440-ton crane and the surrounding dock, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week. The timeline for completion of the project has also been pushed back an […]

Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission on Monday recommended that South Australia aggressively pursue international nuclear waste disposal agreements estimated to deliver more than AUS $100 billion in state profit. The commission released its final recommendation to South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on a plan for the state to tap into Asia’s market for nuclear […]

U.S. A representative for Battelle Memorial Institute said Thursday he is “eternally optimistic” the company will submit a zoning application to Spink County, N.D., for its proposed deep borehole nuclear wast storage field test. Battelle spokesman T.R. Massey said that Wednesday’s third public meeting in Spink County was attended by about 150 people, including field test […]

Nuclear waste management technology developer (and procurer) Kurion has been given the proverbial keys to the kingdom in being bought by French multinational Veolia – access to the resources of a far larger organization with a global scope. Now it must prove itself worthy of those keys, according to Kurion co-founder John Raymont. The Paris-based […]

A manager with Battelle Memorial Institute said Wednesday the company is in final discussions with multiple landowners for a potential borehole field test site in South Dakota, and organizers will hold an additional public meeting next week. After abandoning its original planned test site in North Dakota in the face of public opposition, Battelle is […]

U.S. Power company Entergy reduced the workforce at its Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to 136 employees on Thursday, down from 343 employees in January 2015, when the plant entered SAFSTOR decommissioning. According to an Entergy press release, 80 employees either retired or left the company on Thursday, while 13 employees transferred to another Entergy […]

Waste, water, and energy management multinational Veolia on Wednesday reported a first-quarter dip in revenue and a steeper slide in net income over the prior-year period. Revenue dropped by 3.4 percent, from €6.31 billion in first-quarter 2015 to €6.09 billion for the three-month period ending March 31 of this year. The France-based company, which provides […]

Entergy, owner of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, improperly withdrew $282,000 from the site’s $600 million decommissioning trust fund last year for spent fuel management purposes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday. However, Entergy will not be fined, as the regulator admitted there are “issues associated with the clarity of NRC regulatory guidance.” Entergy […]

The Department of Energy official leading the agency’s consent-based nuclear waste storage siting initiative will meet with officials and residents near Southern California’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in response to a request from U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). The program is DOE’s latest attempt to find a permanent home for U.S. nuclear waste, […]

Southern California Edison’s first-quarter 2016 net income from continuing operations decreased by $18 million, or 5 cents per share, to $287 million and 88 cents per share, from the same period in 2015, parent company Edison International reported Monday. Edison’s earnings report said the decrease was mainly due to the timing of revenue recognized in […]

When asked Thursday whether he thinks the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is over-regulating, and thus effectively driving nuclear power plants out of business, commission Chairman Stephen Burns said he likes where the regulator stands in comparison to the international community’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. The NRC is set this year to complete the bulk of […]

The owner of the West Lake Landfill Superfund site in Bridgeton, Mo., is moving forward with installation of an isolation barrier intended to prevent a nearby underground fire from coming into contact with nuclear waste material. The West Lake Landfill, which contains waste from the former uranium production facility at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplement to the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain environmental impact statement (EIS) late Thursday, finding the impact to groundwater from any potential spent nuclear fuel leaks and high-level nuclear waste at the planned nuclear waste repository in Nevada would be “small.” DOE submitted its final EIS in 2002, and […]

Barndioota, South Australia, has preliminary been selected as the site of the nation’s first permanent storage site for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste, MP Josh Frydenberg, minister for resources, energy, and Northern Australia, announced Friday. The site was among six locations – two others in South Australia and individual spots in New South Wales, Queensland, and […]

Power company Entergy on Tuesday reported $230 million in consolidated earnings for the first quarter of 2016, down about 23 percent from $298.1 million from the same period in 2015. In a press release, the company, which owns the Vermont Yankee, Pilgrim, and James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plants, in addition to other assets, reported first-quarter […]

In observing the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the European Commission on Monday pledged €20 million to its Nuclear Safety Account as part of the €45 million total expected from the multinational body and the Group of Seven nations. The fund finances decommissioning work for units 1, 2, and 3 at Ukraine’s Chernobyl […]

For David Victor, two years ago the prospect of removing spent fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and shipping it out of California seemed like a “political nightmare.” With communities across the country clamoring for the federal government to take title to nuclear waste being stored nearby and ship it elsewhere, and companies in Texas […]

Senators left Washington for a weeklong recess Friday without passing their fiscal 2017 energy and water spending bill, but the chamber’s Republican leader has vowed to try again on May 9, despite no signs that the partisan strife which prevented a floor vote this week will abate. The bill was cruising toward a vote Wednesday […]

North American waste company US Ecology recorded $113.3 million of total revenue for the first quarter of 2016, down from $136.7 million in the same quarter last year, according to the company’s latest earnings report released Thursday. Despite the decline, Chairman and CEO Jeff Feeler during an earnings call Friday described “solid financial results that were […]

Sweden-based nuclear technology company Studsvik’s sales rose by 10.6 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2016, according to the company earnings report Monday. Sales increased from 156.8 Swedish krona (SEK) ($19.4 million) in first-quarter 2015 to 171.6 million SEK ($21.2 million) in the same time span this year, the report shows. According […]

The contractor for the Department of Energy’s project to test the feasibility of storing nuclear waste in deep boreholes has run into more opposition, this time in South Dakota, after abandoning its original test site in North Dakota. Battelle Memorial Institute representatives met with residents and officials in Spink County, S.D., on Wednesday and Thursday to […]

U.S. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing an exemption that allows Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant owner Entergy to reduce its on-site insurance from about $1 billion to $50 million. In a notice issued this week, NRC reasoned that because Vermont Yankee is shut down, the severity of potential accidents that could occur at the […]