Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Waste Control Specialists on Thursday submitted its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas. The facility, which would carry a 40-year license and have capacity to store 40,000 metric tons of waste, would be the first of its kind in the United […]

Environmentalists are suing the state of North Dakota, asking officials to vacate newly adopted landfill rules because the North Dakota Health Council violated state law during the approval process. The Dakota Resource Council and the North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition filed suit in North Dakota South Central District Court last week, nearly a month after […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) said it intends by the end of this year to complete three additional studies requested by Canada’s top environmental official regarding the company’s planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The Ontario government-owned corporation expressed confidence that the findings would support its intention to build the storage site at […]

EnergySolutions said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with the Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) under which the two companies will collaborate on decommissioning of light-water nuclear power facilities in Japan. The company declined to disclose terms of the deal, including the length of contract and monetary amount. EnergySolutions will share its decommissioning and decontamination […]

U.S. Waste Control Specialists announced last week that it is on schedule to submit its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. As of March the company had planned to submit the application by May 1. In an announcement, WCS President and CEO Rod Baltzer […]

The House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2017 calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to “proceed expeditiously” with a record of decision at the former Sylvania nuclear fuel site in Hicksville, N.Y., where residents have been awaiting cleanup. A record of decision is a public document that outlines cleanup options for […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved its $37.4 billion energy and water spending bill for fiscal 2017, which denies the Department of Energy any funding for its consent-based siting effort for nuclear waste storage. The spending bill also called for the resumption of licensing a national repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, according […]

Battelle Memorial Institute, the Department of Energy contractor that recently abandoned a planned deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test in North Dakota, said Thursday that it is now considering a site in Spink County, S.D. The location would enable the company to explore nuclear waste storage methods in crystalline granite rock, according to a press […]

French state-owned power company EDF SA this week purchased Studsvik’s entire waste treatment operation, which includes sites in Sweden and the U.K., for about $44 million, the companies announced Wednesday. Sweden-based Studsvik’s waste treatment business offers low-level radioactive waste processing services globally, with an emphasis on Europe, and in 2015 produced roughly $21 million in revenue, […]

British design and engineering consultant Atkins has acquired EnergySolutions’ projects, products, and technology (PP&T) segment for $318 million, the company announced Monday after securing regulatory authorization in North America. In a press a release, Atkins said the acquisition will improve its access to Tier 1 government contracts for management and decommissioning of nuclear sites in […]

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials are set to meet with representatives from International Isotopes Inc. on May 3 to discuss four apparent operational violations stemming from an incident in which a worker was accidentally exposed to radiation at the isotope manufacturer’s Idaho facility in August. According to an NRC report, an employee at the Idaho […]

House and Senate energy and water appropriations bills for fiscal 2017, released this week, both propose to fund the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) at $103 million, which is in line with the Obama administration’s request. The House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee approved the $37.4 billion spending legislation on […]

Power company Entergy has shipped to Tennessee about 64,000 gallons of contaminated water that had been stored in portable swimming pools and industrial bladders at the company’s shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, spokesman Marty Cohn said Monday. The use of the pools, which was revealed in photos released in February, drew criticism from local residents […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday approved 150 staff recommendations for reducing the agency’s expenses and staffing workloads, which will reportedly result in about $40 million in savings over the next year. The reductions ranged in savings from $1 million to $1.3 million and encompassed cost reductions in everything from information technology service contracts to lowering […]

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will cease operations on May 31, 2019, owner Entergy announced Thursday, meaning the company will refuel the Massachusetts plant next year. The company had previously said shutdown would occur sometime from 2017 to 2019. Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien said by phone Thursday that the company selected the 2019 date because that’s the cutoff for […]

House and Senate fiscal 2017 energy and water appropriations bills released this week include similar funding requests for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The House version calls for $936.1 million in NRC funding. The agency recovers about 90 percent of its budget from license fees, so the net appropriation is $149.3 million. Meanwhile, the Senate billl calls for $939 […]

Environmental solutions provider Veolia on Thursday said it had completed the $350 million acquisition of nuclear waste cleanup technology developer Kurion. The buyout is part of Veolia’s plan to carve out a chunk of a massive global nuclear remediation market, management said in February when it announced the deal. By 2020, the Paris-based multinational intends to […]

While the fiscal 2017 House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill proposes $170 million for U.S. nuclear waste activities, including $20 million for Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of the Yucca Mountain storage site, the Senate version  does not include any funding for the national repository project. The House spending bill, released on Tuesday, calls for $150 million to carry […]

The Oswego County Legislature is nearing a settlement with the owner of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant that would halve the company’s tax obligations within the country in coming years. Under the proposed settlement, if FitzPatrick closes and begins decommissioning in 2017 as scheduled, operator Entergy would fork over $27.5 million in declining tax […]

An article in the April 1 edition of RadWaste Monitor mischaracterized work involved with the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill. Installation of a non-combustible cover is a separate effort.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Tuesday urged the Department of Energy to schedule a public nuclear waste storage meeting in his Southern California district, which encompasses the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The department in January held the first of several public meetings scheduled this year for its consent-based siting effort on […]

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday charged that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not done enough to improve American nuclear power plants while implementing lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi facility disaster in Japan. During a hearing on the commission’s fiscal 2017 budget plan, Boxer listed a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday began its second round of inspections at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station associated with increased oversight at the Massachusetts plant. The commission downgraded Pilgrim’s safety rating in September after a series of unplanned shutdowns and safety relief valve issues, moving the plant into Column 4 of the NRC Action […]

A subsidiary of power provider Entergy, System Fuels Inc., is entitled to about $6.6 million from the federal government stemming from the cost to load spent nuclear fuel into storage casks at the Grand Gulf, Miss., and Arkansas Nuclear One power plants, a federal court ruled Monday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit […]

U.S. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on April 1 signed legislation lifting the state’s 33-year ban on building new nuclear power plants. The state Senate, in a 23-9 vote, approved Rep. Kevin Petersen’s (R-Waupaca) legislation in December. Wisconsin previously prohibited construction of new plants on the basis that the federal government has not established a capable national […]

It remains unclear if there are human health concerns associated with radioactive material the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has identified on private property near the West Lake Landfill. In its final report on the matter, issued April 1, the department said additional investigation is needed on at least two soil samples that recorded radioactivity […]