Publications: RadWaste & Materials Monitor

Department of Energy contractors are abandoning plans to conduct a deep-borehole nuclear waste storage field test near Rugby, N.D., in response to formal opposition from the local county commission. Originally scheduled to break ground Sept. 1, the estimated five-year, $35 million project, proposed across 20 acres of state land, would have produced data on whether 16,000-foot […]

U.S. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ cleanup plan for its Niagara Falls Storage Site received overwhelming support from stakeholders, with the public comment period closing Feb. 6. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Niagara County Department of Health, the town of Lewiston, N.Y., and the Tuscarora Nation Native American tribe all wrote in support of […]

A federal court heard oral arguments Monday concerning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s handling of environmental assessment of continued waste storage at U.S. nuclear plants. At question is whether NRC has given “a hard look” to the risks associated with spent fuel fires and spent fuel pool leaks in its continued storage rule, formerly known as […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released its final environmental impact statement on disposal options for greater-than-class C (GTCC) waste and GTCC-like waste, opting for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico and/or land disposal at generic commercial facilities. The EIS evaluated potential environmental impacts associated with constructing and operating new facilities or […]

SHINE Medical Technologies on Thursday received federal approval to build its $100 million radioisotope production facility in Janesville, Wis., with operations expected to begin in 2019. In a unanimous decision this week, the four-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the issuance of the construction permit, which SHINE has been pursuing for four years, two of which […]

Power provider Entergy balked this week at yet another attempt by New York state to save the 40-year-old James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant. In the latest effort, the New York Public Service Commission announced Tuesday the initiation of a “rescue plan” that would allow for expedited funding for the plant leading up to the […]

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday that he will champion a change in law that would allow the Department of Energy to contract private companies in storing nuclear waste. The move would clear the way for DOE’s search for consent-based interim sites that would house spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste now stored at facilities across the nation. […]

It could be two years before local residents have any answers concerning a potential link between apparent health problems and Manhattan Project radioactive waste that may have washed into St. Louis County’s Coldwater Creek. The St. Louis County Department of Public Health has teamed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances […]

A moratorium halting the Department of Energy’s plan to drill a nuclear waste storage test borehole in North Dakota will remain in place, according to Pierce County Commission Chairman Dave Migler. The Pierce County Commission established the drilling ban in early February after officials and residents voiced concern that the study will lead to eventual storage […]

The Wisconsin State Senate in 23-9 vote Tuesday approved legislation that would lift the state’s 33-year ban on building new nuclear power plants, advancing the bill to Gov. Scott Walker for final approval. Wisconsin currently prohibits the construction of new plants because the federal government has not established a storage facility capable of taking nuclear […]

A plan for South Australia to take on 13 percent of the world’s nuclear waste and turn it into billions of dollars in economic benefit is viable. That’s one of the takeaways from a glowing interim report Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission delivered this month, estimating the plan could mean AUS $5 billion in annual […]

A federal court has awarded power company Entergy $49.4 million in damages stemming from the Department of Energy’s failure to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. In an opinion filed Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims awarded Entergy about 60 percent of the $80.8 million the company sought in damages incurred […]

The Energy Department said Thursday it will hold the first of eight public meetings on its consent-based nuclear waste siting initiative March 29 in Chicago at the University of Chicago Conference Center. In the eight meetings, DOE will “seek input from the public on designing a fair and effective process for siting the facilities needed […]

A story in the Feb. 5 edition of RadWaste Monitor misidentified the weight of a crane involved in the STURGIS decommissioning. The crane weighs 440 tons.

Canada’s top environmental official is again delaying her decision on whether to move forward with Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to build a nuclear waste deep geologic repository near Lake Huron, amid growing concern from Canadian and American lawmakers and citizens. On Thursday, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna requested that OPG present alternate […]

U.S. After serving nearly six years on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Commissioner William Ostendorff said Wednesday he will not seek reappointment, as he has accepted a teaching position with his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy. “I’ve been privileged to serve NRC since 2010,” Ostendorff said Wednesday during the Platts Nuclear Energy Conference in […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 2/12/2016 A federal appeals court said this week’s it’s too soon to hear the state of Vermont’s challenge against federal regulators concerning use of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant’s decommissioning trust fund. In a decision filed Monday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Vermont’s petition, essentially saying the state […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 2/12/2016 Legislation that would allow the Department of Energy to spend annual interest from the $34 billion Nuclear Waste Fund on the storage of U.S. spent nuclear waste is likely a nonstarter, an inside source told RadWaste Monitor this week. According to a GOP aide, who requested anonymity, the House Energy […]

IN THE U.S. Representatives the deep borehole nuclear waste storage demonstration project in North Dakota will host an informational meeting on the controversial plan on Feb. 15 in the city of Rugby. Officials from the Department of Energy and representatives from the contract team, a partnership between Battelle and the University of North Dakota Energy […]

The Army Corps of Engineers’ is requesting $103 million for its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) in fiscal 2017. FUSRAP was initiated in 1974 to identify, investigate, and clean up or control sites contaminated from the nation’s early atomic weapons and energy programs during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The program includes 20 […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 2/9/2016 The Obama administration’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal lays out an aggressive funding plan to enact a nuclear waste management program to replace the Yucca Mountain deep geologic repository in Nevada.   The money is to be used for the department’s phased, adaptive, consent-based approach to finding permanent storage for tens […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 2/9/2016 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has requested $970.2 million in funding for fiscal 2017, which would represent a roughly 2 percent decrease from the current funding level of about $990 million. The proposed budget encompasses $757.4 million for nuclear reactor safety operations and $212.8 million for nuclear materials and waste safety, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 2/9/2016 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has requested a budget of $6.65 billion for fiscal 2017, which compares to current funding of $6.71 billion through fiscal 2016. The budget request, released Tuesday, would cover 97.9 percent discretionary and 2.4 percent mandatory spending. The request would include funding for the Corps’ […]

The Department of Energy’s plan to conduct a feasibility study for deep-borehole storage of high-level radioactive waste has been put on hold in North Dakota, as the Pierce County Commission this week placed a moratorium on drilling amid growing concern from area residents. The estimated five-year, $35 million project, proposed across 20 acres of state […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 2/5/2016 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed its review of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant’s post-shutdown decommissioning activities report, concluding that plant owner Entergy’s decommissioning plan is on schedule and in compliance with NRC rules. Submitted in December 2014, Entergy’s report includes cost estimates for decommissioning and an affirmation that […]