Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Members of the Vermont congressional delegation are urging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to give local stakeholders “a seat at the table” in the decommissioning process for nuclear power plants. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), and Rep. Peter Welch (D), joined by 12 colleagues in the House and Senate, wrote a letter to […]

  A flawed market design and the fall of natural gas prices are among the contributors nuclear power facility owners cite when prematurely closing facilities. That has been no different with Entergy, a power company that announced the closures of three plants in 2014-15: Vermont Yankee, FitzPatrick, and Pilgrim. Consensus from the surrounding communities over the […]

U.S. A senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said Thursday the agency has begun preparing for a potential workload shift, as it expects two license applications this year for companies looking to operate interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. NRC is expecting an application from Texas-based Waste Control Specialists in April and another a few […]

The North Dakota Health Council violated state public meeting law during the approval process for rule changes that allow for higher radioactivity levels in oil-field waste, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem concluded in an opinion Tuesday. According to Stenehjem, the council failed to provide proper public notice for an August 2015 meeting in which the […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Kristine Svinicki suggested Tuesday that NRC staff consider expediting parts of its decommissioning rulemaking, so that the new rules can be applied to any nuclear power plants that announce premature shutdowns in the next two years. The rulemaking is in an effort to improve nuclear plant decommissioning regulations, with a particular focus […]

The Department of Energy is, for now, retaining Battelle Memorial Institute as its lead contractor for a deep-borehole nuclear waste storage field test after the original drilling plan was thwarted in North Dakota. DOE spokesman Bill Wicker said by email Wednesday that the department has asked Battelle to propose options outside North Dakota. “Battelle remains DOE’s […]

House Republicans in a letter Thursday urged Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to “expeditiously” restart the stalled Yucca Mountain license application review. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and panel member John Shimkus (R-Ill.) penned the letter, seeking information on DOE’s nuclear waste policy. The letter comes two weeks after Upton and Shimkus sent a […]

Southern California Edison expects in June or July to select a prime contractor for decommissioning of its shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station near San Diego, a senior official said last week. SCE Vice President Tom Palmisano, SONGS decommissioning and chief nuclear officer, said he could not discuss the criteria the company is using in […]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) urged Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Wednesday to move forward with interim storage of nuclear waste, with or without congressional action. According to her, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials have testified that private storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico could acquire licenses and operate without additional action from Congress. […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy supports the construction and operation of more than one consolidated interim spent nuclear reactor fuel storage site, a senior DOE official said this week. “From our perspective, having more than one interim storage facility can help build a more robust, a more flexible, system that will enable us to […]

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Jeff Baran said Wednesday that the agency’s continued storage rule is not an endorsement for indefinite storage of on-site nuclear waste but rather an attempt to ensure that storage is done safely. Last month, the NRC defended the continued storage rule in federal court against a challenge that the agency has […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission manager said Thursday that the regulatory exemption process for decommissioning power plants doesn’t deprive the public of any “awareness,” though the agency wants to remove the need for such exemptions in its 2019 decommissioning rulemaking. The commission in 2014 directed its staff to complete by 2019 the decommissioning rulemaking, which is the […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner William Ostendorff said Tuesday that he’s disappointed the U.S. still does not have a permanent repository for nuclear waste. While speaking at the NRC’s annual Nuclear Regulatory Information Conference in Bethesda, Md., Ostendorff was asked whether he thinks he’s leaving behind any unfinished business. A commissioner since 2010, Ostendorff announced in February […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns responded Tuesday to a report criticizing the agency’s post-Fukushima Daiichi disaster initiatives, arguing that American plants are safer now than they were when the Japanese nuclear accident occurred in March 2011. Speaking at NRC’s annual Regulatory Information Conference in Bethesda, Md., Burns noted that he has read a quick […]

A senior executive with AREVA TN said Thursday that if the Conaway Bill, which would free up billions of dollars in federal funding for private interim storage of nuclear waste, will be impossible to ignore if it continues gaining co-sponsors. Introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas), House Resolution 3643 would allow the Department […]

U.S. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a notice of a standard license modification to Duke Energy Corp. on Thursday, as the company prepares to move material from its spent fuel pool at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant into dry casks, starting in 2017.  The modification requires Duke Energy to have a safeguard contingency plan for response […]

A story in the Feb. 26 edition of RadWaste Monitor mischaracterized the preferred alternative for the planned Niagara Falls Storage Site Interim Waste Containment Structure Operable Unit. That option, alternative 4, will involve excavation, partial treatment, and off-site disposal of the entire contents of the Interim Waste Containment Structure. The edition, in a separate article, […]

Numerous state officials responded positively this week to news that sites in their respective jurisdictions were left off the Department of Energy’s site recommendation for the disposal of greater-than-class C (GTCC) waste and GTCC-like waste. Last week, DOE released its final environmental impact statement on disposal options for GTCC waste, recommending the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

House Republicans want to revisit the Department of Energy’s nuclear waste program, first with the request that congressional auditors determine what resources are available to complete the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license review for the repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), […]

A team led by Holtec International plans to submit its federal license application to build an underground consolidated interim spent fuel storage facility in southeast New Mexico by June, according to one senior executive. Holtec has teamed with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance to build and operate the underground facility about 12 miles from the Department of Energy’s Waste […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is currently operating safely, based on findings from the first of three inspections the agency is performing as a result of increased oversight at the Massachusetts plant. NRC downgraded the plant’s safety rating in September following repeated unplanned shutdowns and issues with safety relief valves. […]

Waste Control Specialists CEO Rod Baltzer says the company expects to complete its license application for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Texas by May 1. WCS is one of two companies planning to submit an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build and operate an interim storage […]

Power company Entergy has removed contaminated water from the six portable swimming pools it has been using for storage at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, company spokesman Marty Cohn said Friday. Photos of the containers surfaced earlier this month, drawing criticism from Vermont Speaker of the House Shap Smith, who likened them to “kiddie pools.” Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan […]

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 […]