Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 12/4/2015 On the heels of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that the state will develop a new clean energy standard, energy company Exelon said Wednesday it is willing to sell fuel to the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant at a cost should it mean the plant remains open in […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 12/4/2015 French and Australian officials have reportedly given different classifications to 10 metric tons of radioactive waste aboard a ship scheduled to dock this week in Sydney. The BBC Shanghai is carrying the material back from France, where it underwent reprocessing. While France has classified the cargo as high-level waste, the […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 12/4/2015 The first 10 canisters for dry interim nuclear fuel storage have been delivered to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, State Specialised Enterprise ChNPP announced Thursday. As part of a 2007 agreement signed between Ukraine and U.S.-based Holtec International, the double-walled canisters are projected to store all spent fuel […]

The Nov. 20 edition of RadWaste Monitor misidentified the manager of a LLRW disposal site in Beatty, Nev. The state of Nevada manages the site. The article also misattributed fines the EPA issued in 2010. The fines relate to an adjacent US Ecology RCRA facility.

Karl Herchenroeder and Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/20/2015 Despite reports that Entergy and New York state officials have been conducting last-minute talks to avoid closure of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, the energy company this week gave the Nuclear Regulatory Commission formal notice that the 40-year-old facility will shut down permanently. In a […]

Chris Schneidmiller RadWaste Monitor 11/20/2015 The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) on Wednesday said it had preliminarily identified the east coast village of Forsmark as the best of several sites that have been considered to house a spent nuclear fuel storage facility. The area, which is already home to a nuclear power plant and radioactive […]

RW Monitor 11/20/2015   IN THE INDUSTRY   The United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and contractor Kurion on Tuesday said they have finished a major phase of testing for commissioning the company’s GeoMelt In-Container Vitrification radioactive waste conversion system at the Sellafield site. The technology, which would convert the waste into a condensed glass […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/20/2015 An independent nuclear energy expert on Tuesday questioned the progress of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi crisis, saying he doesn’t feel the American public is adequately prepared for a severe nuclear event, despite the NRC’s re-evaluation of safeguards and mitigation resources in place for U.S. […]

Brian Bradley RW Monitor 11/20/2015 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday favorably reported out three top Energy Department nominees. Despite opposition expressed by committee member Rob Portman (R-Ohio) over announced funding cuts for decontamination and decommissioning at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and the Piketon, Ohio, piece of the American Centrifuge Project, […]

A month after an industrial fire erupted at a closed low-level radioactive waste dump 110 miles northwest of Las Vegas, officials are still uncertain what caused the blaze. The Nye County government in a press release Tuesday described the fire as an “eye opening event” that would require years to fully understand. It burned from […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/20/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday announced plans to update its regulations for nuclear reactors undergoing decommissioning. In a Federal Register notice, the commission said it was seeking input from stakeholders on a draft regulatory basis for possible changes to NRC regulations on nuclear reactor decommissioning. “The new rule would […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 11/20/2015 Plans are in the works to deliver at least 25 spent fuel rods from the North Anna Power Station in Virginia to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Tennessee lab is preparing to cut up and analyze the “fast burnup” fuel to better understand the aging processing outside the reactor […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/20/2015 Members of Missouri’s congressional delegation on Thursday introduced legislation that would transfer remediation authority over the mixed-use West Lake Landfill from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. The EPA’s 25-year effort to clean the landfill, which contains radioactive waste, is […]

Karl Herchenroeder and Brian Bradley RW Monitor 11/20/2015 EnergySolutions announced Thursday that it had reached a tentative agreement to purchase competitor Waste Control Specialists for $270 million. The announcement came just days after the Utah-based nuclear services giant agreed to sell off its Hanford Site tank farm operation and other assets to WS Atkins for […]

As is our annual practice, RadWaste Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox on Dec. 4. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/13/2015 As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission works toward a 2019 rulemaking that could alter the regulatory process for decommissioning nuclear power plants, a panel of industry and government representatives this week aired concerns about the uncertainty surrounding the existing process. The ANS Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo panel, “Decommissioning Regulatory […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/13/2015 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns said Monday that his office is learning from experience and listening to new ideas as it works toward a 2019 rulemaking intended to streamline and improve the decommissioning process. For the rulemaking, NRC staff has said it will focus on a range of issues, […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/13/2015 Centrus Energy Corp. on Tuesday reported a net loss of $55.1 million for the third quarter of 2015, a drastic plunge from net income of $418.9 million for the same time period in 2014. Through the first three quarters of the year, Centrus has endured a net loss of $85.6 […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/13/2015 Removal of low-level radiological waste began last month from the STURGIS barge, the world’s first floating atomic energy facility, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Friday. The one-time World War II Liberty Ship earlier this year was towed 1,750 miles from the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia […]

Brian Bradley RW Monitor 11/13/2015 An Energy Department solicitation for bidders to build an interim consolidated spent fuel storage facility could draw eight to 10 companies, which could push back the start of the facility’s construction, but could also open a path for defining consent-based storage, a Bipartisan Policy Center nuclear waste specialist said during […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/13/2015 The government of Finland on Thursday said it had approved the world’s first license for construction of a spent fuel disposal facility. The fuel encapsulation plant and disposal facility is to be built by 2023 on Olkiluoto  Island, home to the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant. It will house used fuel […]

RW Monitor 11/13/2015   IN THE INDUSTRY The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public meeting concerning the August uranium hexafluoride leak at the Honeywell uranium conversion plant in Illinois. The focus of the meeting, set for Nov. 19 in Metropolis, will be the commission’s recent inspection at the property. The leak occurred Aug. 1 […]

RW Monitor 11/6/2015   AREVA Enters Into Potential Partnership with China National Nuclear Corporation AREVA this week signed a memorandum of understanding with partner China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) that could give the Chinese company a minority stake in the French nuclear group. The partnership would cover all nuclear fuel cycle activities, encompassing uranium mining, […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/6/2015 Entergy on Monday said it would close its James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York state in late 2016 or early 2017. The news came less than a month after the electricity provider announced the upcoming shutdown of its Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Massachusetts. The company in […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/6/2015 Perma-Fix Environmental Services this week reported $17.3 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2015, up slightly from $16.9 million for the same period in 2014. Wednesday’s report follows positive news from the second quarter, which saw a 29.2 percent revenue increase from the same period in 2014, and negative […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/6/2015 Nuclear services provider EnergySolutions announced on Tuesday that it had signed a deal to decommission a shuttered nuclear reactor in Wisconsin. The new agreement calls for wholesale electricity provider Dairyland Power Cooperative to transfer its possession-only license for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor facility (LACBWR) to an EnergySolutions subsidiary, […]

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/6/2015 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week completed its quarterly inspection at Entergy’s shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant without identifying any “findings of safety significance.” Entergy shut the plant down at the end of 2014 after 42 years in operation and is now preparing the facility for SAFSTOR. NRC […]