Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Karl Herchenroeder RW Monitor 11/6/2015 With Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) completing the first phase of a preliminary assessment for the municipality of Central Huron, 11 communities are now poised for a second round of review in the search to site a national spent nuclear fuel repository. NWMO is spearheading the search for a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/6/2015 As congressional lawmakers negotiate toward a final fiscal 2016 spending bill, a newly formed lobbying group has already set its sights on the fiscal 2017 budget allocation for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. The FUSRAP Coalition, made up of members of industry, local […]

Chris Schneidmiller RW Monitor 11/6/2015 A California watchdog group this week requested that the state Superior Court block a permit that would allow for expanding a nuclear waste storage complex at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) site in San Diego County. The California Coastal Commission in October signed off on a two-decade […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 The Department of Energy last week canceled the first of two planned shipments of research commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but state officials would […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 The Department of Energy anticipates publication of the final environmental impact statement for its not-yet-known preferred alternative for the disposal of Greater Than Class C waste and GTCC-like waste by the end of next quarter, a senior DOE official said this week during a hearing of the House Energy […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 US Ecology tempered expectations this week for its full-year earnings results after announcing a slower-than-expected third quarter that is expected to continue in the fourth quarter. The environmental services provider is lowering expected adjusted EBITDA for its core business to between $122 million and $125 million for full-year 2015, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) this week reiterated that Yucca Mountain must be included in any budget negotiations for interim storage of nuclear waste to go forward. Simpson has voiced support in the past for both Yucca Mountain and interim storage, but with the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 Over 331 congressional districts across 45 states could be affected by transportation routes of commercial spent nuclear fuel should the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada go forward, according to a report commissioned by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, released last week. California leads the way with 32 potential […]

RW Monitor 10/30/2015 IN THE 2016 ELECTION Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush pointed to communities in Texas and New Mexico as possible solutions for the nation’s nuclear waste obligations in an interview last week with a Nevada public television station. Bush, who has said he opposes the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada, indicated that if […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/23/2015 John Kotek, acting assistant secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, this week avoided placing any specific time frame on DOE’s progress on establishing a defense-waste-only repository or its ability to get a pilot consolidated interim storage facility up and running. Kotek said during his nomination […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/23/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has contributed an additional $11.75 million to NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes as the company works toward commercialization of its molybdenum-99 production technology. The contribution is part of one cost-sharing agreement as the NNSA supports companies looking to provide a steady supply of the medical isotope […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/23/2015 Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation last week called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny any requests for exemptions to security and emergency preparedness requirements at the Pilgrim Station until after all spent fuel is removed from the facility’s pool. Entergy announced last week that it would shut […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/23/2015 Local officials still do not know what caused the fire that ignited earlier this week at the now-shuttered low-level waste disposal facility near Beatty, Nev. The fire, near US Ecology’s hazardous waste treatment facility, burned overnight Sunday into Monday before being extinguished. Following a series of radiological tests and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to table for five years a proposed rulemaking on security requirements for facilities storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, according to a staff requirements memorandum released last week. The NRC had initiated the rulemaking to apply “radiological dose-based regulatory approach to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 In an “agonizing decision,” Entergy said this week that it will shut down the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts no later than June 2019 and as early as spring  2017. The announcement follows the downgrading of the Pilgrim plant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month to Repetitive […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 A House lawmaker from Vermont said in a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week that he is “deeply concerned” over the decommissioning of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) wrote the NRC to raise issue with the lack of state and local stakeholder […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers anticipates issuing the request for proposals for the cleanup of the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site in Armstrong County, Pa., no later than Dec. 3, 2015, according to a notice posted on FedBizOpps late last week. Army Corps National FUSRAP Program Manager Nicki […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 A group of Democratic House lawmakers introduced on Tuesday a bill aimed at requiring the expeditious removal of spent nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools to dry cask storage. Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) submitted the “Dry Cask Storage Act” […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 The Texas Supreme Court last week denied the Sierra Club’s petition for review in its case against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for allegedly violating state administrative laws in the Waste Control Specialists radioactive waste disposal licensing proceedings. The Sierra Club claimed in its suit that TCEQ […]

Brian Bradley RW Monitor 10/16/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that a “more than minor” violation of NRC requirements occurred during an Aug. 1 uranium hexafluoride (UF6) release at Honeywell’s Metropolis Works uranium conversion plant related to a valve installed during maintenance, according to a recently completed inspection report of the incident. The NRC ranks […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/16/2015 Researchers with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have made a “breakthrough discovery” in the packaging and disposal of intermediate-level waste (ILW) that could save millions and advance the timeline of the cleanup at the Sellafield site, the NDA announced this week. The research centered on ILW stored […]

RW Monitor 10/16/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY AREVA TN announced this week that Christopher Miller has joined the company as the new vice president for sales and marketing. Mille previously served as business development lead for AREVA Federal Services. “We are pleased to add Chris to our dynamic sales and marketing team,” AREVA TN Senior Vice […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/9/2015 The due date for bids for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning general contract has been pushed back to January after a shake-up in potential bidders, RW Monitor learned this week. Southern California Edison, the site operator, had originally planned for a mid-October due date for bids, but […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/9/2015 Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) this week renewed her attacks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s exemptions to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s emergency preparedness requirements. Boxer criticized the commission during a committee NRC oversight hearing for reducing the regulations at the shuttered […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/9/2015 The Obama administration late last week nominated John Kotek as assistant secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Kotek currently serves as acting assistant secretary for NE after former Assistant Secretary Pete Lyons retired earlier this summer. Kotek previously served as the staff director for the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/9/2015 CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Industry and state officials this week called for changes to the 60-year time frame utilities are granted under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s SAFSTOR reactor decommissioning option.  With a slew of utilities announcing the premature shutdown of some reactors in recent years, many in the cleanup community anticipated […]