Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Two Nevada House lawmakers failed this week to remove funding for Yucca Mountain in the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill during the floor amendment process. Reps. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) both offered amendments that would eliminate the $150 million reserved for the Department of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) advised Nevadans this week not to dismiss scientific evidence in favor of Yucca Mountain too easily, according to an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Shimkus has championed Yucca Mountain as the only solution for the nation’s nuclear waste problem, pushing both the Department of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/1/2015 US Ecology reported a $5.9 million net income for the first quarter of 2015, down from its $9.4 million net income from the first quarter of 2014, but within the company’s expectations, US Ecology said this week. The company experienced an exceptionally strong first quarter of 2014, so a […]

Industry Takes Issue With DOE Revisions to Market Report Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 5/1/2015 Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is calling for more transparency and oversight by the Department of Energy on uranium transfers to the metal commodities firm Traxys that are used to fund cleanup work at the Portsmouth site after the recent appointment of […]

RW Monitor 5/1/2015 IN THE NRC The Department of Energy filed for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license amendment for its Idaho Spent Fuel Facility independent spent fuel storage installation, according to a filing in the Federal Register this week. The license amendment would allow the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility to make changes to the Quality […]

Jeremy L. Dillon and Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/24/2015 New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has voiced her support for efforts to bring a spent nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility to southeastern New Mexico, according to an April 10 letter she wrote to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. Martinez’s letter is one of the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/23/2015 An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week cut the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain in half to $25 million when compared to an earlier version of the bill. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s total allocated funding […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/24/2015 EnergySolutions has officially pulled its proposal to reopen the Barnwell disposal facility to out-of-compact waste, Barnwell General Manager Michael Benjamin said this week at the Low-Level Waste Forum in Alexandria, Va. Last month, EnergySolutions released a proposal that called for the facility to accept out-of-compact Class B and C […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/24/2015 The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission approved unanimously last week the proposed rule update to its exportation and importation rules, Compact Executive Director Leigh Ing said this week at the Low-Level Waste Forum in Alexandria, Va. The Texas Compact is currently undergoing a general rules update with a […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/24/2014 A Congressional hearing could be on tap on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/24/2015 Northwest Medical Isotopes has submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the first half of its construction permit application for a medical isotopes production facility, according to a Federal Register posting this week. The NRC received the application on Feb. 5, the posting said. NWMI originally submitted the first section […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/24/2015 International Isotopes announced this week that it has entered into contracts for most of the cobalt-60 that will be produced under an agreement with the Department of Energy to use the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. The contracts would yield quarterly progress payments to the company […]

RW Monitor 4/24/2015 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to hold its first public meeting on the proposed 10.CFR.61 rulemaking next week at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Md., NRC Director of the Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs Larry Camper said this week at the Low-Level Waste Forum in Alexandria, Va. Next […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 A group of Senators, including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), reintroduced three pieces of legislation this week that would enhance and expand safety and security regulations for reactor sites undergoing decommissioning and for the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 The House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water appropriations bill that cleared the subcommittee this week includes a total of $200 million that would go toward Yucca Mountain, but it does not include any funding for interim storage. Any funding for interim storage of spent nuclear […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality agreed this week to suspend the public comment period for the EnergySolutions depleted uranium disposal Performance Assessment after the state identified potential issues. EnergySolutions requested the suspension after eight problem areas emerged in the state’s Safety Evaluation Report, released earlier this week. DEQ found […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 EnergySolutions Vice President for Disposal Facilities and Projects James Miller has resigned, the company confirmed this week. EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said Miller’s resignation was for “personal reasons.” As Vice President for Disposal Facilities and Projects, Miller oversaw overall operations of the Clive and Barnwell Disposal Facilities. Miller has […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 Waste Controls Specialists filed a motion this week to throw out the anti-trust lawsuit brought against the company by EnergySolutions for refusing to dispose of the company’s down-blended Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. WCS states in its motion that it has the right to refuse to deal […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 House lawmakers are seeking more definitive answers from the Department of Energy regarding its decision to separate commercial and defense high-level radioactive waste into two repositories, sending a letter Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week. Following the Department’s announcement last month that it planned to “de-comingle” the two […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 Two of the companies partially responsible for paying for the cleanup at the Shallow Land Disposal Area in Armstrong County, Pa., are questioning how the Army Corps of Engineers listed remedial alternatives in its proposed Record of Decision Amendment. The Corps issued a proposed ROD for the site earlier […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 Perma-Fix Northwest said this week it would no longer pursue adding an evaporation system to its Richland facility. Perma-Fix had initially planned to add the water treatment system to its Richland facility in response to the Department of Energy’s interest in using the technology for contaminated water from the […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/17/2015 House appropriators are looking to give the National Nuclear Security Administration $50 million in reprogramming authority above a base level of funding in Fiscal Year 2016 to support a program sustaining the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. The House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee cleared this week its version of […]

Solicitation Expected to Be Reissued Later Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 The Department of Energy canceled last week the solicitation for a contractor to assist in the movement of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors to an unidentified national laboratory. After questions emerged from vendors about the scope of work, DOE decided to pull […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/17/2015 Members of Michigan’s congressional delegation introduced this week a resolution in the Senate and House that calls on the President and Secretary of State to intervene in the construction of a Canadian deep geologic repository near the Great Lakes. The resolution from Rep. Dan Kildee (R-Mich.), along with Sens. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 Six House lawmakers toured the long-shuttered Yucca Mountain site this week, in what critics have called a “political sideshow” to gain momentum to restart a project that has been closed off for five years. The group, led by House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chair John Shimkus (R-Ill.), toured […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 The United Kingdom’s Parliament last week passed a bill that could potentially take away a host community’s ability to veto any proposed high-level nuclear waste repository. The bill gives the Secretary of State for Energy the power to choose a location without local interference by declaring the effort one […]

The following phone interview with Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob Halstead was conducted by RadWaste Monitor reporter Jeremy L. Dillon this week just prior to the visit of a Congressional delegation to Yucca Mountain. Let’s jump into Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) visit to Yucca Mountain first, mainly because that’s happening this week. […]