Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons will step down from his position at the end of June, according to an internal memo from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week. Lyons has served in his current role since 2011 and contributed widely […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Six months after Entergy shut down operations at the Vermont Yankee Power Station, the utility continues to make preparations to enter the SAFESTOR state, Vermont Yankee spokesman Marty Cohn said this week. Vermont and Entergy came to an agreement at the end of 2013 that stipulated the utility will […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Perma-Fix Environmental Services is looking into ways to leverage its medical isotope resin technology in its core business of radioactive waste treatment, Perma-Fix Chief Financial Officer Ben Naccarato said this week during a presentation at the Marcum Microcap Conference. The company originally developed the technology for technetium-99m production, but […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Australia will dedicate $22.3 million over the next four years to expand and refurbish two existing waste storage facilities, according to the country’s 2015/2106 budget allocation issued earlier this month. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), the Australian government-body responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear sites, will […]

Majority of Water Treated for Strontium Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced this week that almost all stored water at that Fukushima Daiichi cleanup site that was contaminated with radioactivity has been treated to remove strontium. Only three percent of water in storage still requires treatment for strontium, […]

RW Monitor 5/29/2015 IN NWTRB The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board plans to meet June 24 in Golden, Colo. to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities related to transporting spent nuclear fuel, the Board announced late last week. The main focus of the meeting will center on DOE’s efforts to prepare for the transportation of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Studsvik AB has acquired patents and other intellectual property and equipment for a freezing technology that can be used in remediation projects, the company announced this week. The technology comes from FriGeo AB, a partner that Studsvik has been working with to apply the technology across radioactive waste platforms. […]

Senate Bill Funds Interim Storage, But Not Yucca Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 While the Senate’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week included language that would enable interim storage at both a pilot plant and private facility, Sen. Tom Udall’s  (D-N.M.) public opposition to interim storage may […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 AREVA TN has expanded its role in Waste Control Specialists’ pursuit of constructing an interim storage facility, the two companies announced this week. AREVA will serve as prime subcontractor for the project, providing the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed consolidated storage facility, as well as […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 House lawmakers and industry representatives agreed late last week that the Department of Energy is bound by the law to pursue Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent fuel, during a hearing in front of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), one of […]

Mike Nartker RW Monitor 5/22/2015 Senate appropriators are looking to have the National Nuclear Security Administration come up with a plan to have new domestic sources of molybdenum-99 up and running in the next 18 months. In the report accompanying the Senate version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden will not sign off on the Department of Energy sending more spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research until DOE begins processing the remaining liquid waste at the site, a Wasden spokesman said this week. Controversy erupted earlier this year when […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 Kurion has received a contract to design a water treatment system for the decommissioning of the Cimarron uranium fuel fabrication facility, located near Guthrie, Okla., the company announced this week. As part of the project, Kurion will leverage its Ion Specific Media technology to remove radioactive contaminants from groundwater, […]

Marks Improvement Over 2014 1Q Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2015 International Isotopes reported a net loss of $171,548 for the first quarter of 2014, an improvement of approximately 62 percent compared to the $452,205 net loss in the same period of 2014, the company announced this week. International Isotopes attributed the decrease in net […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/22/2105 Congress should prioritize the disposal of defense waste before commercial waste, the Energy Community Alliance said in a letter late last week to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders. The letter comes in response to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz’s announcement earlier this year that the Department of Energy […]

RW Monitor 5/22/2015 IN CONGRESS The Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations bill funds the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at $990 million, a decrease of $42 million from the NRC’s request amount. Because the NRC charges license fees, most of the money will be made back, resulting in net appropriation request of approximately $117 million. The budget […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The “time is now” to move forward on used nuclear fuel policy, Congressional lawmakers said this week in remarks at the Nuclear Energy Assembly conference in Washington, D.C. Members from both parties highlighted the issue as a major problem holding the nuclear industry from expanding in the future, but […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 Despite an operating loss of $1.8 million for the first quarter of 2015, Perma-Fix Environmental Services expressed confidence late last week that it would obtain positive earnings for the full year. Perma-Fix Chairman and CEO Lou Centofanti warned last month that the company expected 2015 to experience some revenue […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 A new round of sampling at the West Lake Landfill began this week as the Environmental Protection Agency Region Seven attempts to understand exactly where all the radiologically-impacted material at the site is located. According to the EPA, this effort is a continuation of the investigation performed in late […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 Waste Control Specialists suffered an operating loss of $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2015, but WCS parent company Valhi Inc. expects the company to improve operating results for the rest of the year, the company announced late last week. Valhi blamed the operating loss on delayed disposal […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission late last week opened up to public comment its proposed rules update on importing and exporting waste,  initiating a 45 day public comment period before the Commission votes to finalize the rules. Should no action be taken by the public, the earliest […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for SHINE Medical Technologies’ construction authorization permit application to build a molybdemun-99 production facility in Janesville, Wis., the NRC announced this week. The NRC found in its draft report that a construction permit could be […]

RW Monitor 5/15/2015 IN THE 2016 ELECTION Republican Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio voiced his support for opening Yucca Mountain, according to a report this week in the Greenville News. The Florida Senator was in South Carolina last weekend campaigning for the Republican nomination when local reporters asked him his thoughts on Yucca Mountain. Rubio reasoned […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/8/2015 The Joint Review Panel overseeing the environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation’s planned deep geologic repository in Ontario has backed the safety and environmental case for the project, according to the environmental report submitted to Canada’s Minister of the Environment this week. The Panel recommended that with the proposed […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 5/8/2015 Centrus Energy Corp. President and CEO Dan Poneman laid out a vision this week for the comeback of the uranium enrichment firm, emphasizing the need to be commercially successful in addition to fulfilling national security needs. Centrus, formerly known as USEC, has struggled to turn a profit in recent years. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/8/2015 As EnergySolutions address issues in its Performance Assessment for the disposal of depleted uranium at its Clive, Utah facility, a new Utah activist group is advocating sending the material to Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Texas instead. Deadly Disposal, a group made up of private citizens, has launched an […]

The following interview with Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was conducted April 29 by ExchangeMonitor Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. RW Monitor 5/8/2015 We’re right in the midst of appropriations season. As your subcommittee is working on its version of the FY 2016 energy and water bill, what are going to be […]