Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office released a draft Request for Proposal this week for its Deep Borehole (DBH) Field Test procurement. DOE is hoping to expand its research and development efforts for deep boreholes after the disposal method has been recommended multiple times for some smaller packages of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 Coquí RadioPharmaceuticals Corp. announced this week that it has completed the schematic design of its $330 million molybdenum-99 production facility. The design finalization paves the way for the company to submit its construction license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2015, the company said in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers issued a solicitation notice late last week for up to six indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts to provide hazardous, toxic and radiologic waste architect-engineering services in support of its North Atlantic Division. According to the Corps, the six contracts will include two contracts, which […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/10/2015 While International Isotopes experienced a full-year net loss of approximately $1.5 million in 2014, that marks an improvement over the $2.5 million net loss it had in 2013, the company announced last week. The decrease in loss when compared to last year totals approximately 37 percent, which the company […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/10/2014 Setting up the URENCO USA uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico for further expansion, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month released a “finding of no significant impact” and its environmental assessment in a request to increase capacity at the facility. The LES facility’s third phase of expansion is well underway, […]

RW Monitor 4/10/2014 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on the updated Zion License Termination Plan, submitted by ZionSolutions in December, according to a posting in the Federal Register this week. The plan included a decommissioning cost estimate for the remaining work, totaling $389 million. “The overall remaining decommissioning cost (including […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/3/2015 Questioning whether former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman complied with ethics guidelines and federal conflict-of-interest laws, lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week launched a probe into Poneman’s recent appointment to CEO of Centrus Energy Corp. Earlier this month, the uranium enrichment firm, which under its […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 With Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announcing last week his impending retirement at the end of 2016, it appears Yucca Mountain could receive a jolt of energy to rise from its shuttered status, industry and congressional sources told RW Monitor this week. Reid, one of Yucca Mountain’s staunchest […]

Company Making Strides in Tc-99m Development Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 After announcing a nearly $3 million operating loss for 2014, Perma-Fix Environmental Services CEO Lou Centofanti indicated this week that revenue in 2015 would be a little “lumpy.” Perma-Fix announced an operating loss of $2.99 million for the full-year 2014, an improvement from […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had pushed for completion of its rulemaking by 2019, that timeline would be “extremely challenging,” according to an NRC staff SECY paper released this week. In the NRC’s Staff Related Memorandum that initiated the rulemaking, the Commission directed staff to complete the rulemaking by […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 Westinghouse and HOCHTIEF Infrastructure GmbH, a German-based engineering company, announced late last week that they have entered into teaming agreement to offer integrated decommissioning, decontamination and remediation services for nuclear power plants in Germany. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany moved to shut down all of its nuclear […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/2/2015 A South Carolina State House lawmaker introduced a bill last week that would re-affirm that the Barnwell disposal facility could only take waste from states within the Atlantic Compact. The bill, introduced by Rep. Chip Limehouse (R), comes in response to the EnergySolutions proposal last month that called for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/3/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers issued a pre-solicitation notice late last week for two Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts to provide Hazardous Toxic Radiologic Waste Architect-Engineering Services in support of its North Atlantic Division. Each contract could have a value up to $10 million dollars over a five-year ordering […]

RW Monitor 4/3/2015 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed this week a $17,500 civil penalty against Dominion Energy’s Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant for a security-related violation. According to the NRC, the violation stemmed from a routine agency security inspections that occurred between June and December of last year. Details about security-related violations were not […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Another lawmaker raised concerns this week regarding former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of Centrus Energy Corp., as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) questioned Poneman’s potential influence on Department of Energy staff. Earlier this month the uranium enrichment firm, which under its previous name USEC received substantial […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/27/2015 President Barack Obama this week authorized the separation of defense high-level nuclear waste from commercial high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel, otherwise known as “de-comingling,” paving the way for a defense waste-only repository. De-comingling would be the best solution for nuclear waste issues due due to the differences in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced this week that he will not seek re-election after his term expires in 2016. Reid, one of Yucca Mountain’s staunchest opponents, has served as senator for 28 years, and from 2009 to 2014 he served as the Senate’s majority leader. A long-time […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Waste Control Specialists and EnergySolutions are embattled in a legal dispute over alleged “monopolistic behavior” by WCS for refusing to enter into a disposal contract to take EnergySolutions’ Semprasafe-produced down-blended Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. Following the sale of Studsvik’s portion of the Semprasafe joint venture to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/27/2015 Action on nuclear waste reform took major strides this week as a bipartisan Senate bill emerged that would allow interim storage, while the Department of Energy announced that it would begin taking an active role in siting a consent-base interim storage facility. A bipartisan group of Senators reintroduced legislation […]