Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/2/2015 The Department of Energy plans to create a new Used Fuel Disposition subprogram that would explore alternative disposal options for DOE-managed high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel, according to the Department’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, released today. DOE is seeking only $3 million for the subprogram and its […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/2/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers is requesting $104 million for its formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) in Fiscal Year 2016, according to Corps budget documents released today. The request would marks a $2.5 million increase from the program’s total current funding level of $101.5 million, and a […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 1/30/2015 Oak Ridge National Laboratory has extended its American Centrifuge Technology Demonstration and Operations contract with Centrus Energy Corp. through Sept. 30. The $41.7 million deal was expected after the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill included $97.2 million for domestic uranium enrichment research, development and demonstration. Under the agreement, Oak […]

Citing Water/Land Ownership Issues, Staff Recommends Against Construction Authorization Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 While the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report meets most applicable regulatory requirements for safety, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not issue a construction authorization until land and ownership rights by the Department of Energy are resolved, the NRC Staff found […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 In a record environmental settlement, the U.S. government and Kerr-McGee Corporation  subsidiary Anadarko Petroleum Corporation finalized a $5.15 billion settlement last week, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced. Of the $5.15 billion, $985 million will go toward the cleanup of radioactive contamination at approximately 50 abandoned […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 After months of calls for the public release of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site in Armstrong County, Pa., the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program publicly released the document last week. The agreement clarifies the roles of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 EnergySolutions introduced a new decommissioning team earlier this month aimed at leveraging its D&D experience to attract work in the growing decommissioning market, Logistics, Processing and Disposal President  Ken Robuck told RW Monitor this week. The decommissioning market for commercial plants could begin to boom in the coming decades. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers’ Alaska District issued a sources sought notice this week for an architect and engineering services indefinite delivery contract. The contract would call for architect and engineering services related to the cleanup of hazardous, toxic, and radiological wastes over a five-year period in Alaska and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/30/2015 The Department of Energy issued a solicitation notice last week looking for a contractor to assist in the movement of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors to a unidentified national laboratory. The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, through the Idaho Operations Office, is responsible for the disposition of university […]

RW Monitor 1/30/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The United Kingdom is examining the role of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to see if there is a continued need for the committee’s advisory role, the UK government announced this week. The CoRWM operates as an independent advisory committee to the government on issues related […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/23/2015 Two worker deaths have occurred over two days in separate incidents at the Fukushima Daii-chi cleanup site, the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced this week. The deaths brings the total work fatalities at the site to three in the past year after a worker died from falling rubble while […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 1/23/2015 Canadian-based Terrestrial Energy announced this week that it was entering into a relationship/collaboration with Oak Ridge National laboratory for the possible development of a new line of small molten salt reactors. Nuclear advocates who’ve long pushed for a revival of the molten salt technology, developed at ORNL decades ago, greeted […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/23/2015 There is little potential for harm to workers or the public from radiation exposure due to oil and gas development, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection concluded in a report released late last week concerning the effects of Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) within the state. With […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/23/2015 Four more communities in the Northern Ontario-area have advanced in the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s assessment to locate a repository site for the nation’s high-level waste, the NWMO announced this week. The communities include the City of Elliot Lake, the Town of Blind River, and the Townships of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/23/2015 Andrews County’s Board of Commissioners passed a resolution this week voicing the local government’s support of building a high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas. The resolution marks a significant step forward for WCS’ ability to begin the process of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/23/2015 As it continues to gather information on the best remedy for cleanup at the West Lake Landfill, the Environmental Protection Agency needs additional site characterization to determine if more radiologically-impacted material (RIM) exists outside the previously marked area, the agency said in a letter to the Missouri Attorney General […]

RW Monitor 1/23/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY A Perma-Fix Medical-led consortium announced this week that it had received a grant totaling $2.7 million from the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland to further develop and commercialize a prototype generator for the production of technetium-99m. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Yucca Mountain supporter John Shimkus (R-Ill.) believes that with the new Republican Senate, funding for the shuttered repository will be included in the next appropriations bill, he said this week in a briefing with reporters. Shimkus has long been a vocal advocate of Yucca Mountain as the solution to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 EnergySolutions is closing in on another decommissioning “license stewardship” agreement with the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Genoa, Wis., the company announced this week. Under the proposed agreement, EnergySolutions would temporarily take over responsibility for the license and decommissioning responsibility from the Dairyland Power Cooperative, the owner of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 John Kotek will officially serve as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, according to an internal memo from Assistant Secretary Pete Lyons released this week. As first reported by RW Monitor last week, Kotek, the former staff director for the Blue Ribbon […]

NRC Division Director Larry Camper Offers Perspective on Rulemaking Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Following the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s direction for staff to complete a decommissioning rulemaking, NRC Division Director Larry Camper suggested this week that the 2019 completion date would be a challenge to meet. In remarks at the Institute for Nuclear Materials […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Idaho is open to providing the Department of Energy a one-time waiver to allow DOE to send some spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes, but only if the Department provides an enforceable time frame for coming back into compliance with a 1995 Settlement Agreement, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 The operator of the Bridgeton Landfill agreed last week, after court negotiations with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), to relocate two Temperature Monitoring Probes (TMP) closer to the radioactively contaminated portion of the West Lake Landfill. The state had requested the relocation late last month following concerns […]

Medical Imaging Firm Offers $1 Million Investment Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ medical isotope subsidiary, Perma-Fix Medical, entered into a strategic partnership and secured a $1 million investment from Digirad Corporation to help the subsidiary develop and commercialize its technetium-99m production technology, Perma-Fix announced this week. With Canada set to stop […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/16/2015 Kurion received a contract to develop a robotic arm to repair reactor primary containment leaks at the Fukushima Daii-chi Nuclear Power Plant, the company said this week. The contract from IHI Corporation calls for Kurion to produce its robotic system, entitled the ‘Fukushima Repair Manipulator,’ for a targeted deployment […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/9/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission directed its Staff last week to begin a rulemaking to better address the NRC’s role in regulating decommissioning power plants, with an end date tentatively set for 2019. Currently, the NRC does not have regulations that reflect the decreased security and safety threat posed by […]