Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/17/2014 An EnergySolutions worker died this week after suffering a fall of approximately 25 feet at the company’s Erwin, Tenn., facility. The worker was identified as Gary Reedy, 51.  EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said Reedy had been employed at the facility for “a couple of years.” Walker also emphasized that […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/17/2014 Perma-Fix Environmental Services and Philotechnics, Ltd. reached a settlement late last week in a lawsuit over the handling of leftover waste containers. Terms of the settlement are not known, and Perma-Fix declined to comment this week beyond confirming that a settlement has occurred. Philotechnics could not be reached for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/17/2014 Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) last week called on the Army Corps of Engineers to publicly release the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would allow the remediation of the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site in Armstrong County, Pa. to continue. The MOU is needed to clarify the roles of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/17/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to hold the public meeting for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning plan Oct. 27. The NRC will meet with the public from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Carlsbad, Calif. to discuss and answer questions on Southern California Edison’s Post-Shutdown Decommissioning […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/17/2014 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, through operator Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Division, issued a sources sought notice this week for the transportation, treatment, final packaging, and disposal of low-level radioactive waste and mixed waste, according to a FedBizOpps posting. The contractor will have the responsibility of treating and transporting […]

RW Monitor 10/17/2014 IN NRC Jeff Baran has taken his place as the 34th Commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after being sworn in this week. Baran was confirmed by the Senate last month to fill the position left by former-NRC Commissioner William Magwood, who left the Commission to serve as Director General of the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 As the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission moves forward with its rule update, competitor EnergySolutions is raising questions about the legitimacy of Waste Control Specialists’ ability to accept exempt waste in its RCRA hazardous waste landfill. The Compact is currently undergoing a general rules update with a focus […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 Even if the Senate flips to Republican control this coming November, don’t expect any rapid movement on the revitalization of the now-shuttered Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository project, industry officials said this week. As polls indicate right now— Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight website gives the Republicans a 58 percent chance […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 SHINE Medical Technologies has entered into a $125 million term sheet with Deerfield Management Company to provide debt and equity financing for its production of molybdenum-99, the company announced this week. SHINE is one of several companies trying to get through the regulatory hurdles to begin the production of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 A New York state senator announced late last week plans to introduce a legislative package aimed at banning the disposal of Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) resulting from the fracking process in the state’s landfills. State Senator Ted O’Brien (D), who serves as the Ranking Member on the state Senate’s […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 This week marked the start of operation for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reincorporated Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. With the NRC’s changing workload, the NRC staff launched a working group last year to review the organizational structure of the materials and waste management programs, and determined that […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/10/2014 The Mitsubishi Research Institute, the Japanese organization responsible for the awarding of contracts for the conceptual study and feasibility study for fuel debris removal the Fukushima Daii-chi Power Station, announced late last week it had awarded subsidies to 11 organizations under three subject areas to better study cleanup techniques. […]

RW Monitor 10/10/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY International Isotopes has entered into an agreement with the Department of Energy to use its Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory for the irradiation of cobalt targets for the production of cobalt-60, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The agreement […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/3/2014 MIAMI—As a majority of the recently shutdown reactor plants enter the beginning stages of SAFESTOR, the overseers of the decommissioning plans of the various sites emphasized the importance of spending conservatively on the front end to ensure the decommissioning trust fund will have enough money to cover the total […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/3/2014 As Southern California Edison determines the best way to manage the decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, at least seven teams have responded to the utility’s Request for Information about managing the estimated $4.4 billion cleanup project, RW Monitor has learned. According to an industry executive, pre-qualifications […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 10/3/2014 As USEC became Centrus Energy Corp. this week after completing Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, in its first major action longtime President and Chief Executive Officer John Welch announced his plans to step down. Welch, who has served as head of the uranium enrichment firm since October 2005, plans to leave […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/3/2014 A collection of environmental groups this week threatened the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with litigation if it did not vacate its Continued of Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel rulemaking. The group, made up of 17 environmental activist groups, claims the NRC’s final rulemaking fails to properly address the repository issue […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/3/2014 Assessing contaminated sites within the Navajo Nation and focusing on the cleanup of the Northeast Church Rock Mine Site and Tuba City Dump topped the priority list for the Environmental Protection Agency and four other federal agencies in their second five year plan to address the uranium contamination within […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/3/2014 The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority elaborated late last week on how Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM), the responsible organization for the construction of a repository for the nation’s high level waste, will conduct the initial geologic screening to determine potential host sites for a disposal facility. In a […]

RW Monitor 10/3/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy this week issued a draft solicitation for up to $12.6 billion in loan guarantees for advanced nuclear energy projects. The four key areas of interest include advanced nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, upgrades at existing facilities, and $2 billion for front-end nuclear projects such as uranium […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 In the latest in a series of recent management moves, Kurion announced this week that Stephen Wright will serve as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer. Wright previously served as CFO and senior vice president at AeroVironment Inc., where he helped the company undergo an initial public offering, and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological engineering and services firm, received approval from the state of Ohio last week for the capablity to use its trans-load facility in Martins Ferry to receive, ship, and analyze containerized Technologically-Enhanced Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM). With large quantities of TENORM arising in states […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 The Texas Radiation Advisory Board supports Texas’ role in hosting a potential pilot interim storage facility for commercial spent nuclear fuel, according to an advisory statement the Board approved late last week. Texas, with companies likes Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County and Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiatives in Loving […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 A smoldering fire at the West Lake landfill may not be moving toward the radioactively contaminated portion of the site, contrary to previous studies, says a new report released last week by Bridgeton Landfill, the operator of the site. Earlier this month, Todd Thalhamer, a consultant for the state […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane and former NRC Commissioner William Magwood called on countries to make better progress at building geologic repositories for the spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors in remarks during the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference, held this week in Vienna. Both Macfarlane and […]

RW Monitor 9/26/2014 IN THE NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted its final ruling on the Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, formerly known as Waste Confidence, in the Federal Register last week, beginning a 30-day countdown until the rule becomes official. The NRC’s proposed waste confidence ruling, released last year, found that spent fuel […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/26/2014 Southern California Edison this week officially submitted its decommissioning documents for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review. SCE had completed a draft Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR), cost estimate and used fuel management plan at the end of July, but it wanted […]