Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

RW Monitor 9/5/2014 IN THE NRC Now-former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member William Magwood officially took over as Director-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in Paris this week. Magwood departs the Commission after casting a controversial vote in the NRC’s Waste Confidence rulemaking following the call for his […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 While the fracking boom has haunted the nuclear industry for the last 10 years with cheap natural gas, it appears to have also brought a new, high volume waste stream for those involved in the radioactive waste disposal business. The increased activity in oil and gas exploration, especially in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission unanimously approved this week the final rule for the “Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel,” formerly known as the Waste Confidence rulemaking, and General Environmental Impact Statement in a vote that paved the way for the resumption of nuclear plant licensing and re-licensing decisions. The […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 Utah’s Division of Radiation Control is set to release on Sept. 8 the Safety Evaluation Report for its evaluation of EnergySolutions’ performance assessment for the disposal of depleted uranium (DU) at its Clive disposal facility, according to Division of Radiation Control Director Rusty Lundberg. Utah’s release of the DU […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 The Army Corps of Engineers’ Kansas City Office issued a pre- solicitation notice this week for an unrestricted Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order Contract for remediation services. The Corps anticipates issuing up to 10 contracts with a maximum shared capacity of $185 million. The contract […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission unanimously voted this week to approve the Staff’s proposal to enable a speedier and more efficient review of SHINE Medical Industries’ low-energy neutron source design for the production of molybdenum-99 under NRC’s 10.CFR.50 regulations. SHINE is one of several companies trying to get through the […]

RW Monitor 8/29/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Perma-Fix Environmental Services announced this week that it has received a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for its Technetium-99 production technology. The Patent Office issued an allowance that granted Perma-Fix all the claims it made in its application for preparation of its Microporous Composite Material and its derivatives. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 Problems with cybersecurity and the disposal of sealed sources remain the biggest obstacles to the security of radioactive sources, according to the 2014 Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force report, released by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week. The Task Force was established in 2005 to evaluate and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 Nevada’s Interim Finance Committee approved this week a $1.4 million funding request from the state’s Attorney General Office and Agency for Nuclear Projects for their efforts to combat Yucca Mountain. With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving forward with the completion of the Yucca Safety Evaluation Reports, the state expects […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/29/2014 Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) this week announced plans to introduce a resolution before the House next month that would express U.S.  opposition to the construction of Ontario Power Generation’s proposed deep geological repository for low and intermediary waste. “As Michiganders, we know that our Great Lakes are an invaluable […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality unanimously approved this week the license amendment requests proposed by Waste Control Specialists that would expand the types of waste and size of the facility. The license amendments approximately triple the size of the facility by upping the amount of waste the facility […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Bechtel Government Services Canada has joined with Hatch Ltd. and Golder Associates Ltd. to bid on the new contract to manage Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.’s Chalk River laboratories under the team name Canadian Nuclear Revitalization Partners, the team announced this week. The Canadian government’s procurement for a contract […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission tentatively plans to vote on the final rulemaking for the Waste Confidence update on Aug. 26, according to the Commission’s online meeting schedule. The NRC Staff released the draft final rulemaking at the end of July, which would make this affirmation vote a quick turn-around […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley sent a letter this week to President Barrack Obama, Mississippi’s Congressional Delegation, and members of the Department of Energy highlighting the PSC’s opposition to hosting a high-level nuclear waste disposal facility in the site. Earlier this year, the PSC passed a unanimous resolution […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 EnergySolutions filed a motion for re-hearing with the South Carolina Court of Appeals late last week in an attempt to reverse the court’s decision from earlier this month that asserted the Barnwell low-level waste disposal facility’s disposal practices were not in compliance with safety regulations. The court did not […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 RGA Labs, the engineering company looking to purchase and restart Dominion’s Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station, sent a letter last week to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Region III office declaring its interest in potentially going through the unusual relicensing of a shutdown plant. The letter would indicate an increasing seriousness […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 8/22/2014 With space running out at the Department of Energy’s on-site landfill and plans for a follow-on landfill still in the early, early stages, DOE’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management office is looking at ways to expand the existing capability and give additional time before constructing a new landfill. The Oak Ridge […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster called on the Environmental Protection Agency last week to move forward the construction of an isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis in a timelier manner. Koster, along with members of Missouri’s congressional delegation, has been critical of the EPA’s unclear […]

Company to Change Name to Centrus Energy Corp. Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 8/22/2014 USEC’s noteholders overwhelmingly approved the company’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy reorganization plan this week, with over 99 percent in favor. The plan still awaits approval by the U.S.  Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in a Sept. 5 hearing. If the reorganization […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Southern California Edison released its draft Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station earlier this month, outlining the 20-year, $4.4 billion decommissioning plan. The draft plan now goes to the Community Engagement Panel, the local stakeholder outreach group, for comments and review in an […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this month approved a plan to merge the programs within the Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs back into the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. With the NRC’s changing workload, the NRC staff launched a working group last […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/22/2014 Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. Perma-Fix Sells Subsidiary Perma-Fix Environmental Services sold its subsidiary Schreiber, Yonley & Associates, […]

RW Monitor 8/22/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY U.S. Ecology appointed Katina Dorton to its Board of Directors, the company announced this week. Dorton has 20 years of investment banking experience, and she currently serves as a partner at Corise Co., a merchant and banking advisory firm. “We are pleased to have Katina join our Board,” U.S. […]

As is our annual practice, RadWaste Monitor is taking a summer publication break and will not publish for the next two weeks. The next regular issue will be on your desk Aug. 22. Subscribers to the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing service will receive editions twice-a-week on a Tuesday/Thursday basis during the break. In addition, we […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/1/2014 While stakeholders continue to wade through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recently released draft final Waste Confidence rule (now known as the Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel rule), it appears not much has changed since the proposed rule was released last September. Much of the rule remains intact with […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/1/2014 A South Carolina court issued a scathing decision this week against the Barnwell low-level waste disposal facility’s disposal practices, questioning the state Department of Health and Environmental Control’s license renewal for the EnergySolutions-owned Chem-Nuclear site amid concerns of water contamination. The South Carolina Court of Appeals determined an administrative […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 8/1/2014 The United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released a white paper last week outlining the nation’s new approach to siting a geological disposal facility for the nation’s high-level nuclear waste. The white paper aims to rejuvenate the nation’s siting search after a planned site in West […]