Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 A New Mexico startup, Eden Radioisotopes LLC, which features former Sandia National Laboratory researchers, has emerged as the latest company attempting to build a facility dedicated to the production of molybdenum-99. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Canada, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 The legislation package aimed at stopping the construction of the proposed Canadian low-level radioactive waste repository passed the Michigan state Senate unanimously late last week. Ontario Power Generation’s planned low and intermediate deep geologic repository located in Kincardine, Ont. near the Great Lakes has drawn the ire of citizens […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 EnergySolutions announced this week the closure of its Memphis Processing Facility, according to an internal announcement obtained by RW Monitor. EnergySolutions acquired the facility back in March when it purchased all of Studsvik’s U.S. operations in a deal worth $23 million. According to the announcement, the decision to close […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 U.S. Ecology finalized its purchase of The Environmental Quality Company this week for $465 million, making the previously announced acquisition official. US Ecology announced back in April that it would purchase EQ in an effort to expand its geographic reach. “The acquisition of EQ aligns perfectly with our strategy […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 The United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory signed an agreement this week to work more closely with Studsvik UK Limited and FriGeo AB on the development and application of a freezing technology. The technology could potentially have an application across different radioactive waste management strategies, including sampling and decommissioning, to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/20/2014 A group of 34 environmental activist groups this week called for the resignation of NRC Commissioner William Magwood for accepting a position with an international organization that promotes nuclear energy while he still served as a regulator, according to a letter sent to Magwood. Magwood announced earlier this year […]

RW Monitor 6/20/2014 AT FUKUSHIMA The Tokyo Electric Power Company is reportedly having a difficult time with the beginning stages of the construction of its ‘ice wall’ at the Fukushima-Daiichi cleanup. The ice wall is part of TEPCO’s larger plan that also includes a well pumping system to prevent the further spread of groundwater contamination […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 6/20/2014 Uranium conversion company Converdyn has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Energy in an effort to stop the Department’s uranium transfers, which the company claims will cost it $40.5 million in lost revenue over the next two years. In May, a DOE secretarial determination declared that its ongoing uranium […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 ORLANDO, Fla.—An effort by some lawmakers to restrict the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ability to grant exemptions to safety and security requirements for nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning was met with skepticism here this week by an NRC Commissioner and industry officials. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 House appropriators are looking to breathe new life into the shuttered Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository project, including more than $200 million for the effort in the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill reported out of subcommittee this week. The bill would provide $150 million to the […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 6/13/2014 The four recent Department of Energy uranium transfers that supported USEC totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars may have been done illegally, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week that sparked strong disagreement from DOE. The Department undertook the transfers in 2012 and 2013 largely […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 ORLANDO, Fla.—The Nuclear Regulatory Commission remains on track to issue a final version of its updated Waste Confidence rulemaking this fall, NRC Commissioner William Ostendorff said during a presentation at this year’s EPRI Low-Level Waste Conference, held here this week. The NRC had previously announced that a final ruling […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 Kurion announced this week that it has been awarded a new contract by Tokyo Electric Power Company to provide a system to treat the water tanks at the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station. Kurion previously provided treatment at the cleanup site to remove cesium from groundwater back in 2011, and this […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/13/2014 The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board is calling on the Department of Energy to increase the scope and analyses in its test plan for its upcoming study on high burnup spent nuclear fuel in dry cask storage. The Department’s study is aimed to better understand the effects of high […]

RW Monitor 6/13/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Perma-Fix Environmental Services has won a contract to provide waste treatment services for the Department of the Navy. The contract, worth approximately $9 million including option periods, calls for the transportation, treatment, and disposal of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) generated mixed wastes. Perma-Fix will utilize all four of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 Senate Republicans called on the Obama Administration this week to move quickly to address two looming vacancies at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In the near-term, NRC Commissioner George Apostolakis’ term is set to expire at the end of this month, but the Administration so far has remained silent on […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) hounded the Nuclear Regulatory Commission again this week for granting exemptions to emergency preparedness and safety regulations at shutdown reactor sites. Boxer has been critical of NRC exemptions, especially for pending exemption requests from Southern California Edison for the San […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Mississippi Public Service Commission passed a resolution this week calling on the Department of Energy to stop considering the state for any high-level waste disposal. The resolution stems from comments made by Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons that listed Mississippi as one of the potential […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Tokyo Electric Power Company this week began the construction of an ‘ice wall’ at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station in an effort to help divert groundwater from the contaminated site. The ice wall is part of TEPCO’s larger plan that also includes a well pumping system to prevent […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 Perma-Fix Medical Corporation, a recently created subsidiary of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, is “rapidly” gaining more medical industry partners to help bolster its Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) technology, Perma-Fix CEO Lou Centofanti said in a presentation given at an energy conference held in Warsaw, Poland, this week. Perma-Fix formed the subsidiary in […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 6/6/2014 Global Medical Isotope Systems is set to complete the acquisition of Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Manufacturing Sciences Corp from EnergySolutions by the end of this month, according to GMIS CEO Zane Wilson. Wilson said Global Medical Isotope Systems doesn’t plan to make any major changes to MSC, which he described as […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 6/6/2014 A court hearing on USEC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has been postponed a third time, with the disclosure statement hearing now scheduled to take place July 7 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The hearing had been originally scheduled for April 21, then was rescheduled to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Canadian Joint Review Panel responsible for evaluating Ontario Power Generation’s license request to build a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate waste in Kincardine, Ont. has scheduled a new set of public hearings for this fall to discuss information it has received in response to a request […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Army has begun seeking a disposal site for depleted uranium-contaminated materials. This week, the Army Contracting Command-Rock Island issued a Sources Sought notice to help determine  “the availability of contractors who have a licensed facility and are able to provide low level radiological waste.” Responses to the notice […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 6/6/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun seeking public comment on a draft regulatory issue summary that addresses the reporting of radionuclides on the uniform waste manifest, according to a notice in the Federal Register this week. The NRC wants to identify instances where licensees use “indirect methods” to determine […]