Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 IN DOE The deadline to respond to a Sources Sought Synopsis/Request For Information related to the treatment of low-level radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste by the Department of Energy has been extended by a week. The previous deadline was April 28, but the new deadline will be May […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 The Department of Energy has begun conducting market research for firms to potentially design railcars for the transport of high-level waste. This week, DOE issued a Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice intended to “solicit ideas from all sources on how DOE should acquire the capability to transport casks of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Southern California Edison is seeking to access the San Onofre Generating Station’s decommissioning funds to help off-set some of the expenses related to the planning for decommissioning necessary to move forward with the SONGS shutdown. For any funds to be withdrawn from the trust, SCE has to receive the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Entergy is seeking damages from the U.S. government for failure to remove the spent nuclear fuel at its Vermont Yankee site, according to a lawsuit filed late last week in the Federal Court of Claims. The litigation is “Round 2” for seeking repayment for costs incurred to deal with […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Sellafield Ltd. and TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Decontamination and Decommissioning Engineering Company (FDEC) entered into a co-operation agreement this week in an effort to share knowledge and know-how concerning the decommissioning of two of the most complex cleanup sites in the world. The agreement will work as an ‘operator to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Disposal of high-level waste in salt, clay/shale rocks, and crystalline rock formations could all provide robust long-term isolation for specific wastes, according to a Department of Energy report released this week. The report examines how different geologic disposal options would perform with different waste streams. Notably, it seemed disposal […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged this week that it will consider a petition to suspend all new reactor licensing decisions and license renewal decisions until it further examines the Environmental Assessment of high density spent fuel pools, according to a posting in the Federal Register. The petitioners, made up […]

WCS, DOE Look to Change Acceptance Criteria Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 5/2/2014 More than 75 of the transuranic waste containers slated for shipment from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Waste Control Specialists may not meet the current WCS acceptance criteria, complicating a high-profile push to remove all aboveground LANL transuranic waste by the end of […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 5/2/2014 As a contract that cedes management of the American Centrifuge Project from USEC to Oak Ridge National Laboratory began this week, Senate appropriators are questioning how the program will be funded. This week DOE and USEC’s bankruptcy court approved a $118 million subcontract between ORNL contractor UT-Battelle and USEC to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Opponents to the idea of Texas potentially hosting an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste began to voice their displeasure this week during a meeting held by the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, an environmental activist group dedicated to clean energy initiatives […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/2/2014 Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster this week called on the Environmental Protection Agency to expand its efforts in testing for radiological contamination outside the fence-line of the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis. The EPA has maintained that no contamination has spread beyond the landfill and that the site […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/24/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy saved $412 million in cost avoidance by shuttering the Yucca Mountain geologic nuclear waste repository in 2010, according to a DOE Inspector General’s audit report released last week. The report examined the Department’s management of unneeded real estate. DOE calculated the cost avoidance […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged this week that it has received a petition to consolidate all regulations that relate to the environmental impacts of spent fuel storage and disposal. The petitioners include a group of 34 activist organizations that also grouped together to petition the NRC to consider the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/26/2014 The Department of Energy has begun conducting market research in preparation for two planned procurements for the lease and loading of casks with spent nuclear fuel, as well as the transportation of the fuel from non-commercial research reactors to the Idaho National Laboratory, according to a pair of Sources […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 Studsvik decreased the company’s risk exposure with the sale of its U.S. operations, according to the company’s first quarter interim report posted this week. Studsvik sold its processing facilities in Erwin and Memphis, Tenn.,  acquisition of the THOR technology for the commercial North American and Chinese markets, and Studsvik’s […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 The Drigg low-level waste repository in the United Kingdom is pushing back against media reports this week that the site is at risk of coastal erosion over the long-term. The London Guardian newspaper obtained internal documents from the U.K.’s Environmental Agency that said that anticipated rising sea levels in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 The Army Corps of Engineers will assist in the construction of the isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill, near St. Louis, according to an agreement announced by the Environmental Protection Agency late last week. The Corps will provide technical assistance, design review, pre-construction and construction observation, and community […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 The agreement between EnergySolutions and Waste Control Specialists to ship Class B and C low-level radioactive waste from the Zion decommissioning appears to remain intact, but it is unclear when, or if, shipments are likely to occur, according to EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker. Previously, the agreement appeared to have […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) this week called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, and the Army Corps of Engineers to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would allow the remediation of the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site in Armstrong County, Pa. to continue.  Casey […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/25/2014 Kurion’s robotic remote systems division will ship an inspection system to Japan next week that will help in the inspection of Reactor 2 at the Fukushima-Daiichi cleanup site to identify any leaks within the primary containment vessel. The system will be delivered to the IHI Corporation, a Japanese company […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 Japan’s International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), along with the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI), is set to host a workshop on April 25 in Tokyo that will discuss the results of the Request For Information that IRID issued last year on innovative approaches to fuel debris removal at […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 A Texas state court of appeals judge earlier this month denied a challenge by the Sierra Club against the byproduct disposal permit issued to Waste Control Specialists by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The case centered on TCEQ’s denial to hold a contested-case hearing during the permitting process, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 Westinghouse Electric Company and Canadian Nuclear Partners, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, announced an agreement this week that enables the two companies to work more closely together on global nuclear projects. The agreement includes potential joint projects in refurbishment, maintenance and outage services, decommissioning and remediation of existing […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 Waste Control Specialists has begun to reach out to the local community in Andrews, Texas, to help determine if there is local interest in potentially hosting an interim storage facility for high-level nuclear waste. With state officials having expressed an interest in potentially hosting such a site, WCS met […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/18/2014 While a Department of Energy program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge technology had been set to expire this week, some savings have allowed USEC and DOE to undertake a “no-cost” extension of the program until the end of the month. The extension will allow details to be worked out for current […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 An individual with property adjacent to the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis has filed a class action lawsuit against the parties associated with contamination at the site, including site operator Bridgeton Landfill, LLC and its parent company Republic Services. John James is alleging that his property has suffered […]

Company Reports Net Loss of $36M for Q4 2013, But Optimistic About This Year Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/18/2014 Perma-Fix Environmental Services this week reported down financial results for the fourth quarter of 2013, and warned in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its future could be at risk. However, company […]

In the April 4, 2014 issue of RadWaste Monitor, the “Wrap Up” section included a mistake concerning the amount awarded in an Army Corps of Engineers contract for the decommissioning of the MH-1A nuclear reactor currently installed on the STURGIS barge. The story said the contract was worth approximately $37.7 million. The correct amount for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Perma-Fix Environmental Services announced this week that it has received a contract from Kemron Environmental Services to help in the cleanup of the Safety Light Superfund Site, located in South Centre Township, Pa. The contract, valued at more than $500,000, calls for Perma-Fix “to provide radiation […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 04/11/14 The URENCO USA uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico wrapped up Phase II activities this week when it introduced uranium hexafluoride gas into the plant’s last cascade. With the second phase completed, the facility’s enrichment capacity now stands at 3.7 million separative work units. “This represents a significant accomplishment for […]