Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 A group of Mississippi state lawmakers proposed a resolution last week that would voice the state’s opposition to potentially hosting a high-level radioactive waste site. The proposed resolution, introduced by four Republican Representatives from southern Mississippi, followed a separate attempt by the state’s Public Service Commission to pass a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2013 If the radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis were to come in contact with a smoldering fire nearby, it is unclear if an explosive event could occur, but there is a potential risk to public health, according to a review by the Environmental Protection Agency […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 The Navajo Nation last week received approximately $1 billion in a settlement that will aid in the cleanup of 50 abandoned uranium mine sites across the tribe’s land. The money comes in conjunction with a larger settlement from the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of Kerr-McGee Corporation, which […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 The issue of Compatibility ‘B’ distinction between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regulations and Agreement State regulations dominated the discussion during a Commission meeting held this week to discuss on-going efforts from the Organization of Agreement States (OAS) and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD). Compatibility categories refer […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/11/2014 While a Department of Energy program supporting the American Centrifuge Project is set to come to an end next week, DOE is deciding how to reprogram National Nuclear Security Administration funds to keep the project alive. Last week, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 Several potential candidates have begun to emerge for a spot set to open on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later this year. Current Commissioner William Magwood has been named to take over as Director General of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency in September. Among […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 US Ecology, Inc. this week announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire EQ – The Environmental Quality Company, an environmental services and waste management company based in Wayne, Mich., with facilities throughout the Eastern United States. EQ is owned by an affiliate of New York-based private […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 A group of nine House lawmakers from five states with permanently shut down reactors are calling for funding to be provided in Fiscal Year 2015 so the Department of Energy can move forward with its plans for developing a consent-based siting approach for nuclear waste storage facilities. In a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/11/2014 Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) accused the Department of Energy this week of attempting to drain the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Nuclear Waste Fund appropriations so it cannot complete the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Reports. During a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing, Johnson noted DOE’s  change of heart towards […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT A worker at the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup site died late last week after a trench cave-in, according to a release from the Tokyo Electric Power Company.  According to TEPCO, the worker was one of a group of workers involved in the repair of foundation piles […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/4/2014 The first shipment of Los Alamos transuranic waste arrived at the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas this week for temporary storage during the ongoing shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The storage will take place under a one-year,  $8.8 million contract between WCS and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 The Department of Energy has begun identifying alternative sources of fuel for TRIGA reactors. TRIGA reactors operate mainly at U.S. universities as research reactors, but due to uncertainties arising from a planned safety, security and equipment upgrade of the TRIGA fuel fabrication line by TRIGA International, doubts linger on […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 International Isotopes suffered another negative year in 2013, with a net loss of approximately $2.5 million, according to a company release this week. The net loss in 2013 increased approximately ten percent compared to the $2.2 million net loss suffered in 2012. The company placed much of the blame […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 Perma-Fix Environmental Services anticipates reporting a net loss for 2013, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Perma-Fix notified the SEC that it would be late filing its 2013 financial statements because the company “is engaged in discussions with certain parties, the result of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 A Canadian review panel responsible for evaluating the safety case for Ontario Power Generation’s proposed Deep Geological Repository has asked the company to resubmit its assessment of potential radionuclide inventories, according to a letter dated March 21. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s Joint Review Panel’s request stemmed from a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry expressed support for examining the state’s role in potentially storing high-level waste in a letter he sent to Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus late last week.  Straus has asked state lawmakers to begin considering the logistics […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/4/2014 While the Department of Energy said this week that Oak Ridge will take over management of the American Centrifuge Project  from USEC, a near-term question that remains to be answered is how the project will be funded going forward. Current plans appear to be for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 An agreement between EnergySolutions and Waste Control Specialists to ship Class B and C low-level radioactive waste from the Zion decommissioning project for disposal at WCS appears to have fallen apart, RW Monitor has learned. EnergySolutions received an exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that enabled the company to […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 4/4/2014 Rep. John Shimkus (R- Ill.) reiterated his frustrations with the Department of Energy’s decision to shutter the Yucca Mountain waste repository project and to pursue a new approach for developing interim storage sites in an exchange with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week.  “Your job is to comply […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 IN NRC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will renew the charter for the Advisory Committee On The Medical Uses Isotopes for a period of two years, according to a notice in the Federal Register late last week. The purpose of the committee is to provide the Commission with advice dealing […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy has begun conducting market research on companies capable of treating low-level radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste, according to a Sources Sought Synopsis/Request For Information posted this week. The current set of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for waste treatment services ends next year in June, […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 Robatel Technologies received a Certificate of Compliance from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week that enables its Type-B shipping cask design to begin transporting waste. Waste Control Specialists contracted with Robatel to provide three Type B casks capable of shipping Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. The first […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency has reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers to help in the construction of an isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, according to a letter from EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster late last […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 Language referring to the availability of a repository "when needed" within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Waste Confidence rulemaking may change or be deleted altogether when the final ruling comes out, Andy Imboden of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards said during a Commission meeting late last […]

Addl. Details Released of FY 2015 FUSRAP Budget Request Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 The Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) has elected to add a new site to its cleanup list. The Middlesex North Site, also known as the Middlesex Municipal Landfill, located in New Jersey, will join […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 Perma-Fix Medical Corporation, a recently created subsidiary of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, has reportedly entered into a financial deal to conduct a reverse takeover of a Polish firm. According to reports from Reuters this week, CEE Opportunity Partners Poland SA has reached an agreement to purchase 100 percent of Perma-Fix […]

NUCLEAR SHUTDOWNS DOMINATES ENERGY APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 The Congressional appropriations process may go faster this year than in previous years, according to House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho).  The Appropriations Committee is making an effort to hasten the pace of its effort to try and […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/28/2014 House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) may bring in the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as contractors, to get answers on potential project deadlines and estimated costs figures for Yucca Mountain, according to a statement issued this week. Shimkus has […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 IN THE NRC The Department of the Navy has submitted a request for an alternate decommissioning schedule to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its Space and Naval Warfare Centers Pacific (SPAWARS) site, located in San Diego, Calif., according to a posting in the Federal Register this week. If the […]