Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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 […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 A lawsuit between Perma-Fix Environmental Services and Philotechnics, Ltd. concerning the handling of leftover waste containers appears to be heading towards a settlement agreement, according to a scheduling order issued earlier this month by U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley. The lawsuit originates from an alleged breach of contract […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 A group of scientists from the Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force called on Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz this week to take a more active role in the handling of the nation’s radioactive waste. The group expressed its concerns in a letter to Moniz following the release of DOE’s Fiscal […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 3/21/2014 With funding for a program supporting the American Centrifuge project set to run out in the coming weeks, USEC sent out layoff notices to 400 employees late last week, according to spokesman Paul Jacobson. The WARN Act notices for potential layoffs within 60 days went out to 400 USEC employees […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 Valhi Inc., the parent company of Waste Control Specialists, expects WCS to begin operating profitably in 2014 after suffering an operating loss in 2013, although the company warned it would not be opposed to seeking “strategic alternatives” if cash flow does not improve, according to a Securities and Exchange […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied two separate motions this week that would have re-opened the court’s decision to reduce the Nuclear Waste Fund fee to zero. The Department of Energy filed a motion for a re-hearing in front of the three judge panel that unanimously […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 A former Ontario Power Generation employee claims that OPG’s calculations for radionuclide inventories that would go into its proposed Deep Geological Repository, located in Kincardine, Ont., underestimate the waste’s true values. The charge comes from Frank Greening, a retired research scientist for OPG since 1978, in a letter dated […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 Changes should be made to the current regulatory system in place for disused sources to incentivize licensees to reuse, recycle, or disposal the disused sources promptly, a Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum working group recommended in a report presented this week at the LLW Forum in Austin, Texas. Working under […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 3/21/2014 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner William Magwood is leaving the NRC to serve as Director General of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. Magwood will be taking over the position in September, but according to the NRC, he has not yet set a departure date […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 3/21/2014 While the Department of Energy this week announced that it plans to send transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Waste Control Specialists for temporary storage, there is a tight time frame for completing preparations for the shipments.  DOE has committed to New Mexico to completing its campaign for […]

URENCO USA Says Significant Inventory On Hand Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 3/21/2014 While the Nuclear Energy Institute is warning lawmakers of the potential impacts of sanctions under consideration on Russian low enriched uranium, URENCO USA says there is significant inventory on hand. The White House is considering including LEU among sanctions against Russia, and this […]