Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

An executive at American Demolition and Nuclear Decommissioning, John (Rick) Dearholt has died, the head of a Knoxville-based nuclear trade organization confirmed by phone Tuesday morning. A memorial service for Dearholt, a longtime board member for the Energy, Technology & Environmental Business Association, is set for Friday June 21, said the executive director of the […]

The Department of Energy last week announced a $180-million funding opportunity for nuclear fusion innovation in connection with its Fusion Energy Strategy 2024. In a White House ceremony, DOE said the solicitation is the latest step in “Decadal Vision” to hasten commercial development of nuclear fusion. Details on the funding opportunity for the Fusion Innovation […]

The story “Consent-based interim storage facility remains years away” [Radwaste Monitor, June, 7, 2024] should have said DOE plans to open the consolidated interim storage site by 2040 and a deep underground disposal site might not open until decades later.

The Department of Energy’s top manager for spent fuel and high-level waste, Paul Murray, told a local panel in California Thursday several consolidated interim nuclear fuel storage sites will be needed across the nation. “How many sites do I think we really need,” Murray said during a presentation to the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel. […]

LOUISVILLE, KY— In a five-year span, prospects for the U.S. commercial nuclear power sector have gone from gloomy to upbeat, an executive with the industry group, Nuclear Energy Institute, said here last week. As recently as 2019, up to 20 U.S. reactors, or more than one-fifth of the fleet, were expected to shut down under […]

Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture between Orano and Waste Control Specialists, wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider an August ruling by a federal appeals court that effectively blocked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from approving a private temporary spent nuclear fuel storage site in Andrews County, Texas. A three-judge panel for the Fifth U.S. […]

Baltimore-based Constellation Energy has not decided if it will pursue restart of its Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor in Pennsylvania, which was shuttered for economic reasons in 2019, the company said Thursday in an email response to an inquiry from Exchange Monitor. “Restarting closed nuclear plants offers another opportunity for the industry to add […]

With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving toward updated regulations on disposal of  both low-level waste and Greater Than Class C waste, the governor of Texas is reluctant to allow the latter in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in a May letter to the head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said his […]

The Department of Energy Wednesday announced the selection of two companies that will potentially develop hundreds of megawatts of electricity from solar power at the Idaho National Laboratory. NorthRenew Energy Partners and Spitfire propose to install a combined total of 400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity at Idaho National Laboratory under DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy […]

LOUISVILLE, KY. — The Department of Energy’s consent-based siting program for interim storage of spent fuel could take decades but the lengthy process does not appear to scare localities interested in nuclear power, attendees at Exchange Monitor’s Radwaste Summit heard this week. DOE has touted its program to find communities willing to host interim spent […]

California-based Deep Isolation has appointed Rod Baltzer as its new chief executive officer effective Jane 1, the company said Friday. Baltzer has been chief operating officer of Deep Isolation since 2018, the company said in a press release. Baltzer was previously president and CEO of Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas. Baltzer helped steer […]

LOUISVILLE, KY. — The Department of Energy’s former chief information officer warns the federal government will become more demanding on cyber security requirements for contractors, and that it’s likely to be costly and time-consuming. “Agencies are updating policies,” Rocky Campione, vice president of cybersecurity and technology solutions for Boston Government Services, said here Wednesday. Campione […]

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration on Wednesday hosted what it called a White House Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment and announced it would create a federal working group to promote domestic nuclear technology. The closed-door summit included attendees from government and industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted a photo from the summit on the website X. […]

The Exchange Monitor was set to host its 18th annual RadWaste Summit in Louisville, Ky., June 3-5 at the Louisville Marriott Downtown. The agenda for the yearly gathering of government and industry professionals features speakers from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Office of Nuclear Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration.   The […]

A bi-partisan, bi-cameral package of nuclear policy reforms that sailed through the House in May has stalled in the Senate, where at least one lawmaker has not consented to pass the bill without a roll call vote. As of Tuesday, no senator had publicly declared opposition to the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for […]

The State of New York wants a federal court to affirm and recognize the state’s claim that it can regulate discharge of irradiated wastewater into the Hudson River. Attorneys for the Empire State made the request last week in a response to a lawsuit filed in April by Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., which is decommissioning the […]

In a shift, Sam Brown, who seeks the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), on Saturday said he opposed storing radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain “should not, and will not, be revived as a nuclear waste repository,” reads a post dated May 25 on Brown’s account at the website X. […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group said Tuesday it appointed Paul Adams president of its North Wind Services company. Adams, who started his role as president on Tuesday, will lead business development and strategic initiatives, North Wind said in a Tuesday press release. Adams is a Marine Corps veteran with more than 25 years of commercial and government […]

Nuclear services and decommissioning provider Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., promoted Kelly Trice to president, one of five promotions from within announced this week. Trice takes the title of president from Holtec International founder and chief executive officer Krishna Singh, who remains CEO and chair of the company’s advisory board. Trice, who has been with Holtec […]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who has used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to support funding for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has again won the GOP nomination to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional district. Simpson received over half the votes cast in Tuesday’s Republican primary, defeating two GOP challengers, the Idaho Capital […]

The Department of Energy in June plans to solicit bids on a decade-long contract for acquiring domestic low-enriched uranium, the agency said recently in a procurement note. There would be multiple awards for the 10-year, $3.4 billion, indefinitely-quantity, indefinite-delivery deal, the agency wrote last week in a synopsis of its proposed solicitation. The agency did […]

This opinion first appeared in RadWaste Monitor affiliate publication Power. By Craig Piercy, CEO and executive director of the American Nuclear Society and Jackie Toth, managing director of Policy and External Affairs at Good Energy Collective.  It’s welcome that the U.S. House of Representatives in April revived policy discussions over nuclear waste. Our organizations support […]

The Department of Energy planned to show off its 12-axle Atlas rail car, designed for hauling spent nuclear fuel, at the agency’s National Transportation Stakeholders Forum next weekend in Denver. Atlas in 2023 did a dry run over the rails, with no spent fuel aboard, to practice hauling nuclear material.   Former President Donald Trump […]

Nuclear Waste Services recently put out the equivalent of a request for information for companies interested in building a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste in the United Kingdom. The repository, which Nuclear Waste Services calls a Geologic Disposal Facility, could be built under a future contract worth up to $1.6 billion over 10 or […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday filed a procedural motion to limit further debate on Christopher Hanson’s nomination to serve five more years at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When the Senate returns to Washington on June 3, lawmakers will vote at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on the petition to invoke what is formally […]

President Biden (D) on this week signed into law a ban on importing Russian uranium beginning in 2028, the White House announced. Under the bill signed Monday companies may no longer import unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia or by a Russian entity unless the importer gets a waiver from the Department of Energy. Waivers are only […]