Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Holtec and the Nuclear Energy Institute appeared in court to have their say in a two year-old lawsuit that could determine the future of commercially operated storage of spent nuclear fuel. The company and the industry’s Washington-based advocacy group filed friend-of-the-court briefs last week with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where Interim Storage […]

New state rules restricting discharge of irradiated water will delay cleanup of nuclear plants in Massachusetts and New York by four and eight years, respectively, Holtec International told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week.  These prohibitions mean the partial site release date of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts will slip to Sept. 24, […]

While it remains a critic of nuclear energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council confirmed Wednesday it is scaling back its legal work on nuclear issues. “While NRDC is paring back our nuclear litigation work, we will continue to advocate for better, safer, cheaper solutions to climate change,” Mark Drajem, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources […]

WASHINGTON — Sometimes wielded as a cudgel at home to discourage investment in new nuclear power, U.S. struggles with radioactive waste seldom reach the ear of one of the country’s biggest international power brokers  “Interestingly enough, when I talk about nuclear energy with people from other countries, they almost never talk about this issue,” said […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it will raise the amount of third-party insurance operators of nuclear reactors must carry by $50 million a year.  Reactor operators now must carry $500 million for each licensed reactor, up from $4450 million. The change will be effective on Jan. 1, according to an Oct. 19 Federal Register Notice. […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Forrest Remick died Oct. 9 at the Village at Penn State. He was 92. “Good morning!” reads an obituary penned by Remick himself and published posthumously. “They’ve informed me that I’m no longer going to be with you and that I’m off on a new adventure and experience.” Remick did not identify […]

Several interest groups this week asked key congressional committees to order the Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite its generic standards for radioactive waste repositories. Even though Congress and three successive presidents have opted not to permanently store waste in the congressionally approved Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, it could still take five years or so […]

Carrie Safford is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s new Secretary of the Commission, making her the fifth person in the agency’s history to hold the primary gatekeeping post for the commissioners. The NRC announced Safford’s new role in a press release on Tuesday. Most recently a deputy director in the division of fuel management, Safford now […]

When the House last week passed its version of the Department of Energy’s 2024 budget, members crossed the aisle to defeat an amendment to cut the Secretary of Energy’s salary to $1. Most of the “no” votes on the amendment from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) were from Democrats and most of the “aye” votes were […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees should get the equivalent of three telework days each week instead of four, commissioners decided in a lopsided vote that killed the agency’s latest remote work-policy. In a 3-1 vote that concluded this week, the four-member NRC voted to repeal the agency’s flexible work model, which allowed up to eight days […]

Oral arguments are scheduled, but not inevitable, in January for a high-profile legal challenge by environmental groups who want to shut down California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant this decade. Arguments are on the slate for Jan. 10 in Pasadena, Calif., in the lawsuit brought by San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and others against the […]

Two decommissioning workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan were sprayed with radioactive waste while cleaning out pipes at the shuttered plant, the Associated Press reported this week. Neither of the workers, who were both wearing protective gear, ingested any radioactive waste, AP reported, citing a statement from plant owner Tokyo Electric […]

A House subcommittee this week approved several bipartisan bills with nuclear policy reforms, including at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy, climate and grid security subcommittee began considering the bills in a Tuesday markup session that was briefly delayed by internal Republican caucus meetings about […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy hopes the agency can select its first clean power project at the Idaho National Laboratory within a year. “A year from today” is the target, Kathryn Huff, DOE’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, told reporters on the sidelines of the Idaho lab’s Cleanup to […]

The U.S. government and Interim Storage Partners this week asked an entire appeals court to overturn a decision by three of the court’s judges that effectively killed commercial interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Two other courts have ruled that the “plain text” of federal law allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve the temporary […]

On Thursday, after a two-week squabble about who to elect as speaker, the House of Representatives passed a bill to fund defense and civilian nuclear nuclear programs for the rest of fiscal year 2024. Civilian nuclear programs at the Department of Energy and elsewhere would essentially remain flat under the House’s bill. Active nuclear weapons […]

Holtec Decommissioning International moved all the spent fuel at the New York’s shuttered Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center into dry storage, a state agency announced Monday. In total, the company has filled 127 concrete casks with 3,998 spent fuel assemblies that are now stored at the Buchanan, N.Y., plant’s independent spent fuel storage installations, according […]

The Department of Energy this week posted a new video online showing off the Atlas railcar the agency plans to use to transport spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants. The agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy posted video, among other places, on the social network X.   The Japanese foreign ministry condemned Russia’s decision to […]

The vice president of Holtec’s small modular reactor business is excited about the prospect of developing such units at the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. “The details remain [to be worked out] as far as the exact timing and the financial conditions,” Tom Marcille, vice president and chief nuclear officer at Holtec International SMR, said […]

Fred Bailly joined Southern California Edison as vice president of nuclear decommissioning, according to Bailly’s LinkedIn profile. Bailly will be responsible for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. He joins Southern California Edison from Westinghouse, where he was most recently vice president of decommissioning services. He was with Westinghouse for about two years […]

The most expensive item needed to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan is a new steam generator that will cost half a billion dollars, according to a federal grant application from Holtec International obtained by an antinuclear group and distributed Monday to the media. The Washington-based group Beyond Nuclear obtained Holtec’s 42-page application for […]

Paul Murray this week had his first official day as the the Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition.  Murray was internally announced as the full-time head of the agency’s civilian nuclear waste programs on Sept. 28. On Oct. 8, DOE added his name to the Nuclear Energy office’s organization […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week declined to rule on a request by a group of environmentalists to shut down one of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s reactors. Instead, commission staff will look at the request by a pair of perennial antinuclear groups. It is the outcome that both NRC staff and plant operator Pacific […]

The decommissioning site of a barge used for more than 50 years to service nuclear-powered Navy ships appears safe for unrestricted release, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in documents posted online Tuesday. The Surface Ship Support Barge’s decommissioning site in Mobile, Ala., is not an NRC-licensed site, but if it were, it “would have met […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group has appointed Jeff Dulgarian as its new Northeast regional director, the Department of Energy contractor said last week. Dulgarian was previously deputy Northeast regional manager as well as head of operations for North Wind Site Services, according to the company’s Oct. 3 press release. He spent the past five years with North […]

New Mexico officials on Tuesday briefed state lawmakers near Carlsbad, N.M., about enforcing a new state law that prohibits storage of spent nuclear fuel in the Land of Enchantment. Passed in March, the law, SB 53, prohibits the New Mexico Environment Department from granting permits vital to the operation of Holtec International’s proposed consolidated interim […]