Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

A coalition of anti-nuclear groups this week asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to refuse a proposed 20-year license extension for California’s last operating nuclear power plant, saying it would violate federal law, an agency filing shows. Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) November request with NRC for a license extension for Diablo Canyon Power Plant is […]

A Department of Energy official this week sought to distance the agency’s efforts to site a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from two similar projects proposed by private companies. DOE was “directed by Congress to establish a federal interim storage capability,” Natalia Saraeva, senior advisor for the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy, […]

A week of torrential rain and flooding in California that has killed more than a dozen people did not significantly affect operations at two of the Golden State’s nuclear sites, according to their owners. Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) late last week “temporarily” reduced power in the plant’s two reactors […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Your rad waste reporter is slowly recovering from a COVID-19 infection. Before we head off into the weekend, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Holtec International this week claimed that it became the nation’s largest owner of nuclear decommissioning sites […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving to the next step in its congressionally-mandated effort to amend a rule about financial assurances for decommissioning nuclear power plants by stripping out references to credit ratings, the agency said this week. NRC’s proposed rules change, published in the Federal Register Tuesday, is aimed at bringing the agency’s financial […]

Another federal agency has financially penalized FirstEnergy Corp. for its involvement in a 2019 bribery scandal. In a Dec. 15 agreement, FirstEnergy agreed to pay a $3.86 million fine to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for not being up front with FERC auditors, between 2015 and the subsequent 2019 scandal, about almost $60 million […]

The potential environmental effects of a proposed cleanup plan for a shuttered uranium mine in New Mexico likely will not stand in the way of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approving the cleanup, according to an agency report published this week. The “adverse environmental impacts” of the proposed license amendment for the United Nuclear Corporation’s Church […]

Happy New Year, nuke-watchers, and welcome to 2023’s first issue of RadWaste Monitor, where we’ll take a look ahead at some of the issues looming for industry and government in the unfolding year. After months of back-and-forth, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could license a second private interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel early this […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers, and happy holidays. Thanks for your attention to the world of civilian nuclear power this year (and congrats to Argentina's Lionel Messi for securing his GOAT status last week). Before we head off to close out 2022, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the industry this week. […]

WATERFORD, CT — Congress probably will not allow the Department of Energy to build an interim storage site for nuclear waste any time soon, one of Capitol Hill’s foremost advocates for spent fuel solutions said this week. Federal law passed as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act says the Department of Energy has to […]

WATERFORD, CT — The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy will begin looking for a new head of spent fuel and waste disposition soon, the head of the office said this week. DOE plans to open applications for deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition “in the coming days,” Assistant Secretary of […]

Responding to a scathing letter from the government’s environmental regulator, the company in charge of decommissioning a Massachusetts nuclear power plant insisted this week that it was not planning to discharge irradiated wastewater from the facility in violation of a federal permit. In a Monday letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Holtec International sought […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant said this week that it would make another attempt to restart the facility via a federal bailout scheme. Although it had previously tamped down the possibility that it could participate in the second round of the Department of Energy’s civil nuclear credits program, […]

RadWaste Monitor will not publish on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022 in observance of the New Year’s holiday. Happy holidays to everyone!

Thanks to emergency funding from Congress, the Department of Energy’s civilian nuclear power program will get about what the White House asked for in 2023 under a proposed spending plan approved by congressional appropriators this week. The Senate voted 68-to-29 Thursday to  adopt the full-year appropriations bill, which then went to the House for a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved changes to Holtec International’s framework for managing a dedicated decommissioning fund at a shuttered New York nuclear power plant after pointing out a discrepancy in the plan, the agency said this week. NRC Nov. 9 greenlit a revision to Holtec’s master decommissioning trust fund agreement for Indian Point Energy […]

After the Environmental Protection Agency last week threatened to throw the book at Holtec International over proposed wastewater discharges from a Massachusetts nuclear power plant, the decommissioning company is preparing a response, a spokesperson said this week. Holtec is planning to respond next week to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Dec. 5 letter reiterating concerns […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. This is it — after Morocco’s luck ran out this week, Sunday’s World Cup final is set between France and Argentina. Before we start the pre-gaming, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor has been tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Congress this week voted to extend […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week that it has lifted some environmental quality assurance requirements for a shuttered California nuclear power plant now that decommissioning work at the facility has wrapped up. In its Oct. 11 order, announced in a Federal Register notice Wednesday, NRC exempted Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) from regulations that […]

The White House last week announced that nuclear risk management expert Nathan Siu will head up the government’s independent nuclear waste technology auditor, according to a press release. The Joe Biden administration appointed Siu, who was previously a senior technical adviser in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s risk analysis division, as designated chair of the Nuclear […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set a date for hearing an anti-nuclear group’s case against the proposed decommissioning of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant, according to agency documents. NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board planned Jan. 19 to hold an oral argument session on Three Mile Island Alert’s (TMIA) petition against a proposed license amendment […]

Orano USA has finished dismantling and packaging the main reactor unit at a Vermont nuclear power plant under decommissioning, the company announced this week. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station’s single boiling-water reactor has been completely segmented and all irradiated components have been packaged for transport, Orano said in a press release dated Tuesday. The reactor’s […]

Although the House Democrat currently in charge of the chamber’s energy committee will hand in his gavel in the next Congress, he will stick with the panel as its ranking member, according to a press release this week. The House Democratic Caucus unanimously elected Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) ranking member of the House Energy and […]

The Department of Energy’s point-person for nuclear waste issues is out of a job this week after being implicated in a pair of brazen luggage thefts at airports in Minnesota and Nevada, according to reports. Sam Brinton, who had been DOE’s deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition since June 19, is no […]

The Environmental Protection Agency this week fired back at Holtec International after the company doubled down on claims that federal law allows it to discharge irradiated wastewater from a nuclear plant it is decommissioning in Massachusetts. In a letter to Holtec dated Monday, James Chow, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) enforcement and […]

The Department of Energy is planning to open up its second round of bailouts for economically-troubled nuclear power plants in the new year, an agency spokesperson said this week. DOE is preparing its next round of funding under its roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program, greenlit in November 2021 under the Infrastructure Investment and […]