Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

In a little less than a month, the Department of Energy will start doling out fines for the unauthorized sharing of nuclear technology and know-how overseas, the agency said last week. On Thursday, the agency published its final rule in the Federal Register for implementing those penalties. They will go into effect Feb. 13, DOE said. The […]

The Department of Energy this week announced that Michael Goff has started as the number-two official for the agency’s nuclear energy office, according to a press release. Goff, who most recently served as a senior advisor to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), will now oversee the division’s research and development portfolio as its principal […]

California’s public utilities commission last week agreed to kick off a new rulemaking that, if finalized, would allow the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant to operate into the next decade, documents show. During a Thursday meeting, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to greenlight the proposed rulemaking, which would, among other […]

The U.S. should develop a series of scientific criteria that can be used to extend the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants through the middle of the century, the Department of Energy’s lead nuclear power official said this week. “If we would like our existing fleet to make it to 2050, we should establish a […]

A recent poll conducted by New Mexico-based environmental organizations found that more than half of respondents opposed a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Land of Enchantment, local media reported over the weekend. The December survey from the Southwest Research and Information Center and the Center for Civic Policy, viewed by […]

Citing water use violations, a Pennsylvania-based environmental group this week asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider another challenge to decommissioning a shuttered nuclear power plant in the Keystone State, agency documents show. In its Wednesday filing, Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA) told NRC that a 2021 license amendment request for Three Mile Island Nuclear […]

The New Mexico legislature will again try to legally prohibit Holtec International from building an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the state, according to a bill filed this week. The legislation, introduced Wednesday by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), would if signed amend state law to ban disposal of spent nuclear fuel […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we head off into the long weekend, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. In a press release this week, Holtec International announced a “technical breakthrough” that would allow the company to deploy its advanced reactor design at retired coal […]

The operator of California’s last nuclear power plant, which just got a new lease on life, said that the facility’s system for managing reactor coolant pressure was leaking, according to a recent letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During an October refueling outage at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) discovered a […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant is pulling together the required information for a federal permit modification that would let the company discharge irradiated wastewater from the facility, a spokesperson said this week. Holtec International, which is currently dismantling Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, is “preparing the modification request” for […]

The newly-elected governor of Massachusetts last week signaled that she would stand against a proposal from Holtec International that would see irradiated wastewater from a shuttered nuclear power plant released into the Cape Cod Bay, local media reported. Speaking at a community event in South Yarmouth, Mass., Gov. Maura Healey (D) said that the Bay […]

As the company in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant seeks federal approval to operate the facility for an extra five years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing whether to extend the plant’s license to store spent nuclear fuel on site. NRC is considering an application from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that, […]

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 […]