Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. For those of us still mourning the U.S.’s exit from the World Cup, we can pin our hopes to Morocco, which plays Portugal for a shot at the quarterfinals on Saturday. Before we head off into the weekend, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian […]

Following bailouts from the federal government and the state of California, the company running the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant projected this week that it could have a renewed operating license for the facility in the next two years or so. During a Thursday teleconference with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Pacific Gas & […]

The citizen-run advisory committee for a shuttered Vermont nuclear power plant was scheduled to consider next week throwing its weight behind a national electrical union’s comments on proposed changes to federal regulations governing reactor decommissioning, according to a meeting agenda. During its Dec. 12 meeting, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel planned to […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered New York nuclear power plant forecast that it could finish moving the facility’s spent nuclear fuel inventory into dry storage early next year, according to regulatory filings. Holtec International, which is dismantling Indian Point Energy Center, has told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it expects spent fuel transfer […]

An anti-nuclear group looking to block decommissioning of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant may get a chance in the new year to argue its case before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to agency correspondence. NRC’s Atomic Safety Licensing Board planned to hold a 90-minute oral argument session on Three Mile Island Alert’s (TMIA) petition against […]

Communities interested in receiving federal funding to explore hosting an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel now have through January to apply, the Department of Energy announced this week. The deadline for DOE’s roughly $16 million interim storage funding opportunity is now Jan. 31, the agency announced in a Tweet Wednesday. Dec. 19 had […]

The citizen-run advisory committee for a shuttered Vermont nuclear power plant was scheduled to consider next week throwing its weight behind a national electrical union’s comments on proposed changes to federal regulations governing reactor decommissioning, according to a meeting agenda. During its Dec. 12 meeting, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel planned to […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. For those of us who don’t mind getting up early on a chilly December Saturday, the U.S. plays the Netherlands in the knockout stage of the World Cup starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Before that, though, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space […]

Sam Brinton’s alleged theft of a woman’s suitcase from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September, and the lies Brinton allegedly told law enforcement about it, has greatly damaged Brinton’s credibility. To take the wrong suitcase from an airport baggage carousel is one thing. To take a suitcase from a carousel at your destination after […]

A recent inspection at a shuttered New York nuclear power plant revealed that the facility’s radiation protection program did not meet federal regulations, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the company decommissioning the site. NRC’s Sep. 30 inspection at Indian Point Energy Center found that plant owner Holtec International failed “to develop […]

The increase in prices to bury low-level radioactive waste at disposal sites across the country should affect nuclear power plant operators’ decommissioning cost estimates, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent report. NRC’s report, published Tuesday on the Federal Register, serves as the agency’s annual update to low-level waste (LLRW) disposal cost projections at […]

After the Department of Energy snubbed a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant for a federal bailout, the company in charge of the facility may not throw its hat in the ring for the agency’s second round of awards. A spokesperson for Holtec International, which in June took ownership of Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, told RadWaste […]

A Texas company that owns land in the state’s oil-rich Permian Basin told a federal court this week that, despite claims by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company had the right to sue the agency over an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel proposed for the region, court documents show. Fasken Land and Minerals, […]

An official for the company dismantling a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant this week defended its controversial interpretation of a federal pollutant discharge permit during a community meeting. It is “very clear” that Holtec International’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station “exempt[s] radionuclides as pollutants,” Dave Noyes, a senior […]

WASHINGTON — The head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear power office said this week that the agency was preparing to roll out its second round of bailouts for economically-troubled nuclear power plants. Applications for the next funding cycle of DOE’s civil nuclear credits program will open “soon,” Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy […]

WASHINGTON — Days after news broke that Samuel Brinton, a Department of Energy official responsible for nuclear waste policy, was charged with felony theft in Minnesota, Brinton’s boss spoke only in general terms to lawmakers and press here Thursday about possible disciplinary steps. “It is certainly correct that when a DOE clearance-holder is charged with […]

In observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, RadWaste Monitor will not publish this Friday, Nov. 25. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 2.

With Samuel Brinton on a leave of absence from the Department of Energy, Kim Petry was asked to stay on as acting deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition “for the foreseeable future,” she wrote in an email to colleagues late last week. “I should have another update for all of you in […]

California’s last operating nuclear power plant got yet another cash injection Monday morning as the Department of Energy announced it could award more than a billion dollars to the facility to keep it online past its scheduled shutdown date. If finalized, Diablo Canyon Power Plant should receive around $1.1 billion in aid from DOE as […]

Establishing a federal commission dedicated to overseeing the disposal of spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors should be one of Congress’s most pressing tasks, according to a new report from the government’s independent research organization. Congress “will need to establish a single-mission entity with responsibility for managing and disposing of commercial nuclear waste,” the National […]

After the Department of Energy last week refused to fund a proposal to restart a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant in Michigan, the company in charge of the facility said it planned to move ahead with decommissioning, according to a spokesperson. A Holtec International spokesperson confirmed to RadWaste Monitor Nov. 18 that DOE had rejected the […]

The governor of Michigan this week applauded the state’s efforts in its ill-fated attempt to bring a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant back online with the help of a federal bailout. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) “brought together a coalition to develop a plan that would have reopened a non-operational nuclear plant for the first time in […]

In a federal lawsuit, Texas said recently that the state is legally allowed to take its complaint about a proposed nuclear waste storage depot directly to federal court and skip engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, court papers show. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a Friday brief […]

The governor of New Mexico implored the White House in a recent letter to step in and block the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from licensing a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Land of Enchantment. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), a longtime opponent of Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site in Lea […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Although you may have noticed the sudden appearance of Formula One content in recent RadWaste Monitor wraps, that ends this weekend with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — the last of the season. Before we head off into this last weekend before Thanksgiving, though, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a recent vote gave agency staff permission to start work on a proposed rulemaking that would require licensees shipping highly-radioactive materials to notify tribal governments about such shipments. NRC’s five-member executive committee voted unanimously Oct. 17 to approve the proposed rulemaking activity, according to agency documents published Nov. 10.  The […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a nuclear power plant in Vermont has finished packaging the last of the site’s low-level waste, a spokesperson said this week. NorthStar, which is currently dismantling Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station, “has reached another milestone” in the decommissioning process, as the site’s Greater-Than-Class-C waste “has been loaded into a […]