Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we head off for the weekend, here are a couple of other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. WCS sponsors Paducah chamber of commerce event featuring McConnell Nuclear services company Waste Control Specialists (WCS) this week bought lunch for a Kentucky business community hosting […]

Congress needs to amend federal nuclear waste law, not only allow the government to build an interim storage facility for spent fuel, but also to allow private companies to develop spent fuel reprocessing technologies, the CEO of such a company told RadWaste Monitor this week. “Congress is in the key role right now, because the […]

United States consumption of electricity produced by nuclear power plants last year hit its lowest point in nearly a decade, the government’s independent energy auditor said last week. According to a report published Friday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA),  electricity consumption in 2021 from nuclear power decreased to around 8.12 quadrillion British Thermal […]

Two of the newest additions to Holtec International’s inventory of former nuclear power plant sites could be good candidates for a future advanced reactor facility, the company said last week. Among the viable proposals for repurposing Michigan’s Palisades and Big Rock Point plants is a plan to build SMR-160 small modular reactors (SMRs) at both […]

The Environmental Protection Agency does not share Holtec International’s position that the company’s plan to release irradiated wastewater from a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant into a nearby bay meets federal regulations, the agency’s water chief told the company in a recent letter. EPA “does not agree” with Holtec’s claim that discharging wastewater from Pilgrim […]

Nevada’s congressional delegation wants to codify the consent-based siting of future nuclear waste repositories, an amendment filed for the House’s 2023 National Defense Authorization Act shows. If the House adopts Rep. Dina Titus’ (D-Nev.) amendment to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the law would prohibit the Department of Energy from unilaterally using cash […]

A recent Supreme Court ruling nullifies the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to issue a license for a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas, the state argued in court this week. The high court’s June 30 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA “demonstrates that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks statutory authority” to […]

Happy Friday and happy Fourth of July, nuke-watchers. Before you fire up the grill for the weekend, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Jacobs to decommission Norwegian nuclear facilities Engineering and professional services company Jacobs announced this week that it had been selected by Norway’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week freshened its records to reflect EnergySolutions as the new owner of a Wisconsin nuclear power plant after the company earlier this week finalized its purchase of the site, agency documents show. Kewaunee Power Station’s operating license now shows EnergySolutions as the plant’s owner, NRC told the company in a […]

Almost a month after it shut down a Michigan nuclear power plant for good, Entergy has finalized the facility’s sale to the decommissioning company that will dismantle it, according to a press release this week. Completing the sale of Palisades Nuclear Generating Station to Holtec International “​​completes Entergy’s planned exit from the nuclear merchant power […]

Sam Brinton is the Department of Energy’s new deputy assistant secretary for spent nuclear fuel and waste disposition, Brinton announced this week. “It’s official. As of June 19th, I now serve my nation as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy,” […]

The Department of Energy this week gave nuclear plant operators, such as the one in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant, the rest of the summer to apply for a federal bailout. Sep. 6 is now the deadline for interested plant operators to submit their bids on the first chunk of DOE’s roughly […]

House appropriators during a budget markup this week came out swinging against two proposed commercial interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel in Texas and New Mexico. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is racing to license the construction of high level [nuclear waste] storage sites both in New Mexico and in Texas,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) […]

House appropriators this week reversed course and agreed to the White House’s request to move interim spent fuel funding out of the Department of Energy’s dedicated Nuclear Waste Disposal account, according to a draft budget report. Interim storage funding proposals in the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee’s 2023 budget report, published Monday, appeared […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we wrap up this short week, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Huff discusses DOE priorities at industry conference The Department of Energy’s nuclear power chief laid out her office’s plans for supporting the industry this week during a conference held […]

EnergySolutions planned to purchase a Wisconsin nuclear power plant by the end of the month, the company told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week. EnergySolutions received “all required regulatory approvals” for its purchase of Kewaunee Power Station, according to a letter to NRC dated Tuesday. The company and plant owner Dominion Energy were expected to […]

Members of the public have about a week to submit their input on a proposed change to the Department of Energy’s civil nuclear credits program that would make a California nuclear power plant eligible for part of the federal bailout, the agency said last week. If adopted, the proposed amendment to DOE’s nuclear credits guidance […]

The ranking member of the House’s energy and water appropriations subcommittee said this week he wants more clarity on a White House proposal to move cash for its consent-based interim storage effort out of the Nuclear Waste Fund Oversight program. “I don’t know what the reasoning behind it is,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) told RadWaste […]

Proposed funding in the House for the Department of Energy’s nuclear power office was up slightly compared with the White House’s request, according to a draft of the lower chamber’s 2023 energy and water spending bill reported out of an appropriations subcommittee this week. If it became law, the House’s proposed budget would allocate around […]

Environmental groups cannot use a lawsuit centered on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s conduct during the licensing of a commercial interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel as a backdoor for canceling the license, the company in charge of the project argued this week in court. The environmentalists, led by anti-nuclear group Don’t Waste Michigan, are […]

Constellation Energy can use funds set aside for decommissioning a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant to cover site management expenses after the plant is dismantled, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week. The NRC on June 8 allowed Constellation to dip into a decommissioning trust fund for Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 1 reactor […]

The state of Michigan is still holding out hope that it can secure a federal bailout to breathe some life back into Palisades Nuclear Generating Station despite its closure last month, a spokesperson said this week. “We are working with potential buyers, operators, and stakeholders to keep this vital energy source and the 600 good-paying […]

In less than two months, a federal judge may hear oral arguments in the state of Texas’s lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Lone Star State, court documents show. If the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holds such an oral session, tentatively scheduled […]

Common environmental hazards and transportation corridors give New Mexico the right to sue the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a proposed interim storage facility in west Texas, the Land of Enchantment’s top lawyer said in court this week. In May, NRC argued that New Mexico has no jurisdiction to challenge the agency’s September decision to license […]

California’s senior senator announced in an op-ed this week that she had changed her mind about the closure of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant and now supports keeping the facility online as a source of carbon-free power. With climate change and worsening drought conditions threatening California’s electricity supply, “Pacific Gas and Electric Co. […]

The American public might be broadly receptive to recycling spent nuclear fuel, the Department of Energy’s recently confirmed assistant secretary for nuclear energy told a professional gathering this week. “I really hope that we can kind of bring some attention to the value in recycling spent nuclear fuel,” Kathryn Huff, the new head of DOE’s […]

It might be years before there is any legal way for the Department of Energy to build a federally operated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel before first building a permanent repository, the agency’s acting head of nuclear waste management said at an industry conference this week. “We recognize that there are a limited […]