Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Two of North America’s largest utilities are teaming up to advance the rollout of new advanced nuclear technology in the U.S. and Canada, the companies announced this week. Under their new partnership, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) plan to coordinate design, licensing and deployment of advanced reactors “as part of […]

Some 260 Palisades Nuclear Generating Station employees, accounting for more than 40% of the current workforce, will stay on the job even after a decommissioning company takes over, the plant’s owner said. These employees will remain on site “as part of the first phase of decommissioning,” a spokesperson for plant owner Entergy told RadWaste Monitor […]

The company selected to manage Diablo Canyon Power Station’s spent fuel inventory fired back this week at claims from a competitor that its cask system was unsafe and untested. Orano USA, whose subsidiary TN Americas on April 6 locked down the spent fuel contract with plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), was “surprised” at […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is hitting the road early next month and heading to Massachusetts where they’ll discuss nuclear plant decommissioning policies in the shadow of one such project, according to a press release from a subcommittee chair. The Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee’s clean air, climate and nuclear safety subcommittee […]

A day after the Department of Energy made funding available for economically-troubled nuclear power plants, Michigan’s governor announced she would bid on aid to save the Palisades Power Plant in Covert Township. Michigan will provide a “compelling” application to receive funding for Palisades, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) told Secretary of Energy — and former Michigan […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week across the civilian nuclear power space. DOE announces $5M grant for nuclear scholarships, university programs The Department of Energy unveiled this week a package of federal cash aimed at propping up the nuclear industry’s next generation, according to a press release. As […]

An energy executive with experience in the gas distribution industry is set to become Entergy’s newest government affairs chief, the company announced this week. Entergy, New Orleans, named John Hudson as its newest senior vice president of federal policy, regulatory and government affairs, according to a press release dated Wednesday. Hudson, who will start in […]

U.S. nuclear electricity generation will continue its downward trend as more power plants close down in the coming years, the federal government’s independent energy auditor said in a recent report. Generation losses from reactor retirements contributed to a net U.S. nuclear electricity output of 778 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2021, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) […]

Holtec International gave Pacific Gas & Electric a piece of its mind last week in a letter blasting the utility for choosing another company to handle spent fuel management operations at a California nuclear power plant. Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) April 6 decision to give the spent fuel job at Diablo Canyon Power Station […]

The state of Massachusetts should ensure that Holtec International is being up front about its plans to discharge irradiated wastewater from a nuclear power plant into nearby waters, the sponsor of a proposed bill to block such an action told Bay State legislators this week. Massachusetts has “a responsibility to insist and expect full transparency […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s existing framework for applying principles of environmental justice to its oversight activities needs to more clearly state what such a process would look like at the agency, a staff review team informed the commission late last month. “[T]here is not a common understanding both internally and externally of how [environmental justice] […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear waste management system saw a proposed funding increase for 2023, due in part to its absorption of the agency’s interim storage activities, according to the agency’s latest public budget document. For the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (NE) Integrated Waste Management System, DOE requested roughly $53 million for the upcoming fiscal […]

Fewer than five days remain before the Department of Energy is expected to publish instructions for financially-troubled nuclear power plant operators looking to bid on a multi-billion-dollar federal assistance package. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy “anticipates opening a combined certification and sealed bid auction process” on its civil nuclear credits program April 18 by first […]

After the government won a key legal battle last week, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday that the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should allow it to enforce a presidential executive order requiring federal employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. On April 7 the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit overturned a nationwide preliminary injunction […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. As your rad waste reporter heads back to Washington after a successful Idaho trip, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week.   IAEA to visit Chernobyl, investigate alleged Russian trenches The U.N.’s nuclear authority plans to soon visit the Chernobyl Nuclear […]

The former head of the House’s energy panel won’t seek another term in Congress, he announced this week. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is retiring after a nearly 30-year stint representing Michigan’s sixth congressional district, he announced Tuesday during remarks on the House floor. “Thanks again to the people of my district who placed their faith […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved an agency staff suggestion to combine two ongoing radioactive-waste rulemakings into one in an effort to streamline the process, according to a memo this week. The commissioners’ unanimous approval, announced in a Wednesday memo, means that NRC staff will now re-issue a new proposed rulemaking combining an existing inquiry […]

The decommissioning company aiming to purchase a Wisconsin nuclear power plant expects that the state regulatory reviewing the transaction should make a decision before the summer, according to a recent letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) has received its final party briefings and won’t hold any more hearings on […]

In some of the first public details about decommissioning work at California’s last operating nuclear plant, Orano USA announced this week that it had locked down a contract to transfer the site’s spent fuel into dry storage post-shutdown. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which owns and operates Diablo Canyon Power Plant, selected Orano USA subsidiary […]

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — Advanced nuclear companies hoping to tap into big pools of funding for their projects need to bring more than good ideas to the table, J.P. Morgan’s lead energy executive said here this week. “I think, first and foremost, what people need to show us is that they have a company,” said […]

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — Despite a perceived lack of interest in the technology at the federal level and a major roadblock in the form of federal nuclear-waste law, Curio Solutions is still carrying a torch for spent fuel reprocessing and the company’s CEO wants Congress to know. “We have a once-through fuel cycle that treats […]

Another nuclear plant closure is partly to blame for a slight increase in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed decommissioning budget for the 2023 fiscal year, the agency said in a budget justification document published this week. Projected spending for NRC’s decommissioning and low-level waste program was up to around $23.9 million for 2023, according to […]

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — The almighty dollar is the only thing standing in the way of Holtec International’s plans to build an advanced reactor at the site of a former New Jersey nuclear plant, the company’s CEO said here this week. “The government is the one that has to step up” to help fund Holtec’s […]

A report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s environmental justice efforts based on a months-long review process is ready for agency leadership to look over, a spokesperson said this week. The environmental justice review team, led by Gregory Suber, deputy chief of NRC’s operating reactor licensing division, sent its findings to the commission Tuesday, an agency […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Russian garrison at Chernobyl hands plant back to Ukraine, IAEA says Russian forces occupying the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant packed up and left late this week, leaving the site in the hands of Ukrainian operators, […]

As a decommissioning company looking to purchase a Wisconsin nuclear power plant argues its case before a state regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pinned its seal of approval on the proposed transaction, the agency said this week. NRC has approved the sale of Kewaunee Power Station and its spent fuel storage facility to EnergySolutions […]

The Department of Energy is looking for someone within the agency to run the Office of Nuclear Energy’s spent nuclear fuel programs, according to an internal job listing obtained last week by RadWaste Monitor. According to the posting, DOE is hiring a 120-day detail for the Senior Executive Service (SES) position of assistant secretary for […]