Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The sale of a Michigan nuclear power plant could be final before Independence Day so an anti-nuclear group and the state attorney general have only about three months to get a public hearing on the transaction with the NRC — which has yet to say yay or nay, an agency spokesperson said this week. Hearing […]

When talking about Holtec International’s plans to dispose of wastewater from a Massachusetts nuclear power plant under decommissioning, make sure to use the right terminology, a company official told members of a community engagement panel this week. “The term dumping does not apply here,” Holtec senior compliance officer Dave Noyes said during a Monday meeting […]

Proposed 2023 funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear power authority, which runs the agency’s civilian nuclear waste programs, was about flat compared to 2022 appropriations, according to budget documents released this week.  The White House proposed around $1.67 billion for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), according to its budget request published Monday. That […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. U.S. accuses Russia of war crimes in shelling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Even before the U.S. took a firm stance on the Russian military’s violence against civilians in Ukraine this week, its embassy in Kyiv accused […]

A bill in the Massachusetts state legislature would prevent a company decommissioning a nuclear power plant in the commonwealth from releasing irradiated wastewater from the site into a nearby bay. If it becomes law, the measure proposed by state Sen. Susan Moran (D) would ban the disposal of radioactive waste into “in any coastal or […]

After a recent hearing on the proposed sale of a Wisconsin nuclear power plant, decommissioning hopeful NorthStar renewed calls last week for the state to reject the transaction, according to public filings. EnergySolutions’ proposal to purchase Kewaunee Power Station from Dominion Energy “may be the worst proposal ever put before” the Wisconsin Public Service Commission […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated federal law when it licensed a proposed commercial facility in Texas to store nearly half of the country’s spent nuclear fuel, a coalition of anti-nuclear groups argued last week as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the agency. NRC, which in September gave its blessing to Waste Control Specialists-Orano USA […]

New Mexico’s attorney general moved his fight against commercial interim storage to an appeals court after a District Court threw out his first challenge to the site in early March, according to recent court documents. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has until May 9 to respond to state Attorney General Hector Balderas’s most recent arguments against […]

Public input about the Department of Energy’s proposed consent-based siting process for a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel could be published by March 31, an agency official said this week. A full collection of responses DOE received as part of its November request for information (RFI) should be available “by the end […]

The federal government must prioritize changing U.S. nuclear waste law as it eyes a spent fuel storage solution, a community stakeholders group said during a panel discussion this week. Amending the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) is “one of the things that needs to happen” before the federal government can move forward on interim storage, […]

A public-private joint venture to use spent nuclear fuel to power micro reactors received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy, the agency announced recently.  The venture consists of Oklo Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., Deep Isolation of Berkeley, Calif., and the national laboratories at Argonne […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers — hope you’re recovering from any St. Patrick’s Day festivities. As we head into the weekend, here are a few more stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. Safety systems at Zaporizhzhia nuke plant still online, IAEA reports Two of five power lines connecting Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant to the grid […]

Although Holtec International is still considering a former New Jersey nuclear power plant as a potential site for a future advanced reactor, the company had yet to make a decision as of this week, a spokesperson said. Holtec has made “no firm commitment to date” on whether it will build its SMR-160 advanced reactor at […]

The Department of Energy recently hedged a little about an agency official’s prediction that the first civil nuclear credits made available in November’s big infrastructure bill will be awarded by early summer. Although Andrew Griffith, DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for nuclear fuel cycle and supply chain, estimated during a Feb. 28 webinar that the agency […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working to hammer out the details of its role in the Department of Energy’s legally-mandated civil nuclear credits program, according to slides published this week in advance of a planned NRC meeting. The commission is “developing criteria” to evaluate applications from economically-troubled nuclear plant operators hoping to get a piece […]

  The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy should soon publish a report wrapping up community input on its interim storage inquiry, the White House’s pick to lead the office told Senators during a confirmation hearing Thursday. A summary report on DOE’s recently-closed request for information (RFI) on its proposed consent-based siting process for […]

A bipartisan omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature would increase the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy budget from 2021 levels but still come in shy of the agency’s request for the current fiscal year. If the compromise budget bill becomes law, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) would receive around 1.65 billion for […]

The U.N.’s nuclear panel is investigating reports that power has been restored at Ukraine’s former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, days after a blackout that raised concerns about the safety of the site’s spent fuel stores. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement Thursday that it was “looking for confirmation” that the lights […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Your RadWaste Monitor reporter was on the red-eye back from Phoenix after the first in-person Waste Management Symposia in two years. Here are some other stories from across the civilian nuclear space that we were tracking this week. DOE to award $36M for advanced nuclear waste research The Department of Energy will […]

Nearly all of the commercial nuclear power reactors in the U.S. meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest regulatory standards, the agency said in a press release this week. NRC has issued its 2021 performance reports to all 93 of the country’s operating nuclear plants, the commission said, and of those sites, 91 were in NRC’s […]

PHOENIX — Holtec International’s proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel could be greenlit by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the coming months, the company’s government services lead said here this week. NRC could make a licensing decision on the Holtec site, proposed for Eddy County, N.M., by the second quarter of 2022, Vice […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff working on a proposed decommissioning rules change are planning to have the final version of the updated regulations on the commissioners’ desks by next year, the project’s manager said at an annual agency conference this week. The final decommissioning rule, a draft of which went live for public comment March 3, […]

Autonomy is one of the nuclear regulator’s most important assets, especially where developing nuclear technology is concerned, the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week at a virtual annual conference.  “In the past few years, as climate change and energy security have come to the fore as existential threats, many have rallied around […]

PHOENIX — An executive with an energy coalition representing the host community of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico asked attendees at an industry conference this week to help ensure that a bill introduced in Congress last week, aimed at blocking the site, dies. “I implore any of you […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy planned to give some cash to communities interested in hosting a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel but the agency’s spent fuel czar declined to provide details during a panel discussion here this week. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy is “in the development phases” of a funding […]

In a reprieve for U.S. commercial interim storage, a federal judge in New Mexico late this week tossed a state lawsuit aimed at blocking such a facility in the southeastern part of the state, new court filings show. In a Thursday order, the U.S. District Court for New Mexico dismissed state Attorney General Hector Balderas’s […]

If you ask Sam Shakir, president of Westinghouse’s environmental services division, nuclear waste shouldn’t be taboo for the nuclear industry. “I think the nuclear industry has stayed away from the controversy of spent fuel because everyone’s interested in building new plants and they don’t want to associate that with any sort of negative perceptions associated […]