Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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 […]

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 […]