Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

No existing federal law allowed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas, the Lone Star State’s attorney general told a federal judge this week, rolling out his long-awaited argument in the state’s lawsuit against the agency. NRC “lacks authority” to grant a license to […]

The Department of Energy announced this week that it was seeking stakeholder input on an auction process for doling out several billion dollars in federal tax credits for financially-troubled nuclear power plants, according to a press release. DOE on Friday unveiled its request for information (RFI) on its civil nuclear credits program, a $6 billion […]

The Department of Energy this week appointed nearly a half dozen nuclear scientists, engineers, policy experts and industry leaders to a federal council tasked with advising the agency on its current and future nuclear energy programs, according to a press release. Bill Magwood, director-general of the intergovernmental Nuclear Energy Agency, will chair the 11-person Nuclear […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a request to let companies fund disposal of major components of shuttered nuclear plants by tapping into the plants’ decommissioning trust funds, according to a recent notice from the agency. The proposed rulemaking, which NRC rejected in a Federal Register notice published Feb. 4, would have updated federal regulations to […]

A federally-owned utility this week said that its New Nuclear Program that will prepare an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced reactor at a Tennessee test site. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) New Nuclear Program, approved by the utility’s board Thursday, will “develop a Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit application and potentially […]

Dozens of stakeholders, headed by a former secretary of energy, pressed the governor of California in a letter last week to prevent the state’s last operating nuclear power plant from shutting down. “With the accelerating threat that climate change poses to life on Earth, we write today to urge that the state reverse the decision […]

A pair of Republican legislators last week asked Congress’s investigative arm to look into whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is prepared to handle applications for future advanced nuclear reactors, according to a recent letter. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) should investigate NRC’s “preparedness to review and approve applications for advanced nuclear reactor designs,” Sen. Shelley […]

A bill making its way through the New Mexico state legislature aimed at blocking a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the state will no longer ban the storage of such waste outright, according to amendments adopted in committee Monday. A package of amendments on House Bill 127, adopted by unanimous vote […]

State lawmakers in New Mexico want to ban storage of high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel in the Land of Enchantment, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is with them. The ban, moving on parallel tracks through the state’s bicameral legislature in the form of two bills that advanced out of committee this week, appeared […]

A West Virginia law to repeal a ban on nuclear power plants in the Mountain State headed to the governor’s desk this week after clearing the state legislature. The West Virginia state House voted 76-18 Monday to pass Senate Bill (SB) 4, a measure that would roll back the 1996 law barring nuclear power in […]

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who has taken an active interest in Department of Energy facilities in New Mexico,  has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, but should make a full recovery, his office staff said in a Twitter posting on Tuesday. In an article citing senior aides to the lawmaker, The Santa Fe New […]

Exelon has completed its separation from spin-off company Constellation Energy Corp., announced a year ago as the new home for a fleet of nuclear reactors, according to a press release this week. Exelon will continue its electricity utility and distribution business, the company said in the Tuesday press release. The Constellation spinoff will oversee the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s current suite of safety regulations should work as intended in the event of a future cross-country nuclear waste transportation campaign, the agency’s material control chief said this week in a public meeting. “We do feel we are well positioned for any future shipments of spent fuel based on our strong regulatory […]

As legislators on Capitol Hill weigh in on Holtec International’s now-delayed proposal to discharge wastewater from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into a nearby bay, a local politician chimed in this week to voice her opposition. “We will never allow the dumping of radioactive material into Cape Cod Bay,” said state Sen. Susan Moran (D-Plymouth), during […]

An anti-nuclear group still wants the The Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold a public hearing on the recently-approved sale of a Michigan nuclear power plant, even though Holtec International effectively cut SNC-Lavalin, whose character was at the center of the anti-nuker’s demands, out of the decom job. But hearings are a matter for the commissioners […]

Banning storage of high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel in New Mexico would be like diverting a planet-killing asteroid, a New Mexico state Senator who supports a ban said this week. “This is our Don’t Look Up moment,” said state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D) Tuesday during a New Mexico Senate Conservation Committee hearing, referencing the […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. As the nation’s capital braces for what could be another snowy weekend, here’s a look at some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Sweden Approves Geologic Repository, Pending Safety Review The Swedish government this week approved a proposed geologic repository for the nordic nation’s […]

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week aims to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to turn over more records related to a 2018 spent-fuel handling mishap at a California nuclear power plant under decommissioning, according to court records. The suit, filed Jan. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California […]

A company in charge of decommissioning three former nuclear power plants in the U.S., with two more on the way, recently absorbed a joint venture with a Canadian engineering services company, a spokesperson said this week. Consolidated Decommissioning International (CDI), part-owned by Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin, was formally taken over by Holtec Jan. 19, a […]

New Jersey’s economic development commission is appealing a recent court decision granting Holtec International a multi-million dollar state tax break, according to a recent court filing. According to a Jan. 20 appeal notice, viewed Wednesday by RadWaste Monitor, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) is challenging the Mercer County Superior Court’s Dec. 30 ruling […]

A federal court will rule on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request to toss a state lawsuit over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel “as soon as possible,” according to minutes from a hearing held last week. The Jan. 20 hearing was the latest turn in New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’s lawsuit […]

A bill introduced in New Mexico’s state legislature last week, and backed by the governor, aims to block a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel by banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel in the Land of Enchantment. If it became law, Senate Bill (SB) 54, introduced Jan. 19 by […]

International efforts to develop strategies for disposing of nuclear waste have made strides recently, the U.N.’s nuclear energy organization said in a report published last week. “It is evident that significant progress has been made globally in formulating national policies and strategies and in implementing legal and regulatory systems that define responsibilities for the ongoing […]

Holtec International owes the feds another $50,000 stemming from security-related violations at a New Jersey nuclear plant under decommissioning, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week. According to a Wednesday press release from the agency, Holtec, which is dismantling Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, will undertake “a series of corrective actions” designed to address this […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a Massachusetts nuclear power plant sought to set the record straight this week on its now-delayed plans to discharge the site’s wastewater into the Cape Cod Bay. Although Holtec has said that it won’t release any wastewater from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into the nearby bay this year, president […]

WV State Senate Bill Reversing Ban on Nuclear Plant Construction Headed to Full Chamber A bill advancing through West Virginia’s state legislature would walk back an existing ban on new nuclear power plants in the Mountain State.  Senate Bill (SB) 4, which passed the state Senate’s economic development committee on a voice vote Wednesday, would […]

Three of the Department of Energy’s national laboratories are participating in an international survey aimed at testing the long-term effectiveness of safety systems that could be used in the storage of high-level radioactive waste, according to a press release this week. Lawrence Berkeley, Sandia and Los Alamos (LANL) National Laboratories are working alongside Swiss national […]