Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The Department of Energy cannot build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel before building a permanent repository, but it can canvass potential host communities for an interim site, the agency’s top nuclear energy official said this week. “Congress provided funding for DOE to move forward with establishing an interim storage program using its […]

Although it’s been a whirlwind of a first year for Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Christopher Hanson, he’s proud to lead the nation’s nuclear energy regulator. “As chairman, I get to see even more of the organization than I did as a commissioner,” Hanson told RadWaste Monitor during a 30-minute virtual interview Tuesday.  In the nine […]

As Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff trickle back into the office, the agency said this week that its current hybrid workplace model doesn’t yet have an expiration date. “We now are in a posture where most employees are teleworking about three days a week, and they’re in the office on varying days two days a week,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week allowed a new Exelon spin-off company to take ownership of over a dozen current and former nuclear power plants currently owned by the utility, according to a press release. As part of Exelon’s corporate restructuring, a currently-unnamed holding company will assume control of the utility’s 17 nuclear sites, NRC […]

Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to return to a pre-pandemic posture for its antiterrorism inspections at nuclear power plants, the agency will still allow exceptions to licensees who can prove the public health emergency is still causing problems, staff said at a public meeting this week. NRC’s plan is to “implement the full […]

Holtec International’s hopes of taking over government payouts for spent fuel storage at a Massachusetts nuclear plant under decommissioning were dashed this week when a federal judge ruled in favor of the site’s former owner, according to a new court filing. Although Holtec currently owns Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the plant’s former owner Boston Edison […]

New York-based NorthStar can continue participating in a public review of the Kewaunee Power Station’s sale to EnergySolutions, and the review  need not be restricted to the acquirer’s finances, according to a transcript released this week. During a Nov. 3 prehearing conference held by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC), Administrative Law Judge Michael Newmark […]

The state of New Mexico is expanding its legal campaign against spent fuel storage with a new lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in Texas, according to a press release this week. State attorney general Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) asked a judge in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals […]

The Department of Energy has until March or so to hammer out the details of a tax credits program for financially-troubled nuclear power plants after President Joe Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure package into law this week. The bipartisan bill, which opens up around $6 billion in federal funding over a five-year period to provide […]

Fighting to keep its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site alive, Texas’ attorney general said this week that the Lonestar State deserves its day in federal court because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively licensed a permanent nuclear repository in the state. Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton “will argue that by licensing a de […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Here are some other updates from around the civilian nuclear power space that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week: Humboldt Bay’s License Terminated as Decommissioning Wraps Up A former California nuclear power plant had its federal operating license terminated this week as decommissioning activities drew to a close, according to a press release […]

Happy Friday and happy belated Veterans Day, fellow nuke-watchers. Before the weekend begins, here are some other updates from around the civilian nuclear power space that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. Keeping Diablo Canyon Open Could Reduce Emissions, Save Billions, Stanford Study Says The state of California could significantly reduce its carbon emissions and […]

Exchangemonitor.com has refreshed its website and now posts news and commentary from across the defense- and civilian-nuclear industries in (near) real time.  If you haven’t gotten used to checking exchangemonitor.com throughout the day, we could hardly blame you. Our old website didn’t allow us to push updates to you as quickly as we could write […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is wrapping up its end of the decommissioning process at a former California nuclear power plant and deemed several locations at the site safe for unrestricted use, according to a recent letter from the agency. NRC approved three of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) final status survey reports (FSSRs) for sections […]

An inspection at Holtec International’s headquarters found that the company violated some federal regulations in its spent fuel cask program, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent letter. In a letter to Holtec president and CEO Krishna Singh, dated Oct. 28 and made public Thursday,  NRC said its investigation team in May discovered three […]

As part of a foundation-shaking corporate split announced this week, General Electric said its nuclear services arm will be managed by a future spin-off company focused on the energy sector. General Electric’s (GE) power segment will be subsumed into a new business “positioned to lead the energy transition” in early 2024, the company said in […]

After an Illinois climate bill bailed out two financially-struggling nuclear plants in the state, the utility operating the reactors said last week that their lifespans had been significantly increased. Byron Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 2 reactor will run until 2046 and its Unit 1 reactor is slated to shut down in 2044, Exelon said in […]

Texas has “a strong leg to stand on” in opposing an interim storage facility planned there, according to an op-ed published over the weekend by the Texas state lawmaker who sponsored the state’s recently-enacted ban on high-level nuclear-waste storage. With the passage of House Bill 7 in September, the Texas legislature “prevented radioactive waste of […]

In 2020, Dan Brouillette, then-President Donald Trump’s second energy secretary, allegedly violated the Hatch Act — the law that prevents public servants from campaigning for or supporting candidates for office, the special counsel said in a report this week.  Brouillette and 12 other Trump administration officials were implicated in the findings published Tuesday. According to […]

It will be weeks or maybe even early 2022 before the Department of Energy shares more details about how it will auction off $6 billion worth of credits to struggling nuclear power plants over the next five years, a DOE official said this week. “It’ll really be a little while before we have the details […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. With the Decommissioning Strategy Forum a wrap, here are some updates from the civilian nuclear power world that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week from our conference hub outside of Las Vegas: Industry Holding on for a Hero in Congress for Spent Fuel Solutions SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The nuclear industry needs someone […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The site of a shuttered New Jersey nuclear power plant could one day host an advanced modular reactor, Holtec International’s regulatory affairs chief said this week at the Decommissioning Strategy Forum. Holtec is “evaluating” Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to determine whether it’s a suitable site for the company’s SMR-160 modular reactor, […]

Decommissioning at a long-shuttered California nuclear power plant is complete, the company in charge of the project told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has “completed the final phase of decommissioning” at the Humboldt Bay Power Plant’s Unit 3 reactor, the utility company told NRC in a letter dated Oct. 21. […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The Department of Energy’s plan to conduct market research about siting a federal interim spent fuel storage facility might amount to nothing if industry and spent fuel host communities do not raise a ruckus around it, a trade group executive said this week at the annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum. Although a Department […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV — When it comes to getting spent nuclear fuel away from former power plant sites, the industry is “doing the wrong thing” to pressure the federal government to take action, a utility executive said here this week. “[W]e really need to engage our governors and host communities more effectively to urge the federal […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — Advocacy in Washington for a consent-based approach to siting a permanent repository for the nation’s nuclear waste is only a political football that stalling “meaningful” progress towards a disposal solution, an official from the county hosting the moribund Yucca Mountain repository said here this week. “I believe we’re at a point where […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The utility company in charge of a California nuclear power plant is preparing to roll out its plan to decommission the site, a representative said this week at the annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum. “We’ll have several major announcements in the next 90 days about how the work is going to get done” […]