Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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” […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — Federal regulators should approve the sale of a Michigan nuclear power plant early next year, a Holtec executive said this week at the Exchange Monitor’s annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum. Holtec International expects the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve its acquisition of the Palisades Power Plant from Entergy “no later than January of […]

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 […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed decommissioning rule “misses the mark” and cedes too much of the agency’s and the public’s power over the decommissioning process to industry, one commissioner said this week. The proposed rules change, which the commission approved on a 2-1 vote Wednesday after three years of drafts, “tilt[s] the regulation” of nuclear […]

A federal judge should toss Texas’s suit against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel because the state has not attempted to settle its grievance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outside of court, the agency said Thursday.  It’s the same legal defense that the agency, which licensed Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed storage […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Here are some developments from around the world of civilian nuclear power RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. “We Appreciate Your Concern” About Interim Storage, Hanson Tells Texas Gov A recently-licensed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas meets the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s guidelines, the agency recently told the state […]

Orano USA has promoted Geoff Wilde to lead the company’s reactor decommissioning business, the U.S. arm of the French-owned nuclear services company announced this week. Geoff Wilde, who was most recently vice president of corporate development for Paris-based Orano’s U.S. branch, is now president of Orano Decommissioning Services (DS) USA, according to a Thursday press […]

The interested public has until the end of the week to submit its comments on a proposed cleanup plan for a former New Mexico uranium mine currently under Nuclear Regulatory Commission jurisdiction. Sunday is the deadline for public input on a proposed license amendment for the United Nuclear Corporation’s (UNC) Church Rock site, according to […]

A decommissioning company planning to take over operations at a Wisconsin nuclear power plant may have to submit its first evidence briefing to the state agency reviewing the transaction in December, according to a draft schedule in a recent notice from the panel. Dec. 1 could be the deadline for an EnergySolutions subsidiary company and […]

Holtec International this week secured the latest exemption to a low-level waste tracking rule that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has planned to rework as part of a long-stalled decommissioning rule. The proposed rulemaking would instruct companies shipping low-level radioactive waste to a disposal site to track shipments and notify the commission if the waste packages […]

One of two economically-troubled Illinois nuclear power plants bailed out by the state government last month has completed its refueling process, the plant’s operator said this week. Byron Nuclear Generating Station “completed its refueling outage earlier this month,” a spokesperson for Exelon Generation told RadWaste Monitor via email Wednesday afternoon. The Ogle County, Ill. nuclear […]

A federal court case challenging one of two proposed commercial interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel remained on hold Wednesday as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission worked through its licensing review, the agency said in a status report filed this week. NRC told the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Holtec International’s application to build […]

Happy ‘Nuclear Science Week,’ nuke-watchers.  The Secretary of Energy and industry ambassadors took to social media this week to mark this international week of recognition for the field of nuclear science. “Nuclear science is an incredible asset to our nation,” said energy secretary Jennifer Granholm in a video message published Monday, “and we are just […]

The former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now part of a utility company’s board of directors, according to a press release this week. Kristine Svinicki, who was the top regulator at NRC from 2017 to January, was elected to Southern Company’s board effective Sunday, the company said in a press release dated Monday. […]

A federal nuclear waste agency will take a look at some the Department of Energy’s recent research into long-term geologic storage of radioactive waste in November, according to a press release this week. During two days of public meetings starting Nov. 3, representatives from DOE’s national labs will present to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review […]

An environmental watchdog group wants Pennsylvania’s environmental protection office to pressure an interstate regulator to step in on water use at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, according to a request the group sent this week. Three Mile Island Alert asked the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Wednesday to petition the Susquehanna River Basin […]