Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently pressed the Joe Biden administration in a resolution to oppose a Canadian geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel planned for the Great Lakes Basin. In the Sep. 17 resolution led by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), the coalition of delegates from Great Lakes states like Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota urged […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission again extended the deadline on the license transfer agreement for an Illinois nuclear power plant under decommissioning to give agency staff more time to clear the site for unrestricted use, according to a recent notice. The transfer of Zion Nuclear Power Station back to Exelon from EnergySolutions won’t need to be […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission nixed a New York county executive’s request for a full-time inspector to oversee the decommissioning of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant, according to a recent letter from the agency. Placing a full-time resident inspector at Indian Point Energy Center “is not necessary to provide for the protection of the public health […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reactor regulation department is building a team to assess some key takeaways from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft mission statement. NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) will designate a working group to investigate “lessons learned and best practices on the oversight of power reactors during the COVID-19 pandemic […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest-ranking career executive is leaving the agency next month, according to a press release this week. Margaret Doane, who currently serves as NRC’s executive director of operations, will leave her post effective Oct. 8, the agency said in a statement Monday. Doane is headed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) […]

Westinghouse is bringing in a former Holtec Decommissioning International c-suite executive to take over its biggest business line, the company announced recently. Pamela Cowan, who was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Holtec’s decommissioning branch, will become president of Westinghouse’s Americas operating plant services unit, according to a press release published Sep. 9. […]

The Army Corps of Engineers gave North Wind Portage the green light to continue its cleanup work at a former beryllium manufacturing plant in Ohio, a company spokesperson said this week. North Wind, which was awarded the $82 million contract for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) Luckey site on August 18, has […]

A group of Maryland environmental activists Monday protested Congress’s proposed tax credits aimed at saving economically-troubled nuclear power plants, according to a press release. Activists from Beyond Nuclear and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) among others delivered letters Monday to Reps. Jamie Raskin and John Sarbanes (both D-Md.) during a “national day of […]

The Secretary of Energy will head off to Europe next week to lead the U.S. delegation at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference, the Department of Energy announced Thursday. At the annual conference in Vienna, Austria, Secretary Jennifer Granholm will give a speech “underscoring the use of nuclear to combat climate change, advance medical […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a federal judge in New Mexico this week that it was ready for judgement in a court case over a proposed interim storage facility in the state, according to a new court filing. NRC told the U.S. District Court for New Mexico in a Tuesday filing that it had sent […]

A budget markup of the Joe Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act made its way through the House’s energy panel Tuesday, with the majority shaking off a couple of attempts by Republicans to get more nuclear energy in the mix. The energy subsection of Congress’s budget reconciliation recommendations passed on a 30-27 party-line vote during […]

Nuclear power in Illinois is getting a new lease on life after the state’s governor signed a law this week approving subsidies for two economically-troubled power plants. Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Wednesday signed a bill that provides around $700 million in credits for the Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants. The subsidies, which are […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history this week when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S.. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews […]

While the Joe Biden administration in its appropriations request floated the idea of moving a military cleanup program to the Department of Energy from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lawmakers seem inclined to keep things as they are, according to a recent analysis from the Congressional Research Service. The White House budget request in […]

Working closely with would-be opponents of nuclear waste repositories is important to getting such sites built, a panel of international nuclear experts said at a conference last week. “I think it’s very important to have informed critics [of nuclear waste],” Arne Kaijser, professor of technology and history at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, said […]

A New Jersey power plant undergoing decommissioning needs to shore up its spent fuel inventory security procedures, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found in a recent site inspection. NRC logged three physical security violations at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station during an August inspection of the plant’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), according to a […]

A Louisiana nuclear plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida battered the state last week will soon resume normal operations, the utility company that owns the site said this week. Entergy Nuclear has “completed all necessary internal readiness reviews and has received recommendations and approvals” from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart Waterford Steam Electric […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said this week. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until […]

The governor of Texas drew a line in the sand this week on commercial interim storage, signing a law banning storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State. House Bill (HB) 7, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law Thursday, went into effect immediately. The law prevents anyone from storing or transporting […]

The federal government needs to do more than just prop up existing nuclear reactors to achieve its climate goals, executives of a major nuclear non-profit and a labor union said in an op-ed this week. Though the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) both “welcome” the Joe Biden administration’s […]

The sale of a Wisconsin nuclear power plant is getting more scrutiny, as a second decommissioning company got permission this week to get involved in a review of the transaction. Dominion Energy already agreed to sell the Kewaunee Power Station to EnergySolutions, Salt Lake City, for decommissioning, but the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) is […]

A new vaccine mandate from the White House will force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s federal workforce to get the jab, while the agency says the majority of its staff are still working from home. The Joe Biden administration’s Thursday evening executive order directed federal agencies like NRC to develop a “program to require COVID-19 vaccination […]

A candidate for Nevada’s first congressional district got two endorsements from environmental groups this week as she seeks to unseat one of the Silver State’s staunchest Yucca Mountain opponents. The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund gave its support earlier this week to Amy Vilela’s primary campaign against incumbent Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.). “Amy has […]

Members of the public are getting even more time to leave comments on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s planned agency-wide environmental justice review, according to a notice published this week. The new deadline for community input on NRC’s review is Oct. 29, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday morning. This is the agency’s second […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week sought to allay the concerns of the Texas county slated to host a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to a letter to the county’s chief executive. “NRC staff is conducting a detailed review of the license application from Interim Storage Partners, LLC, to determine whether […]

Washington is making a bad investment with proposed legislation providing tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, a coalition of anti-nuclear groups told members of Congress in a letter last week. Proposed bailouts for nuclear plants, which includes around $6 billion in the Joe Biden administration’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, “misdirects resources while perpetuating climate injustice,” […]

A Louisiana nuclear power plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida passed through has site power back online, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week. Waterford Nuclear Generating Station, located about 25 miles from New Orleans, got its offsite electrical power back Tuesday evening, NRC said in a statement published Wednesday morning on Facebook.  The […]