Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

An anti-nuclear watchdog’s agency-level effort to halt the sale of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant is dead to rights after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted it down this week. The three NRC commissioners voted unanimously during a Tuesday meeting to nix Three Mile Island Alert’s petition to reconsider the sale of Three Mile Island Nuclear […]

The Exchange Monitor’s Decommissioning Strategy Forum has been rescheduled to Nov. 1-2 at the J.W. Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa in Summerlin, Nev. For more information, please contact Beth Wagner, associate brand director for the Decommissioning Strategy Forum.

In mid-August, with his former colleagues enjoying a week of recess back home, a self-described “nuclear-waste guy” with nearly a quarter of a century on Capitol Hill worked on lesson plans for his new teaching gig, watching nuclear-waste history repeat itself. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) ended a 24-year career representing Illinois’s 15th congressional district in […]

Second time’s the charm for a proposed bill aimed at banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste including spent fuel in Texas, which cleared both houses of the state legislature this week in a parliamentary blitz. The measure, co-sponsored by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R) and state Sen. Brian Birdwell (R), passed in its second […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced late last week that it was extending the comment period for its Environmental Justice review through September 22.  The commission is seeking “input on how the agency is addressing environmental justice, considering the agency’s mission and statutory authority,” according to a Federal Register notice published August 10. The agency has […]

San Diego’s county commission this week joined a group lobbying the federal government to remove the shuttered San Onofre Generating Station’s spent fuel from the California coast. The San Diego County board of supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to use as much as $100,000 to hire a contractor that would manage the county’s participation in […]

An unused spent fuel storage canister that arrived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Wednesday will be used to investigate long-term storage solutions for the nation’s nuclear waste, according to a press release. The 22-ton empty canister will boost a research team at the Tennessee-based Oak Ridge (ORNL) that is “​​investigating methods to help the nation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday offered a strongly-worded rebuke to the New Mexico attorney general’s claim that a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel violates federal law, according to a new court filing. NRC has the right to license commercial facilities under the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), the agency argued in the […]

Southwestern host states probably cannot stop construction of temporary spent-fuel depots in their territories by arguing that licensing such sites is against federal law, a couple of retired nuclear policy hands opined this week. Pending a few more reviews, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could license Interim Storage Partners’ proposed commercial interim storage facility in west […]

RadWaste Monitor will not be published on Aug. 27, 2021 while the Exchange Monitor takes its annual August recess. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

With growing federal alarm over the surging numbers of new COVID-19 cases, especially among the unvaccinated, the Department of Energy on Friday confirmed it is imploring government contractors to find ways to get workers to take their shots. The agency acknowledged the effort, spearheaded by Tarak Shah, chief of staff to Secretary Jennifer Granholm, after […]

A $1-trillion infrastructure bill with tax credits for financially-struggling nuclear power plants passed the Senate on a widely bipartisan vote this week.  The infrastructure package cleared the Senate in a 69-30 vote Tuesday and now heads to the House, whose members were scheduled to return to Washington on Aug. 23 to vote on the measure. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will end mandatory telework and allow in-person work to resume by the end of next month, the agency said in a recent letter to staff. As part of its “full re-entry” program, NRC staff can return to their offices September 26, the agency said in the letter dated July 30. Although […]

The company in charge of decommissioning Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power station accused a nuclear watchdog of serious process fouls after the group’s latest attempt to halt the plant’s license transfer, according to a regulatory filing. NRC should no longer allow Three Mile Island Alert to “blatantly ignore” reasonable requirements of public participation in […]

The Senate on Monday confirmed a former Department of Energy lawyer with private sector experience to serve as the agency’s new general counsel. Samuel Walsh, who served at DOE under the Barack Obama administration, was confirmed to his new position as agency general counsel by voice vote in the Senate Monday evening. Walsh was nominated […]

Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said Wednesday he was “disappointed” with the environmental services company’s second quarter financial performance, which he blamed on complications related to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. For the quarter ended June 30, Perma-Fix posted company-wide net income of around $3 million or $0.25 per share, according to an earnings report […]

Members of the public have a bit more time to weigh in on how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is handling issues of environmental justice, the agency said this week. September 22 is the new deadline for public comment on NRC’s current environmental justice posture, which it will use as part of a “systematic” review of […]

Although it was on the menu for a special session of the Texas legislature, the body didn’t debate this week legislation to address a proposed interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the state. Several days of special sessions of the state Senate ended without discussion on Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed interim storage […]

Lack of an Illinois legislative solution has convinced Exelon to proceed with its plans to close its Byron and Dresden reactor complexes in September and November, respectively. Exelon originally announced its plans to shut down the four reactors at the two sites in August 2020 because of revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of […]

Bethesda, Md.,-based Orano USA has a new management team and several new board of directors for its Federal Services Business unit that does business with the Department of Energy, the company said early Wednesday. Orano Federal Services President Dorothy Davidson said in a press release that the new management team will include: Joe Faldowskim, chief […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should certify that the parties involved with decommissioning Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant comply with environmental law and that there’s a plan in place for water use at the site, a watchdog group said in a filing with the agency last week. Citing new evidence in the form of […]

The Department of Energy needs to consolidate its agency-sponsored research on high-burnup spent nuclear fuel storage, the federal government’s nuclear waste panel said in a new report published this week. Although DOE funds “a variety of organizations” and their research on the viability of storing and transporting high-burnup fuel (HBF), there’s not currently a single […]

An inspection at a New Jersey nuclear plant being decommissioned by Holtec International revealed several security violations that might earn the company a civil penalty, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the plant’s owner last week. According to NRC’s letter, dated July 28, Holtec has a month to either contest the commission’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to fire its next salvo this month in an ongoing legal battle over one of two proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a court filing this week. NRC will file its next brief in the case over Holtec International’s proposed storage facility in New Mexico […]

The Joe Biden administration can’t achieve its “aggressive” climate goals without nuclear energy, the chairman of the Senate’s energy panel said during a hearing this week. Speaking with RadWaste Monitor during a break from the action at Tuesday’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to vet the Biden administration’s nominee for the Department of […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved all of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s funding request for the upcoming fiscal year at a markup this week. In a 25-5 vote Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the annual Energy and Water Development budget, which included every dime of NRC’s roughly $874 million request for fiscal […]

In a special session starting this weekend, the Texas state legislature will get another chance to pass laws that could make it harder to dispose of some radioactive waste in the state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has called the special session of the legislature at a time when a privately operated waste disposal company […]