Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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 […]

The Department of Energy will establish a process to auction off tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, according to the Senate-side version of a bipartisan infrastructure bill that may see a vote in the coming days. Senate majority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) filed for cloture Thursday on the proposed measure that would allocate […]

After a Tuesday hearing to vet a nominee for a senior Department of Energy job, New Mexico’s senior senator pounded the table about making sure proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel do not turn into permanent repositories. “The concern, really, is that the department does not have a plan to ensure that any […]

Senate appropriators proposed about the same funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy programs, including for a proposed interim storage inquiry, during a markup this week. If the Senate’s energy and water budget recommendation becomes law, it will green-light around $27.5 million in federal funds for nuclear waste disposal. The vast majority of that […]

The full House on Thursday approved a Department of Energy budget that provides guns and gates for Yucca Mountain plus some money to begin siting a federally operated interim storage facility for nuclear waste — the same proposals with which the bill emerged from committee. The House’s seven-bill appropriations package, which passed on a 219-208 […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is officially doing away with a proposed rulemaking that would govern spent fuel reprocessing, according to an agency notice published this week. Declining industry interest in spent fuel reprocessing, higher priorities in spent fuel management and “budgetary constraints” were the main drivers in discontinuing the staff rulemaking activity that began in […]

A federal suit against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel remains in limbo while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission works through licensing proceedings, according to a court filing from the agency this week. Holtec International’s application for a federal license to build an interim storage facility in Lea County, N.M. is “still under […]

Nearly 40 years have passed since the Nuclear Waste Policy Act went into effect, mandating that the U.S. government designate a location to permanently dispose of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel from power plants.  It never happened, as nuke-watchers well know, but this week, an interim waste storage site conceived by the privately owned Interim […]

In a major milestone for the otherwise moribund U.S. spent-fuel-storage scene, one of two proposed commercial interim storage sites got the environmental green light from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week. If licensed, the site in west Texas would be allowed to store up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and highly-radioactive Greater-than-Class-C […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is putting together a team to review a financially-troubled Ohio nuclear power plant’s response to several equipment failures and a recent reactor trip, the agency said this week. Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station has experienced four emergency diesel generator failures over the last two years, NRC said in the statement dated Tuesday. […]

FirstEnergy Corp. has agreed to pay a $230 million fine for its role in a major bribery scandal involving two Ohio reactors and the now-ousted former Ohio House speaker. The Akron-based corporation’s CEO Steven Strah and the acting U.S. attorney general for the Southern District of Ohio Vipal Patel signed a legal agreement Tuesday and […]

The story “Decommissioning Company Fires Back at Watchdog’s Challenge to TMI Sale” (RadWaste Monitor, July 16, 2021) should have said that Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor shut down in 1979. The article also should have said that an SRBC spokesperson provided comment to the Monitor on Thursday, July 8.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers announced this week a new caucus aiming to “drive progress” on spent nuclear fuel transportation and storage, according to a press release. The Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus, led by Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) “seeks to address the challenges associated with stranded commercial spent fuel across […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has officially started the job hunt for someone to run its spent fuel and waste disposal program, according to federal want ad posted this week. Anyone interested in becoming the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (ONE) deputy assistant secretary for its spent fuel and waste disposition program can […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission distorted the state of New Mexico’s arguments against a proposed interim storage facility when it said that a district court didn’t have the authority to rule on a state lawsuit, according to a new court filing. Since the state isn’t looking to challenge a final agency decision under the Hobbs Act […]

The Department of Energy has yet to write New Mexico back after the state sent a letter opposing a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel within its borders, the state’s senior senator said this week. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told RadWaste Monitor after a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting Thursday […]

A state utilities regulator will look into water usage at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant undergoing decommissioning after an environmental watchdog group sounded the alarm, according to a recent email from the regulator. The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission’s bureau of investigation and enforcement will review “certain uses of water” at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station’s […]

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge is the new president of Holtec’s government services subsidiary, the company announced this week in a press release dominated by new hires for the Camden, N.J., company’s financial team. Now leading the finance silo is Kevin O’Rourke, the new vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces David LaRosa, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission hopes the two vacant seats on its executive committee won’t be gathering dust for too long, the agency’s head told Congress this week. “I think we work best when we have a full complement,” said NRC chair Christopher Hanson while testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday afternoon. Currently […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could grant licenses to a pair of proposed commercial interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel in the next six months, the commission’s chairman told Congress this week. The NRC should make its final call on Interim Storage Partners’ proposed site in west Texas should in September, Christopher Hanson, the NRC […]

Another attempt by a nuclear watchdog to halt the sale of Three Mile Island “falls woefully short” of review guidelines set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company in charge of the plant’s decommissioning said in a new filing. NRC should toss Three Mile Island Alert’s July 1 motion to reopen proceedings on the sale […]

The Joe Biden administration “may be moving” to start its inquiry into a possible host state for a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the chair of the House’s energy spending panel said this week. “I believe we provided enough authority in the bill for [a consent-based siting inquiry] to move forward …  […]

Most of the cash greenlit for the Department of Energy’s nuclear waste activities should go towards a program to designate a federal interim storage facility, the House Appropriations Committee recommended this week in its budget for the 2022 fiscal year. That proposal survived Friday’s three-hour markup of an energy and water bill Friday, after which […]

The executives of a Texas county picked to host an interim storage facility voted to officially oppose the site’s licensing after a widely-attended and sometimes emotional public hearing this week. The Andrews County, Texas Commissioners’ Court voted unanimously Thursday to pen a letter of resolution opposing Interim Storage Partners’ proposed interim storage site, currently undergoing […]