Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is abandoning its inquiry into whether it should double the license renewal period for nuclear power plants to 40 years from 20 years, agency staff recommended this week. Because 90% of existing reactors already have a 20-year license extension allowing them to run for 60 years, a 40-year extension period would have […]

Anticipated decreases in activity surrounding two proposed interim storage sites partly explain the relatively flat budget request the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made for its spent fuel storage and reactor decommissioning programs, a detailed spending justification published this week shows.  For the 2022 fiscal year, NRC apportioned $28 million of its proposed budget to its spent […]

One of the nuclear industry’s most prominent trade groups pressured the Joe Biden administration this week to do something about the dwindling Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as one of four current commissioners finished her term this week and left the agency. It’s important for the five-person NRC to be at full strength so it can “act […]

State and federal agencies informed an interstate commission that no violations of environmental law appeared to occur in the sale of a Pennsylvania nuclear plant that would require them to step in on the matter, a spokesperson for the commission said this week. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially ended work on a proposed rulemaking for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel this week after staff recommended discontinuing the process, according to an agency memo. According to the memo dated Thursday, NRC voted to approve the staff recommendation to discontinue the rulemaking, which was proposed in 2013. In the March 5 […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had kind words for one of its outgoing commissioners at her last public meeting this week. Commissioner Annie Caputo, whose three-year term ends June 30, was honored by NRC chair Christopher Hanson during the agency’s midyear review meeting held Tuesday. Hanson said that he had “no doubt” that Caputo would continue […]

Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission don’t agree on whether the agency has the authority to rule on a motion to delay the sale of a Pennsylvania nuclear plant, according to a commission order published this week. After an affirmation session Tuesday, NRC published its decision denying environmental watchdog Three Mile Island Alert’s request to […]

Nearly a hundred advanced nuclear energy projects are getting cash from the federal government, with the bulk going toward nuclear waste research, the Department of Energy announced this week in the midst of budget season. Most of the $61 million DOE is awarding to advanced nuclear research programs, $58 million, will go to universities, the […]

Residents in the area around a shuttered nuclear plant in southern New Jersey were in the dark for around two hours early this week after a construction accident caused a power outage, said the company in charge of decommissioning the site. A contractor working for Holtec International backed into a utility pole while moving equipment […]

After a recent hearing, a state court tentatively denied an environmental group’s petition to hit the brakes on decommissioning a nuclear power plant in southern California, according to a court filing. The California Coastal Commission didn’t violate state environmental law or its own regulations when it gave a permit to Southern California Edison (SCE) to […]

The state of New Mexico is pursuing its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the wrong venue, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission argued in a recent court filing. Since New Mexico attorney general Hector Balderas’s March suit in the state’s district court cited a violation of the Atomic Energy Act […]

After a board meeting this week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirmed its decision to again deny a minerals company’s request to reopen the record about an objection to the licensing of a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to the commission’s schedule. After the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, NRC published an order rejecting […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of specifics. Asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations energy […]

Members of the public have a few extra months to provide comments on cleanup at the site of one of the country’s worst radioactive accidents, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week. The comment period for a proposed license amendment allowing the United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) to move radioactive mine waste from the defunct Church […]

The article “L.A. Court to Hear Enviros’ Petition Against SONGS Decommissioning” (RadWaste Monitor, Vol. 14 Issue 23, June 11, 2021) should have said that the spokesperson who provided comment represents Southern California Edison.

The Department of Energy is looking for a cash boost to keep researching whether recycling highly-enriched uranium from test reactors is a possible route to producing advanced nuclear fuel, the agency said in budget justification documents published last week. In its fiscal year 2022 budget request, the agency seeks $35 million this fiscal year to […]

Two of the government’s top decision makers on nuclear energy again asked the nuclear energy industry for its help to get their goals for nuclear power across the finish line at a trade conference Monday. The Joe Biden administration “can launch more nuclear projects across the country, we can power more communities with clean energy, […]

New Mexico is planning to voice its displeasure with the Department of Energy over a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in their state, a member of its Congressional delegation told the secretary of energy in a hearing Tuesday. The Department of Energy isn’t meeting its responsibility to designate a permanent repository […]

There’s no need for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to change existing regulations surrounding disposal of very low-level nuclear waste, according to the results of a three-year agency scoping study published this month. The study, which began in 2018, was commissioned because of the “anticipated increase of early nuclear power plant closures,” NRC wrote Tuesday in […]

Nevada’s Congressional delegation got a chance to celebrate this week the Joe Biden administration’s decision not to fund the country’s only spent fuel repository project. During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget hearing for fiscal year 2022, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) told energy secretary Jennifer Granholm that she was “pleased to hear” […]

The former Ohio speaker of the House was expelled from the state legislature Wednesday over his indictment in an alleged bribery scheme involving two nuclear power plants. State Rep. Larry Householder (R) was removed from the Ohio legislature in a 75-21 vote Wednesday afternoon. Householder, speaking on the state House floor, argued that his expulsion […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week that it was giving out cash awards to academic institutions focusing on nuclear science and engineering, according to a press release. 30 four-year universities, trade schools, community colleges and other institutions were part of NRC’s $10.7 million grant award, the agency said in a press release Tuesday. The […]

The Joe Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 budget request would shift $20 million in existing funding for the siting of a non-Yucca Mountain federal interim storage site into a different silo of DOE’s Nuclear Energy office, according to a budget document published this week. The administration also wants to increase the program’s focus on so-called […]

A proposed testing program for an experimental, 20-kilowatt nuclear reactor — and its eventual dismantling and defueling after a planned two-year run — won’t harm the environment, the Department of Energy reiterated this week in a final environmental review for the project. In a proposed finding of no significant impact notice published Tuesday on its […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a New Jersey nuclear power plant will lay off just under a hundred of its employees later this summer, according to the state’s labor department. Holtec International subsidiary company Consolidated Decommissioning International (CDI) will lay off 92 workers at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Forked River, N.J. effective […]

A proposed consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel won’t need a special construction permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, the military civil works formation said in a recent letter. If Holtec International got the go-ahead from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build its consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in southeastern New Mexico, […]

An environmental watchdog group seeking to halt decommissioning operations at Southern California Edison’s shuttered nuclear power plant will have its day in court next week. The Superior Court of California for the county of Los Angeles  was scheduled to hear The Samuel Lawrence Foundation’s case against the California Coastal Commission on June 16, according to […]