Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Although spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste can be safely stored in the interim, progress on a long-term geologic repository is “still a matter of urgency,” an independent review board said Friday. If the federal government followed the recommendations provided by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) in its Friday report, the result […]

The New York county executive with jurisdiction over the recently-shuttered Indian Point Energy Center urged federal legislators to find disposal solutions for the site’s spent fuel inventory, according to a series of requests published by the county office this week. New York’s legislators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should also continue their oversight over the […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission board member Peter Lyons died, according to a statement from the agency this week. Lyons, 78, passed away April 29 after a year-long battle with cancer, according to the Los Alamos Daily Post. Those who worked with Lyons throughout his nearly 50-year career in the nuclear industry expressed their condolences throughout […]

The company seeking federal approval to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico is asking to get involved with the state’s ongoing lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to recent court filings. Holtec International filed a formal petition April 29 to intervene in New Mexico’s proceedings against NRC in […]

A federal judge this week dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by a prominent nuclear trade group over the agency’s interpretation of very-low level waste disposal regulations.  The court lacked jurisdiction to make a ruling, according to a filing Tuesday. If a 2019 letter to industry from NRC detailing its interpretation of […]

A bill that would have banned storage of high level waste in Texas was yanked ahead of a scheduled floor vote in the state’s House of Representatives because its legislative analysis was “substantially and materially misleading,” the state speaker of the House said. H.B. 2692, proposed in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), got […]

The Department of Energy is working on a “strategic approach” for developing a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the Secretary of Energy told members of Congress this week. Jennifer Granholm, testifying Thursday on DOE’s 2022 budget request before the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Thursday, said the department “want[s] to use, […]

In another flurry of nominations, the Joe Biden administration announced this week plans to nominate Michael Connor as the second-in-command of the army’s civil works division. Connor, who is currently a partner at the D.C. law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, will need a Senate greenlight before he takes over as Assistant […]

Earnings rose at Entergy, New Orleans, in the 1st quarter of 2021, which the utilities company attributed to higher sales volume. Net earnings for the first quarter ended were $297 million, or $1.47 per share, up from $230 million, or $1.14 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $2.84 billion, up 17% year-over-year. […]

A bipartisan coalition of senators reintroduced last week a bill that would provide financial assistance to communities affected by stranded spent nuclear fuel at decommissioned power plants. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Angus King (I-Maine), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) all co-sponsored the measure introduced April 21, called […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a court this week that it shouldn’t move forward with a case against the agency after it voted unanimously to affirm its decision to deny a minerals holding company’s request to reconsider objections to a proposed spent fuel storage facility. NRC’s status update to the D.C. circuit court of appeals […]

The Texas state Senate did not vote as scheduled this week on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State. The state Senate counterpart of H.B. 2692, introduced in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), was supposed to be debated in a full session of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shouldn’t have tossed a coalition of watchdog groups’ request for a public hearing on a license extension for a nuclear power plant in Virginia, according to an appeal filed with the agency last week. NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board erred when it ruled that concerns about the safety of a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appointed two new members to its reactor safety board this week, the agency announced. Vicki Bier, and Gregory Halnon joined the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) April 12, NRC said in a Monday press release. They will both serve four-year terms on the panel. In addition to her new role […]

In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday […]

A Nevada Democrat sponsoring a bill that would ban funding for a federal nuclear waste repository without stakeholder consent said this week that the Joe Biden administration and the Department of Energy are in the Silver State’s corner. “With President Biden and Secretary Granholm, I believe we have partners who will help advance these ideas […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staff “intentionally mischaracterized” a nuclear watchdog group’s request to hold up the sale of Three Mile Island Generating Station Unit 2 when it recommended the agency toss the petition on procedural grounds, according to a new filing this week. Three Mile Island (TMI) Alert’s March 15 request to pause the plant’s […]

By John Stang While its first-quarter financial numbers were up, Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. said Thursday it is discussing a potential deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office over its role in a $60 million bribery investigation involving the former Ohio Speaker of the House. To date, neither FirstEnergy nor its current or former top officers […]

Preserving the country’s civilian nuclear power fleet is “critical” to meeting federal clean energy goals, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee told the Joe Biden administration this week. “As a zero-emissions baseload fuel source, I believe that maintaining our fleet and preventing closures of existing nuclear plants is critical to achieving […]

A federal appeals court this week hit the pause button on an environmental group’s recent petition against the licensing of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, after combining it with a similar case from last year, according to the court docket. Sierra Club’s April 14 petition against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is […]

A proposed plan for transferring uranium mine waste at the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in U.S. history to a nearby storage location won’t adequately protect indigenous communities in the area, the Navajo Nation’s president said last week. The proposed license amendment, which would allow the United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) to move […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries, best known for building nuclear-powered warships for the Navy, is probing the commercial decommissioning market, a senior executive told RadWaste Monitor this week. “We actually have looked at the decommissioning models and there are some models that are more attractive to us than others and we have explored opportunities in that market […]

The parties involved in an ongoing legal dispute over the sale of Indian Point Energy Center proposed a settlement this week that would end a slew of legal challenges to the transaction and allow the plant’s decommissioning. The settlement agreement between Holtec International, Entergy, the state of New York and several others would allow Indian […]

The president of a nuclear watchdog group said this week that his organization’s recent motion to hold the sale of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station was “appropriate” after Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff recommended that the agency scrap the request. Eric Epstein, president of Three Mile Island Alert, said Wednesday that the group’s March 15 […]

There are “significant opportunities” for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to apply industry recommendations to its current approach to the safe dry storage of spent nuclear fuel, a trade group representative said at an agency workshop this week. “It’s our intent to use and consider risk principles in assessing safety margins for dry storage, for the […]

The airport servicing the greater Las Vegas area may soon bear the name of the man who killed Yucca Mountain. In a unanimous vote back in February, the Clark County Commission agreed to a proposal that would rename McCarran International airport after retired Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), according to meeting minutes. The airport’s current namesake […]