Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The story “Texas Legislature Pulls ‘Misleading’ High-Level Waste Ban From Floor In Parliamentary Fracas” (RadWaste Monitor, May 07, 2021) should have said that H.B. 2692’s legislative analysis was deemed “substantially and materially misleading.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a request for a new rule that would establish a framework for restarting retired nuclear reactors, according to a notice published last week. There’s not enough industry interest in a regulatory framework to reauthorize operations at retired reactors, NRC said in its denial of a 2018 petition for a new […]

Generating loss resulting from the retirement of nuclear power plants will be offset this summer by “a return to more normal operations” at existing reactors, the Department of Energy’s energy statistics agency said in a new report Tuesday. In their summer 2021 electricity industry outlook published Tuesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast that generation […]

The company seeking a federal license to build an interim storage facility in New Mexico doesn’t have standing to intervene in the state’s suit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, New Mexico’s attorney general said in a court filing this week. There’s no need for Holtec International to intervene in the case on NRC’s behalf since […]

As part of a flurry of Department of Energy appointments on Monday, the Joe Biden administration made nuclear engineering professor Kathryn Huff the acting head of DOE’s nuclear energy office. Biden appointed Kathryn Huff principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, second in command at the DOE office that oversees research on nuclear energy and […]

Nuclear services company EnergySolutions is adding another decommissioning project to its portfolio with the purchase of a long-shuttered nuclear power plant in Wisconsin, according to a press release this week. Dominion Energy, the current owner of Kewaunee Power Station in Carlton, Wisc., signed a definitive agreement to sell the plant to EnergySolutions, according to the […]

The window is rapidly closing for a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in Texas after a week of floor meetings in the state’s Senate ended without a vote on the measure.  Despite appearing on the regular order of business for the full chamber, S.B. 1046, sponsored by state Sen. […]

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 […]