Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

Although details are sparse, funding to site a federal interim storage facility for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel would be included in the Department of Energy’s budget proposal for 2022 if it became law, according to the agency’s latest top-level budget summary. The Office of Nuclear Energy’s (ONE) fuel cycle program should receive funding “for […]

When it comes to radioactive waste in New Mexico, the head of the state’s environment department thinks the buck should stop — or really, start — with him. “This is the state to which things have been sent to. We are adamant that we will be the state that is first consulted with,” James Kenney, […]

The Secretary of Energy this week told members of Congress that her department is planning to start gathering information from communities about the possibility of siting a federal repository for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel. “We at the Department [of Energy] are going to launch a request for information and start that conversation with communities,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted four nuclear power plants exemptions to federal regulations governing employee work hours and training during the month of April, according to a notice published by the agency this week. Between April 6 and April 29 NRC granted work-hour control exemptions to: Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan; Clinton Power Station […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will make a final decision about whether to license one of two proposed interim storage sites for spent nuclear fuel “shortly after” it completes environmental impact statements for the project this summer, the agency’s spent fuel licensing project manager said this week.  NRC is “currently close to completing the final safety […]

The public comment period for a proposed license amendment enabling cleanup operations at the Church Rock uranium mine is now over, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The last day for comments on the agency’s draft environmental impact statement for the action was Thursday, NRC has said. The commission will evaluate all responses and release […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a New Jersey nuclear power plant violated federal safety regulations after an accident involving a spent fuel storage canister caused a site worker to be doused with contaminated water, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. During a February safety test at Oyster Creek Generating Station in Forked River, N.J. a […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy would get a cash infusion for its advanced reactor development program and support for consent-based siting for a permanent waste repository would begin after Sept. 30, if the 2022 budget request rolled out Friday became law. The request calls for $370 million for the Office of Nuclear […]

The Department of Energy’s goal of establishing a “clean energy standard” for zero-carbon sources of electricity will ensure that demand for nuclear power stays high in the face of mounting plant closures, the Secretary of Energy said this week. “The number one solution the [Joe Biden] administration believes is very important for nuclear’s future is […]

A federal judge said he is concerned that FirstEnergy may have obstructed justice in an ongoing bribery investigation by filing a separate lawsuit against a whistleblower who raised issues about the company’s compliance with federal corporate accountability law. While the U.S. Court for the Northern District of Ohio “expresses no opinion” on the ongoing investigation […]

With the state Senate showing no signs of urgency about the measure, prospects looked dim at deadline for a bill that would have adjusted low-level waste disposal rates and banned storage of high level radioactive waste in the Lone Star.  According to the legislative calendar, Friday was the last day for the state Senate to […]

The existing nuclear fleet is essential in giving the Joe Biden administration time to expand the capacity of renewable generating sources, the White House’s climate czar said Tuesday. Nuclear energy provides a “very stable baseload” of electricity generation, national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said at a virtual event hosted by the Columbia University Center on […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission isn’t looking too closely at disposal or repurposing of spent nuclear fuel from future advanced reactors, the agency’s fuel safety chief told a National Academies panel Tuesday. NRC won’t regulate the back end of the advanced fuel cycle until it has “a firmer idea of what advanced reactor developers are looking […]

The state of New York’s public service committee voted unanimously this week to approve a proposed joint settlement agreement in which the company set to decommission Indian Point Energy Center will commit to greater financial transparency and community engagement. The New York Public Service Commission’s 4-0 vote at a virtual meeting Wednesday to greenlight the […]

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 […]