Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

A coalition of watchdog groups followed through on their plan this week to file their objections to the sale of two nuclear plants in Michigan after their request to extend the filing deadline didn’t receive a response in time from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Beyond Nuclear, alongside Don’t Waste Michigan and Michigan Safe Energy Future, […]

A minerals company that had its objections to a proposed interim storage facility tossed last month by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again asking the agency to reconsider, according to a new filing this week. In their Tuesday appeal, Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd. argued that the NRC had unfairly denied an objection to Interim […]

By John Stang As corporate wheeler-dealer Carl Icahn showed interest in obtaining millions of dollars worth of its voting securities, FirstEnergy Corp. this week said it is revampinp its management style in the wake of a $60 million bribery scandal related to its two Ohio reactors. FirstEnergy’s leaders discussed that overhaul in a Thursday teleconference […]

A New Jersey district court judge signed a settlement last week ending a legal feud between Holtec International and Lacey Township, N.J., over fuel from the Oyster Creek Generating Station, according to court papers. Judge Michael A. Shipp signed the order Feb. 9, setting the stage for Holtec to move forward with the decommissioning of […]

A New Mexico Senate committee this week passed a bill that would create a statewide task force to negotiate with the federal government over the siting of nuclear-waste storage sites in the Land of Enchantment. The state Senate Conservation Committee on Tuesday passed SB 82, introduced by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), on a 5-2 […]

A major environmental group continued to spar with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week in attempts to delay federal approval on two proposed interim storage sites for nuclear waste, according to court records and an agency memo. For all its maneuvering, however, the Sierra Club did not gain much ground this week. The NRC rejected […]

In the midst of a winter weather emergency that left millions without power and caused a nuclear plant to shut down in the Lone Star State, Waste Control Specialists’ waste storage site experienced no problems, the president of the company said this week. David Carlson, president and chief operating officer of WCS told RadWaste Monitor […]

The EnergySolutions-led group in charge of dismantling the Three Mile Island nuclear plant didn’t get required waivers to ignore federal environmental rules and therefore violated the law when it purchased the plant this year, an environmental group alleged this week. State and federal regulators said they are looking into claims made by Three Mile Island […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission spent under $8,000 in December on planning activities for the moribund Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the agency’s chairman told the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter last week. In a letter dated Feb. 8, NRC chair Christopher Hanson told Energy and Commerce head Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) that […]

The energy company currently operating Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station and the company set to purchase it this week asked a federal judge to allow them to intervene in a lawsuit filed against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the state of New York. Entergy and Holtec International requested leave to intervene Thursday, according to their […]

The trade group for the nuclear industry doubled down on a legal argument that the Nuclear Regulatory’s Commission’s 2019 interpretation of very low-level waste disposal guidelines illegally burdened licensees and should be reversed, according to a recent filing with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Moreover, NRC’s 2019 interpretation is not merely repetition of established […]

The company in charge of decommissioning Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station submitted a proposal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting an amendment to fuel storage safety guidelines that would allow them to complete transferring spent fuel to dry storage by November, according to a filing published this week. Nuclear services provider Holtec International, which is […]

The chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s environmental subcommittee did not rule out interim nuclear waste storage sites as a part of the Biden administration’s climate agenda during a press conference this week. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), who heads up the Environment and Climate Change subcommittee, told RadWaste Monitor during the virtual presser […]

Another environmental group asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay the licensing of Interim Storage Partners’ proposed consolidated interim storage facility in west Texas, according to an appeals court filing this week. In the Wednesday filing, anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse the licensing […]

The Nevada Senate got another would-be Biden administration official to pledge no funding for Yucca Mountain on Wednesday during the confirmation hearing for Neera Tanden to be the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Tanden, former president of the Center for American Progress, told Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) during the hearing […]

A proposed bill in the New Mexico state Senate that would have created a state-level “radioactive waste consultation task force” was left in limbo Thursday after a split vote in the chamber’s Conservation Committee. Committee members tied 4-4 on motions to advance SB 82 to the full Senate. Proposed by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), […]

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Tuesday unanimously agreed to block FirstEnergy Corp. from collecting a virtually guaranteed profit of at least $102 million each year, to which the corporation was entitled under a controversial nuclear power bailout law passed in 2019.  Approval came swiftly after the Ohio Attorney General’s office and FirstEnergy on […]

Senate Democrats assumed control of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday after the full legislature passed a power-sharing resolution, according to a Thursday press release. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) was officially appointed chairman of the committee after party leaders agreed to the organizing resolution Wednesday, the emailed press release said. Sen. Manchin served […]

The New Mexico’s state Senate Conservation Committee did not debate as scheduled this week on a proposed bill that would create a statewide  “radioactive waste consultation task force.” The committee adjourned Thursday without discussing the proposed legislation, SB 82. The committee is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday, a week after the measure first appeared on a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will resume force-on-force inspections in March with new COVID-19 guidelines for social distancing during exercises and advance notice about virus conditions on site two weeks prior to inspections, the agency said in a Wednesday webinar. NRC officials from the agency’s security operations division said during the webinar that the agency will […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t reconsider a minerals company’s objections to the licensing of Interim Storage Partners’ proposed consolidated interim storage site in West Texas, according to a recent agency filing. According to last Friday’s filing, the commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board threw out the most recent of three motions filed last year by […]

A team of environmental interest groups is petitioning a federal to reverse the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s December rejection of two separate requests to delay the licensing of Interim Storage Partners’ proposed consolidated interim storage facility, according to a legal filing this week. The environmental groups asked the court of appeals for the D.C. circuit to […]

Ohio State Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R) has introduced a bill to nullify part of a controversial law that, according to the state’s attorney general, would allow FirstEnergy Corp. to reap more than $100 million in profit from financially troubled nuclear power plants operated by a former subsidiary. The company is allowed to collect the money […]

The cost to dispose of low-level waste fluctuated in 2020, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated in an annual report, increasing at some sites due to higher waste volumes or radioactivity and decreased at others as a result of streamlined procedures. The agency’s 2020 estimates were informed by a sample group of nuclear plants and four […]

The construction of Interim Storage Partners’ consolidated interim storage facility won’t pose a threat to indigenous peoples’ historical sites, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. In a letter to the Comanche Nation chair William Nelson, dated Jan. 26, the Commission said that the proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews, Texas will have “low […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released their subcommittee assignments Thursday, including picks for the energy and environment panels with jurisdiction over nuclear waste agencies and programs. In a full committee organizational meeting Thursday afternoon, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the chair, reviewed the assignments, which revealed no major change in Democratic leadership for either subcommittee. […]