Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking a judge to hold off on proceedings involving three environmental groups’ petitions against a proposed interim storage site until the agency can settle a fourth complaint with a minerals company, according to new court filings this week. The Wednesday filing in the D.C. circuit court of appeals concerned Fasken […]

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation plan to reintroduce a bill that would put an end to the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository, they said this week. The new legislation would be more or less the same as bills introduced last Congress that sought to bar federal spending on the authorized repository in Nye County, […]

Earnings fell at US Ecology, Boise, Idaho, in the fourth quarter, which the environmental services company and manager of several nuclear waste disposal sites attributed mostly to another large charge related to its 2019 acquisition of an oil-and-gas cleanup business.  U.S. Ecology posted a net lost for the fourth quarter ended December 31 of $97.1 […]

The chairwoman of the House Appropriations panel responsible for nuclear energy and waste suggested in a hearing this week that the committee create a task force to deal with radioactive waste disposal and storage. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, proposed the idea during a Thursday hearing […]

Exelon Corp., Chicago, plans to split into a pair of companies by early 2022, separating its power generation businesses — including nuclear — from its electric and gas sales and distribution businesses, the company announced this week. Exelon operates 15 nuclear plants across the country, though it plans to shutter the Byron and Dresden plants […]

Another New York politician this week leaned on the state’s Public Service Commission to block the transfer of the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station’s operating license to Holtec International until the latter proves it can afford to safely decommission the site. On Tuesday, George Latimer, county executive for Westchester County, N.Y., echoed concerns earlier voiced […]

Advanced nuclear technologies could make use of innovative strategies like steam conversion and reprocessing to dispose of spent fuel, according to reactor developers speaking at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee meeting this week. At a series of virtual meetings held Monday and Tuesday, the National Academies’ Committee on Merits and Viability […]

A new citizens’ committee in Vermont plans to provide recommendations on reactor decommissioning and nuclear waste storage to the state and federal government by fall, the group said in a public meeting this week. The Federal Waste Nuclear Policy Committee, a subdivision of Vermont’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP), met Monday to solicit public […]

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 […]