Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

At deadline for RadWaste Monitor, Congress was still debating an extension of federal budgets beyond midnight on Friday, when a continuing resolution that extended 2020 budgets through today was set to expire.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff disagree over whether states may consent to accept Greater Than Class C waste for disposal in near-surface repositories, with some staff disputing the official commission line that such a thing is permissible, given a nuanced interpretation of law. The commission brought the rift into the sunlight in early November, when it […]

U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R) from Nebraska, who represents the host district of the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, signed an amicus brief on Thursday in the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against battleground states where President-elect Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump. Fortenberry is one of over 100 Republican members of Congress […]

NextEra Energy’s application to extend its license at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 has been made publicly available on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website.  “The NRC staff is reviewing the application to determine if it has sufficient information to complete the agency’s extensive safety and environmental reviews,” the commission said in […]

Dr. Fred Dilger, a staunch Yucca Mountain critic, has been named Executive Director of Nevada’s Agency for Nuclear Projects by Gov. Steve Sisolak.  “Dr. Dilger has been at the forefront in our State’s efforts in nuclear waste policy and in halting the Yucca Mountain Project,” Sisolak tweeted Monday evening.  Nevada’s Agency for Nuclear Projects/Nuclear Waste […]

Concerns over Holtec’s ability to finance the decommissioning of the Palisades nuclear plant, currently owned by Entergy Corp., rang loud at a public meeting held Tuesday afternoon to discuss the two companies’ request to swap ownership of the plant.  Holtec plans to submit the application in December. The plant is scheduled to operate into 2022. […]

Orano signed a deal with a subsidiary South Korea’s largest nuclear power plant operator to support its nuclear dismantling activities.  Paris-based Orano and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corporation, signed the deal Friday in Gyeongju, Korea, according to a press release. Through the deal, Orano will have […]

By John Stang Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board is examining geologic research conducted in Europe for nuclear waste repositories in part to get a head start on such studies if the Yucca Mountain project is permanently rejected.  The board, an independent advisory and review panel, keeps tabs on the nation’s radioactive waste repository and spent […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed design work to separate the north and south ends of the SM-1A deactivated nuclear plant at Fort Greely in Alaska, an incremental step required before starting decommissioning of the site. Next on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) radar for the impending SM-1A decommissioning effort is […]

Ohio’s Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight on Thursday heard testimonies for and against HB 798, one of the state’s final hopes of keeping utility increases associated with an allegedly corrupt nuclear bailout law from hitting ratepayer accounts in January. Unlike most other HB6-related bills pending in the state legislature, HB 798 wouldn’t necessarily […]

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee approved its bi-partisan American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 at a Wednesday business meeting. If passed, a tall order, with less than a month remaining in the 116th Congress, the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA) would by January 2022 require the Department of Energy […]

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Nominating Council is seeking a new commissioner after its former leader resigned two weeks ago, when his home was raided by the FBI, according to a press release this week. The raid happened just days after FirstEnergy Corp., the energy utility at the center of one of the largest […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday greenlighted the transfer of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 license to EnergySolutions subsidiary TMI-2 Solutions from FirstEnergy Companies for decommissioning.  Three Mile Island’s Unit 2, located 10 miles from Pennsylvania’s capital city of Harrisburg, shut down in 1979 after its core partially melted down in the biggest accident in […]

In a statement before Thanksgiving, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s long-telegraphed approval of the sale of Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear plant to Holtec Decommissioning.  “Cleaning up Indian Point will be complicated and expensive, and for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to act without considering New York’s request for a hearing is […]

RadWaste Monitor will not be published on Nov. 27 in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 4.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment on a draft environmental impact statement concerning the proposed transfer of waste from the site of the largest nuclear waste spill in U.S. history to a nearby mine. United Nuclear Corporation (UNC), now owned by General Electric, proposed to amend its license to excavate some 1 million cubic […]

The Arizona Public Service Company has agreed to implement programs suggested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission involving violations made at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in 2019 and since. The Arizona Public Service company operates the station, where it failed to perform an evaluation for a change to a dry cask storage system and […]

NextEra Energy is seeking to extend its Wisconsin-based Point Beach Nuclear Plant licenses by 20 years, keeping the plant running through 2050.  In an application submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday, the energy company requested to extend the licenses of the plants’ two units, which are currently on track to expire 2030 and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will approve the sale of the NYC-area Indian Point power plant from Entergy Corp. to Holtec Decommissioning International. The NRC is expected to issue an order Monday allowing Entergy to transfer the plant’s license to the New Jersey-based decommissioning company for dismantling, according to NRC documents.  Entergy agreed in February 2019 […]

One of the heads of the advisory group overseeing the decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee power plant wants to retract the group’s endorsement to send the plant’s spent fuel to an interim storage facility.  Vice Chair Lissa Weinmann doesn’t believe a letter signed in 2015 by the board’s former chair is representative of the current […]

FirstEnergy Corp. isn’t in compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing requirements, the company said in a press statement Tuesday.  The NYSE sent a notice to FirstEnergy on Tuesday after the company failed to file its required 10-Q form for the quarter ending Sept. 30 on time. The utility missed its original deadline of Nov. […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill that would require the Department of Energy secretary to present an annual report on the U.S. inventory of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Starting in January 2022, the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA) would require DOE to report: how much money the […]

FBI agents were seen removing boxes from the home of the head of Ohio’s utilities regulator this week, according to The Columbus Dispatch, although it’s unclear what they were looking for. The chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), Sam Randazzo, has connections with FirstEnergy, an electric utility tied to a $60-million nuclear-bailout […]

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization has been charged by the federal government to develop a plan for dealing with the country’s supply of low- and intermediate-level waste. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is a non-profit established in 2002 in accordance with Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to find a solution for the permanent storage […]

President-elect Joe Biden unveiled his transition team this week, and though the landing team bound for the Department of Energy was 20 deep and stacked with nuclear-savvy ex-DOEers, the announcement revealed little about the incoming chief-executive’s thinking on nuclear waste issues. On the website, President-elect Biden outlines plans to drive cost reductions in clean energy […]

In a budget bill released Tuesday, Senate appropriators agreed with their House colleagues that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should get about $850 million in fiscal year 2021, with $27.5 million for a non-Yucca-Mountain consolidated nuclear-waste storage facility. The proposal released Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee recommends the requested $849.9 million for the Nuclear Regulatory […]