Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

With a looming Halloween deadline, at least seven more cities have dropped out of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) mini reactor project, the latest municipal bail out from the Department of Energy-subsidized venture. Bountiful, Utah, a town that has been on the fence about the project for months now, opted to leave the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday declined to grant a hearing in the Indian Point license transfer as requested by concerned New York congressional representatives. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and New York members of Congress sent a second letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week asking for a hearing before the […]

Amid allegations of the utility’s involvement in a corrupt nuclear bailout bill, FirstEnergy on Thursday fired CEO Charles Jones and two senior executives after an internal review determined they broke company rules. Steven Strah, FirstEnergy’s president, will fill Jones’ position, according to a press release announcing the termination. Christopher Pappas, a current board member, has […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public opinion on its review of Virginia Electric and Power Co.’s license renewal at the Virginia-based North Anna Power Station. Staff are seeking views on environmental issues surrounding the 20-year license renewal by the company, also known as Dominion, until Nov. 23 following the publication of a notice in […]

U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-CA) has introduced that would require NRC inspectors to remain at decommissioning nuclear power plants until all spent fuel is transferred from pools to canisters. The proposed law, introduced Oct. 23, is Levin’s response to “failures” at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) located around four miles south of San […]

The cities of Cincinnati and Columbus are suing FirstEnergy Corp. and others in a last-ditch effort to keep fees associated with controversial House Bill 6 off ratepayer bills starting in January. In a suit filed in the court of common pleas in Franklin County, Ohio, on Tuesday, the two cities are attempting to do what […]

Entergy is in conversations with the NRC and could close on its transfer of the three-unit Indian Point Energy Center license by the middle of 2021, a spokesman said in an earnings call Wednesday. NRC spokesman Scott Burnell told RadWaste Monitor in an email on Monday the commission is on track to complete its review […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will review an application from Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion) to extend its license at the Virginia-based North Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2. Ken Holt, a Dominion spokesman, said if the license is approved, the company plans to operate the North Anna Power Station Unit 1 until 2058 […]

Responsive Non-Destructive Testing will carry out quality inspection and testing at the United Kingdom’s low-level radioactive waste disposal facility after winning a 12-month framework contract this week.  The 18-person U.K.-based company Responsive Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), a subsidiary of Responsive Ltd., has five bases across England and deals with destructive, non-destructive and mechanical testing as well […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is bidding farewell to Congress after a more than 20 year stint as an Illinois representative, and he says Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) could be one of the congressmen to replace him as the lower chamber’s main advocate for a permanent nuclear-waste disposal site. Shimkus credited Duncan for helping secure the […]

The NRC won’t fine International Isotopes for license and regulatory violations the company made last year that contributed to the release of cesium-137 last year at a Seattle hospital facility. In a letter of enforcement published on Tuesday, NRC staff dinged International Isotopes with two violations: failure to have appropriate administrative procedures to mitigate the […]

Anyone who opposes FirstEnergy’s plea for a protective order to block deposition of a company executive by an Ohio state government watchdog have until Nov. 2 to speak up,  Public Utilities Commission of Ohio attorney examiner Gregory Price ruled Tuesday.  FirstEnergy filed for the protective order last week. The company wants to block the production […]

The public comment period for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemaking that would simplify the very low-level waste disposal process ended Wednesday with over 6,000 comments.  Announced in March, the interpretive rule would allow the waste to be disposed of at facilities without Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses. The NRC would grant “specific exemptions” overriding current […]

Japan, which lacks a permanent waste disposal repository, will move forward with plans for a nuclear fuel recycling program that would involve extracting plutonium from spent fuel, according to the Associated Press.  The plan has been highly criticized by China and Russia due to Japan’s huge plutonium stockpile and relatively few prospects for consuming it […]

The group overseeing the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts this week passed the only motion enough members were able to agree on: that current voting rules don’t allow the group to agree on anything.  In order to pass a motion, the 21-seat Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) currently needs 11 members to vote […]

Soon after withdrawing its designation of Texas-based Waste Control Specialists as its long-term storage site for elemental mercury, the Department of Energy is seeking information about other potentially suitable sites. Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 4 to DOE’s request for information (RFI) for a leased facility and services related to […]

Holtec won’t be able to continue with dry runs at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power station in New Jersey until the company obtains the proper construction permits from host site Lacey Township, a federal judge ruled Thursday afternoon.  Holtec’s dry runs involve mandatory demonstrations in which the company practices moving spent nuclear fuel from a […]

When Michael Pircio blew the whistle on FirstEnergy Corp., the electric utility allegedly involved with former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s $60 million racketeering scheme, the company filed a lawsuit to make an example out of him, Pircio said Monday in a court filing. When FirstEnergy found out that, days after his termination, Pircio downloaded […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will release a letter outlining how the commission plans to move forward with COVID-19-related work-hour and security inspection exemptions and other pandemic-related topics in late October.  The commission has granted 48 force-on-force exemptions since the start of the pandemic, nearly half of the exemptions granted overall, according to NRC spokesman […]

Energy Harbor has been subpoenaed in a criminal investigation into its involvement with former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, according to people close to the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.  Federal prosecutors are asking the company to turn over documents proving the legality of its lobbying on behalf of House Bill 6, the […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff plan to combine the “Part 61” low-level radioactive waste rulemaking and the Greater-Than-Class C rulemaking for efficiency, a senior official said this week. The highly anticipated NRC report will be released to the public by the end of November, Patricia Holahan, director of the NRC’s Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and […]

Exelon Corp. is considering selling its nuclear plants, Bloomberg reports.  The business wire reported Monday afternoon that sources close to the energy company say it’s considering selling some of its non-utility assets, but a final decision hasn’t been made. “As we most recently communicated on our second quarter earnings call, we regularly review our corporate […]

Republican Illinois State Rep. Tom Demmer, determined to save Exelon’s Byron Generating Station from closure, launched a website last week to gin up support for state subsidies to stop the plant from closing next fall.  Exelon announced plans to close the Byron and Dresden Generating Stations in late August, calling them “uneconomic” and plagued by […]

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization will begin preparing borehole sites this year at the South Bruce site in the province of Ontario and plans to begin drilling next spring, according to a recent update to the South Bruce Community Liaison Committee. South Bruce is one of two sites the organization is considering to build a […]

AECOM has closed the sale of its power construction business to CriticalPoint Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that most recently acquired WalMart’s “Shoes.com.” Los Angeles-based AECOM, a multinational engineering, design and construction company, has been mulling a selloff over the past nine months, according to public filings in which it acknowledged interest in […]

By John Stang Transportation, potential terrorism and environmental justice were among the concerns voiced Thrusday at web-based public hearing on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s draft environmental impact statement on Interim Storage Partners’ proposal to build a spent nuclear fuel storage site in western Texas.  “We don’t want high-level radioactive wastes dumped in our home,” said […]

A defeated 2018 Republican candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives is suing FirstEnergy, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others for subsidizing “defamatory” campaign ads against him in a blatant attempt to get one of Householder’s preferred candidates elected instead. Bobby Mitchell alleges First Energy pushed money through a non-profit called Generation Now […]