Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

AECOM on Tuesday reported a 5% drop in overall revenue for the third quarter of its 2020 fiscal year, while income figures mostly rose. Revenue fell from nearly $3.4 billion in third-quarter 2019 to just shy of $3.2 billion for the three-month reporting period through June 30. However, net service revenue (which excludes subcontractor expenses) […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week preliminarily cited NextEra Energy with violating federal regulations in mischaracterizing a shipment of radioactive waste from its Point Beach Nuclear Plant in Wisconsin. The incident would constitute a “White” breach, representing low-to-moderate increased safety significance, according to an Aug. 3 letter to Michael Strope, site director for NextEra Energy […]

Pending legislation from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) would require the Department of Energy to each year account for continuing and anticipated costs for management of the nation’s growing inventory of radioactive waste. The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 contains a series of measures intended to sustain the United States’ existing nuclear power fleet and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission aims by the end of August to decide on enforcement measures for apparent license and regulatory violations by International Isotopes that contributed to the release of cesium-137 last year at a hospital facility in Seattle. An NRC official noted the schedule at the end of a teleconference Tuesday that gave the […]

The ExchangeMonitor is heading into its annual August recess, and RadWaste Monitor will not be published during the second and third full weeks of the month. We’ll still be working, so keep the news tips coming, and look for the next weekly newsletter in your inbox on Friday, Aug. 28.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved Mark Menezes as deputy secretary of energy on Tuesday, despite opposition from some nuke-wary Democrats. The 79-16 vote elevated Menezes to the No. 2 position at the nuclear weapons, waste, and energy agency. Menezes was sworn in to his new job Thursday, after nearly three years as undersecretary of energy. All but […]

By John Stang Two potential class action lawsuits were filed this week in federal court this week against FirstEnergy Corp. for its suspected role in a $60 million bribery and money laundering scheme to prop up a pair of financially troubled nuclear power plants in Ohio. On Wednesday, FirstEnergy stockholder Diane Owens sued in U.S. District […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Tuesday called on President Donald Trump to oppose commercial plans for facilities in her state and neighboring Texas that could temporarily store tens of thousands of tons of radioactive used fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. “Given that a permanent repository for high-level waste does not exist […]

International Isotopes has agreed to a pre-decisional enforcement conference with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over apparent breaches of federal regulations and its license in connection with the May 2019 spill of cesium-137 at a hospital research building in Seattle. The teleconference is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Central time on Tuesday, Aug. 4. The […]

A deal could be approaching to resolve Pennsylvania’s concerns about the planned sale and decommissioning of the long-retired reactor Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. In a motion filed Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to wait at least until Aug. 11 to rule […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is preparing to release another tranche of funding for companies working to produce the medical isotope molybdenum-99 without use of weapon-grade uranium. The semiautonomous branch of the Department of Energy said it received $35 million from Congress for this work in the current 2020 federal budget year. The agency […]

Edison International and subsidiary Southern California Edison on Tuesday reported a significant drop in earnings for the second quarter of 2020, even as the parent company remained firmly in the black. Sales of fuel from the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) helped offset the non-core loss per share at Southern California Edison (SCE), […]

The Senate has lined up a vote next week to confirm Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to the No. 2 position at the Department of Energy. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday filed cloture on Menezes’ nomination as deputy secretary of energy. An initial procedural vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Politico […]

The House of Representatives on Friday approved a massive appropriations package that provides nothing to resume licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, despite pleas late in the week from four Republican lawmakers. In a nearly party-line vote, the Democrat-led chamber passed a roughly $1.3 trillion, six-bill spending “minibus” for the fiscal 2021 budget […]

By John Stang A New Jersey state judge on July 17 signed a consent order authorizing Holtec International to continue decommissioning of the retired Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. The order nominally resolves a brief dispute between the energy technology company and leaders in largely rural Lacey Township in south New Jersey, home to the […]

An article in the July 17 edition of RadWaste Monitor cited an incorrect number of spent-fuel storage casks covered by a new inspection plan at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California.

A Kentucky man in 2015 illegally managed transport and disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) waste, a federal grand jury charged on July 16. Cory David Hoskins, of West Liberty, Ky., faces a total of 27 criminal counts: five for fraud and 22 for violation of hazardous materials law and regulations – […]

Low-level radioactive waste that was being carried in a railcar that caught fire in June near Chicago is now being transported by truck to Tennessee, according to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA). Transport of 42 intermodal containers started last week and is expected to wrap up this week, IEMA spokeswoman Rebecca Clark said by […]

Texas’ provider of low-level radioactive waste disposal, plus its state regulator and other stakeholders, have firmly opposed a potential interpretation of federal rules that could make it easier to ship so-called “very low-level waste” to landfills around the nation. That puts Waste Control Specialists in line with most comments submitted in recent months, in writing […]

By John Stang The Ohio Legislature’s speaker of the House and four others have been charged with funneling roughly $60 million in bribes and illegal contributions to a three-year secret campaign to subsidize two financially struggling nuclear power plants in the state. The new criminal case puts the future of the 2019 bailout bill in […]

The congressman representing the district surrounding the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is facing off with five challengers in an Aug. 4 primary for which voting by mail has already started. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) has represented the 4th Congressional District in central Washington since January 2015. As a member of House Appropriations […]

The number of Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees who continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic has ticked down slightly in recent weeks. The percentage was 94% as of Thursday, compared to 95% cited at the beginning of July, according to NRC Director of Public Affairs David Castelveter. He noted that some personnel are not […]

The reactor pressure vessel for the decommissioned Unit 1 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California has reached its final destination for disposal. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted the July 14 milestone in a report issued Monday from its latest inspection of the three retired reactors at the San Diego County power […]

By John Stang With a combination of reluctance and unanimity, the California Coastal Commission voted 10-0 Thursday to approve an inspection-and-maintenance plan for on-site storage of spent reactor fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The plan is a requirement of the coastal development permit the commission issued in 2015 to SONGS majority […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday passed a potentially massive budget plus-up for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), while again dismissing the White House proposal to transfer it to the Department of Energy. The panel voted 31-20 in favor of its $49.6 billion energy and water appropriations […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday threw its support behind the Trump administration’s new plan to develop interim storage of radioactive waste now held at commercial and government facilities around the nation. In a 30-21 party-line vote, the Democrat-majority panel advanced its $49.6 billion energy and water bill for fiscal 2021 to the full House. […]

By John Stang The upcoming decommissioning of the Crystal River nuclear power plant needs more government oversight, some type of independent monitor, and better guarantees against cost overruns, a Florida government watchdog agency told the state Public Service Commission last week. “We ask you to order some modest changes” in the decommissioning contract, Charles Rehwinkel, an […]