Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

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 […]

The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission have begun early discussions on extending the nearly 2-decade-old license for a spent-fuel storage facility that has not been built at the Idaho National Laboratory. “This matter is unique in that the facility was never constructed or operated. It’s also the first of a kind in that […]

The Department of Energy remains in the early stages of studying potential options for recycling used nuclear power plant fuel, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal said Wednesday. “To look at the option of recycling and what falls under that umbrella, is something that my team has started to do,” Baranwal said during a […]

The members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) voted 3-0 Wednesday to reduce a charge for disposal of radioactive waste at a state-owned facility operated by Waste Control Specialists. With little discussion during the teleconference, the three commissioners said they had no major objections to the company’s request to cut the curie inventory […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it would extend the comment period to Nov. 3 on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. The 60-day extension is intended to give stakeholders sufficient time to provide input during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The NRC staff intends […]

It will take at least until 2021 before the University of Washington can reopen a building contaminated with cesium-137 by a 2019 radiological source-removal gone wrong — and some of the facility might have to be torn down and rebuilt, a university official said Wednesday. “The current timeline has remediation going basically to the end of […]

The government of the United Kingdom said Friday it would in 2021 assume ownership of the privately held entities managing disposal of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste and cleanup at a retired reactor site in Scotland. Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in March 2021, […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts’ court challenge to the transfer of the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is being dismissed with prejudice, which would prevent it from being refiled. The parties to the petition for review filed the dismissal agreement on June 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic could further extend its timeline to rule on two applications for facilities in Texas and New Mexico for storage of spent nuclear fuel. The agency’s reviews are now expected to wrap by next summer, but that is subject to change. They are already off their […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its full budget request for the upcoming 2021 federal fiscal year via the House Appropriations energy and water development bill issued this week. That covers $849.9 million for the core operations at the federal regulator, plus just under $13.5 million for the NRC Inspector General’s Office. That would be […]

Community advisory boards for nuclear power plants in decommissioning would benefit from being formed early in the process and with a clear framework for their function, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report made public Thursday. The benefits of giving the plant operators a place on the panels, though, was debated as the agency […]

By John Stang Local leaders on Thursday touted the anticipated economic benefits of a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in southeastern New Mexico, while others characterized the project as an example of economic racism. About 40 people spoke during a second webinar to discuss the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on […]

The House Appropriations Committee appears ready to support the Department of Energy’s request for $27.5 million in its next budget to help stand up a program for temporary centralized storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The $49.6 billion energy and water development appropriations legislation unveiled Monday would provide that amount to cover […]

A batch of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) will complete its journey to disposal by truck after a fire near Chicago earlier this month on a railcar being used to transport it to Texas. “The transloaded waste is being re-profiled to be shipped by truck,” a spokesperson for Veolia subsidiary Alaron Nuclear Services, which generated the […]

NorthStar Group Services has requested approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for disposal in Idaho of 2 million gallons of wastewater from decommissioning at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The agency on June 23 informed a subsidiary of the New York City-based environmental solutions provider, NorthStar Nuclear Decommissioning Co., that it had accepted the […]

Representatives of more than 40 companies attended the June 24 industry pre-proposal conference for the upcoming contract for cleanup of the Luckey Site in Ohio under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The Army Corps on June 26 posted the attendance list, along with the first tranche of […]

By John Stang The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Wednesday delayed until July 15 a decision on whether to reduce a specific charge for disposal of radioactive waste at a state-owned facility operated by Waste Control Specialists. The Dallas-based company requested a cut in the state’s curie inventory charge from $0.40 per millicurie (1/1000th […]

The state of Montana in June formalized its new rules for landfill disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) waste. The state Department of Environmental Quality filed its notice of adoption with the Montana Secretary of State on June 16. The rules took effect on June 27, following publication. The final rules make […]

By John Stang The Sierra Club plans to appeal a June 18 order by a licensing board at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that rejected its remaining challenges to Holtec International’s application to build an interim used nuclear fuel storage installation in New Mexico. This will send the matter back to the full commission, which has […]

The vast majority of Nuclear Regulatory Commission personnel continue to work remotely, even as the agency last month began reopening its offices after a months-long drawdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 98% of the NRC’s full-time staff of nearly 3,000 had been teleworking from March to mid-June. That percentage has since dropped slightly, to […]