Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

By John Stang A coalition of environmental organizations on Wednesday petitioned a federal appeals court to overturn a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision against several challenges to a proposed consolidated interim used nuclear fuel installation in southeastern New Mexico. This is the second lawsuit from organizations that say the agency has unlawfully prevented them from intervening in […]

International Isotopes’ failure to adequately address the 2018 breach of a radioactive source at its Idaho headquarters contributed to a similar, larger event months later in Seattle, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Following a routine inspection earlier this year, the agency on Monday cited the Idaho Falls-based nuclear medicine company with apparent individual violations […]

Tons of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) held in a railcar that caught fire earlier this month in Illinois will continue on toward final disposal in Texas, officials said this week. “The contents of the railcars are being repackaged into intermodals for removal from site,” under watch by the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to Illinois […]

By John Stang Holtec International and Massachusetts signed an agreement Tuesday under which the commonwealth will drop its objections to the already-completed federal license transfer and sale of the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The deal calls for the New Jersey energy technology company to provide additional financial assurances for complete decommissioning of the single-reactor […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continuing to weigh licensees’ requests for temporary exemptions from regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic while its staff begins to return to their offices after months of telework. Ninety-eight percent of the regulator’s nearly 3,000 full-time employees began teleworking in the middle of March, a measure intended to help curb the spread […]

An article in the June 12 issue of RadWaste Monitor, “Army Corps Issues Sources-Sought Notice for Alaska Reactor Decommissioning,” should have said APTIM Federal Services’ engineering contract for utility segregation for the retired SM-1A nuclear reactor at Fort Greely, Alaska, is worth roughly $2 million.

Waste Control Specialists continues to study whether it should accept Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste for disposal from the Department of Energy, according to President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson. The Energy Department in 2018 identified the WCS disposal complex in Andrews County, Texas, as its likely end location for the national stockpile […]

AECOM said Monday that Chief Financial Officer W. Troy Rudd would be elevated to CEO effective Oct. 1. Rudd will succeed Michael Burke, who is retiring after six years as chief executive. Lara Poloni will also move up to president from chief executive of AECOM’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business, according to a […]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is scheduled to vote July 1 whether to approve the reduction in a charge for disposal of radioactive waste at a state-owned facility operated by Waste Control Specialists. The rulemaking would amend the Texas Administrative Code’s section on low-level radioactive waste disposal fees, specifically reducing the curie inventory charge […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied two protests filed over RSI EnTech’s roughly $191 million contract to provide support services for the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management, which the challengers called unrealistically cheap. The Energy Department previously said the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract could be worth up to $1 billion over five years, depending […]

EnergySolutions hopes this year to receive a state license to finally begin accepting large amounts of depleted uranium at its radioactive waste disposal facility near Clive, Utah. That would mark the end of a regulatory process that has stretched for more than a decade. State legislation enacted in March 2018 set three requirements for the […]

A railcar carrying low-level radioactive waste caught fire last week near Chicago, but contaminants do not appear to have escaped, according to an incident notice posted Friday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The waste encompassed un-irradiated zirconium fuel cladding and additional waste material being shipped from Veolia subsidiary Alaron Nuclear Services in Pennsylvania to the […]

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) in Canada could by September begin preparing to drill the first test boreholes in the second of two locations still in contention to house a deep geologic repository for spent fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants. At least two boreholes will be drilled starting this fall in South […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will prepare a full environmental impact statement (EIS) on Westinghouse’s application to renew the license for its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The EIS would replace a draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) issued last October by the federal regulator. The agency changed course after […]

Nominations are being accepted through Aug. 31 for the Southeast Compact Commission for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management’s 2021 Richard S. Hodes, M.D. Honor Lecture Award. Nominees can be individuals, companies, or other organizations that have “contributed in a significant way to improving the technology, policy, or practices of low-level radioactive waste management in the United […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted almost unanimously in favor of promoting Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to the No. 2 position at the Department of Energy. In the panel’s voice vote, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) raised the sole objection to advancing Menezes toward confirmation as deputy secretary of energy […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Tuesday began collecting data from potential vendors for the upcoming decommissioning of the retired SM-1A reactor at Fort Greely, Alaska. The Army Corps emphasized that it is not yet taking bids, but is only seeking capability statements from companies that might perform the work. The eventual contract […]

Tuesday was a good night for congressional incumbents in Nevada, who easily overcame primary challenges. The state’s four members of the House of Representatives all advanced to the Nov. 3 general election, according to unofficials results from the Nevada Secretary of State. Five-term Rep. Dina Titus (D) took home over 86% of the vote against […]

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will next week begin returning to their offices after months of near-total telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ninety-eight percent of the federal agency’s nearly 3,000 full-time employees have been working remotely since mid-March to curb the potential spread of the viral disease. That left a small number of […]

SHINE Medical Technologies expects in the next five years to site isotope production facilities in Europe and Asia, one staffer said Wednesday. The company is currently more than a year from receiving anticipated federal regulatory approval to open its first production plant, in Janesville, Wis., for the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). “At full capacity, SHINE […]

Holtec International President and CEO Kris Singh on Wednesday said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not give the public extra time to comment on a key document in licensing his company’s planned facility in southeastern New Mexico for storage of spent fuel from nuclear power plants. In a draft environmental impact statement issued in March, […]

By John Stang The activist organization Beyond Nuclear filed an appeal Thursday in federal court in hopes of overturning two orders from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that have kept a proposed spent fuel storage facility on track in New Mexico. Beyond Nuclear’s filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit […]

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is accepting nominations for experts to a new panel that will write reports on the nuclear fuel cycle and waste issues linked to advanced nuclear reactors. Nominations are due by June 11, according to the National Academies. The experts will “evaluate and assess (1) the merits and viability […]

Some of the United States’ radioactive spent fuel could be recycled for use in advanced nuclear power reactors, but the nation still needs a long-term repository for the waste, according to the head of the industry policy organization. Used nuclear fuel retains 95% of its original energy, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing an Oregon utility during the COVID-19 pandemic to delay mandatory physical requalifications for security personnel at the spent fuel storage pad for a decommissioned nuclear power plant. Portland General Electric Co. received notice from the regulator on May 28. The document was posted to the NRC website on Tuesday. […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts is in the late stages of negotiations to lift its objections over the license transfer and sale of the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled Thursday afternoon to rule on petitions for intervention and hearings in the license transfer application, filed in February 2019 by the […]

Organizations with drastically different views on the value and future of nuclear power are debating whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should revive a moribund update to regulations for recycling of spent reactor fuel. Staff at the NRC expect early next year to recommend a potential path forward for a limited spent fuel reprocessing rulemaking, which […]