Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

By John Stang The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week approved its first regulatory exemption of the COVID-18 pandemic for a spent fuel storage licensee, along with lifting work-hour limits for another nuclear power plant. As of Wednesday, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has been granted a two-month extension to file the license renewal application for its […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will next week consider Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes’ nomination to the No. 2 spot at the Department of Energy. The White House in March nominated Menezes as deputy secretary of energy. He would succeed Dan Brouillette, who became energy secretary in December. After a career on Capitol […]

US Ecology on May 8 said a freeze on all discretionary spending and reduced travel are among the cost controls instituted earlier this year as part of an effort to save tens of millions of dollars in annual expenses to blunt the business impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. The belt-tightening is part of a set […]

The state of South Carolina wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prepare a full environmental impact statement before deciding whether to renew the license for Westinghouse’s Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF). The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) made the request in an April 27 letter regarding the federal regulator’s 2019 draft […]

BWX Technologies said Wednesday it has pushed back to mid-2022 its schedule for beginning commercial output of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), partly due to supply issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussing the company’s latest earnings in a conference call with financial analysts, BWXT President and CEO Rex Geveden reaffirmed comments he made in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering an initial request for regulatory relief from a spent fuel storage licensee during the COVID-19 pandemic. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy on April 30 asked the NRC for a 60-day extension to submit a license renewal application for its independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) in Morris, Ill. The application […]

By John Stang Goodwill impairment charges totaling $300.3 million knocked US Ecology’s net income significantly into the red for the first quarter of 2020. The Boise, Idaho-based waste management specialist “recognized a $283.6 million goodwill impairment charge on its Energy Waste Disposal Services business operating within the Environmental Services segment,” according to a press release […]

AECOM aims to soon divest its stake in the decommissioning contractor for the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California, an executive said Tuesday. “We are … continuing to progress on our plan to exit our remaining self-perform at-risk construction businesses,” Chief Financial Officer Troy Rudd said during AECOM’s conference call on its […]

The Senate on Monday voted 87-0 to confirm Department of Justice attorney Robert Feitel as the new inspector general for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Feitel succeeds Hubert Bell, who served 22 years as the industry regulator’s inspector general before retiring in December 2018. There was no debate on Feitel’s nomination prior to the Senate’s roll-call […]

The Waste Control Specialists office staff in Andrews County, Texas, is working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company’s waste disposal operations continue unabated, President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson said Thursday. “The WCS site continues in full operation,” he said during a web-only remote meeting of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste […]

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has offered initial support for licensing a facility in West Texas for temporary storage of thousands of tons of spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The recommendation is included in a draft version of the environmental impact statement for Interim Storage Partners’ planned consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in […]

The American Nuclear Society has formally backed preliminary findings from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in support of licensing a facility in New Mexico for temporary storage of spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The March 10 draft environmental impact statement (EIS) from staff at the industry regulator “provides a thorough evaluation of the environmental impacts […]

A coalition of commercial concerns and research institutions is studying the potential for disposing of radioactive spent fuel from next-generation nuclear power reactors on-site rather than having to ship it to another, possibly distant, location. The parties hope by September to issue their findings from the feasibility study of on-site horizontal deep borehole disposal, according […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week it identified no safety violations during three unannounced inspections in the first three months of 2020 of used fuel operations at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. The findings were presented in an April 28 letter from Greg Warnick, chief of the agency’s Reactor […]

The Energy Department has exercised a one-year option to keep Spectra Tech on the job overseeing spent fuel facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory through March 2021. Procurement documents show the department picked up its last option in February for the current contrac. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based engineering and environmental services firm began work on […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a meeting for May 8 to discuss means of relief that could be provided during the COVID-19 pandemic to licensees for independent spent fuel storage Installations (ISFSI). “The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how NRC ISFSI licensees can request temporary regulatory relief during the COVID-19 public health […]

By John Stang Entergy on Thursday retired reactor Unit 2 at the Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York, leaving just one of the site’s three reactors online. Unit 3 is scheduled to close on April 30, 2021. “Over the last 45 years, thousands of dedicated professionals have operated Unit 2 at Indian Point […]

Pennsylvania’s top environmental official on Monday expressed continued concerns about the adequacy of funding to complete decommissioning of the partially melted-down reactor Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell submitted a follow-up to an early April letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it […]

Federal agencies will gradually return to normal operations in parallel with the White House’s three-phase plan to reactivate the national economy as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the Trump administration said Monday. The new guidance does not provide a set schedule for the process, but rather says managers must make decisions on reducing telework and staffing […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday rejected nearly all appeals to a 2019 decision by one of its bodies against holding any adjudicatory hearings sought on a license application for storage of spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. However, the commission did direct the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to reconsider one set […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the license of Honeywell’s Metropolis Works uranium source conversion plant in Illinois for 40 years. The license now expires on March 24, 2060, according to an April 15 notice in the Federal Register. Metropolis Works has been largely idled since November 2017, due to an oversupply in the product […]

US Ecology said Monday the value of its stock has been nearly halved by the “unprecedented time of uncertainty” generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission provided further illustration of the stress being placed on the radioactive waste management industry, within the larger chaos the crisis has created […]

By John Stang The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday it intends by the end of 2020 to finish its evaluation of the application to transfer the licenses for the Indian Point Energy Center in New York state from owner Entergy to prospective buyer Holtec International. “Our review could be completed later this year,” according to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to implement a set of “priority” recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on securing radiological sources that could be weaponized. Congress’ auditor issued its findings on April 17, part of a series of new reports on priority open recommendations at various federal agencies. “Our April 2019 report, in […]

A coalition of four jurisdictions supporting development of a storage facility in New Mexico for spent nuclear fuel has supported giving the public more time to comment on a key document from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Stakeholders currently have until May 22 to comment on the NRC draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for Holtec International’s […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has received two protests to a potential $1 billion support services contract announced earlier this month by the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management to environmental services firm RSI EnTech. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract was announced April 1, following its award in […]