Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair David Wright’s term has concluded on Monday and is no longer with the commission, at least temporarily.
Wright was originally sworn as a commissioner in May 2018 as he was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term. Wright was renominated on June 16 and underwent a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on June 25. He awaits a vote by the full Senate.
As Wright awaits his reappointment, he has delegated certain authorities to the Commissioner with the longest service on the Commission, Annie Caputo, and other certain career staff, according to a NRC spokesperson.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed Dominion Energy’s V.C. Summer’s Unit 1 license for a second time.
The V.C. Summer Unit 1, a pressurized water reactor located in Jenkinsville, S.C., will be allowed to operate until August 2062, according to Dominion Energy’s Tuesday press release.
Dominion Energy said it also intends to seek NRC approval to extend its operating license for its Millstone Power Station in Connecticut. Dominion Energy previously received NRC approval for license extensions Surry Power Station and North Anna Power Station in 2021 and 2024, respectively, according to the press release.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Wednesday announced Department of Energy plans to end what he calls “permitting paralysis” under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Wright announced the changes, which are in line with a prior executive order by President Donald Trump, in a July 1 press release. DOE published an interim final rule rescinding all NEPA regulations and published new NEPA guidance procedures for DOE.
“President Trump promised to break the permitting logjam, and he is delivering,” Wright said in the release. A full version of the interim final rule was being published in the July 1 Federal Register.
The Department of Energy has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact based on environmental assessment for the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiment (DOME) Test Bed Operations.
The DOE issued an announcement on the FONSI on Monday. The public comment period ended for FONSI on June 13. The document only received two comments that requested briefings on the project details, DOE said.
Google signed a power purchase agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems for 200 megawatts from CFS’s inaugural ARC fusion plant in Chesterfield, Va.
CFS, a nuclear fusion company based in Devens, Mass., expects to have its first plant, which will be 400 MW, to be online by the early 2030s, the company said in its Monday press release. Google has been an investor in CFS since 2021.
The agreement between the two companies is anchored by CFS’ SPARC prototype achieving net fusion energy known as Q>1, according to the press release.
