Nuclear Regulatory Commission

By Wayne Barber The U.S. Court of Federal Claims continues to be an active venue for nuclear power companies to seek reimbursement from the U.S. government for the Energy Department’s ongoing breach of its legal obligation to take possession of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors. The Federal Circuit held in 2000 that the department […]

The U.S. Transportation Department would receive the $3 million it requested for fiscal 2018 to continue storing a retired nuclear-powered freighter in Baltimore Harbor as part of a $56.5-billion Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill the House Appropriations Committee approved Monday. The merchant ship NS Savannah, now moored at Canton Marine Terminal’s Pier 13, was launched in […]

By Wayne Barber The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday easily passed a fiscal 2018 energy and water spending bill that includes a $25 million cut to the budget request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The nuclear industry regulator requested $952 million for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, encompassing all salaries and expenses and funding […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of Wednesday had not received word on whether Waste Control Specialists intends to move ahead with its suspended application for a spent nuclear fuel storage site in the wake of the company’s foiled merger with rival EnergySolutions. “We have not heard of any change from WCS,” NRC spokesman David McIntyre […]

Fluor Corp. said Tuesday it has promoted Bruce Stanski, president of Fluor’s Government Group since 2009, to chief financial officer of the parent company. Stanski on Aug. 4 will officially replace Biggs Porter, who is retiring. Porter joined Fluor as chief financial officer in May 2012 after six years as CEO of Tenet Healthcare. At Fluor he […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member William Ostendorff has become a senior adviser for decision-support consulting firm Predicus, the company announced Tuesday. Ostendorff served just over six years on the commission, leaving in June 2016 to become a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. He previously served in the Navy from 1976 to his retirement […]

A Senate Appropriations panel advanced a fiscal 2018 spending bill that would focus DOE’s near-term nuclear-waste management efforts on consent-based interim storage and cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction in South Carolina. The $38.4-billion bill from the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee would also provide a smaller-than-requested funding increase for DOE’s […]

The U.S. Transportation Department would receive the $3 million it requested for fiscal 2018 to continue storing a retired nuclear-powered freighter in Baltimore Harbor as part of a $56.5-billion Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill the House Appropriations Committee approved Monday. The merchant ship NS Savannah, now moored at Canton Marine Terminal’s Pier 13, was launched […]

The Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee will mark up its recommended Energy Department budget for fiscal 2018 on Tuesday, with an eye toward moving the measure to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration Thursday. The subcommittee, which had not released the text of its energy and water bill at deadline Sunday for Weapons Complex […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a “white” safety finding to the Columbia Generating Station in Washington state after completing an evaluation of a waste shipping incident to US Ecology on leased land at the Hanford Site. Energy Northwest, operator of the nuclear power plant near the city of Richland, was notified of the decision on […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday advanced a $37.6 billion energy and water funding bill that would give the Nuclear Regulatory Commission slightly more money than it requested for fiscal 2018. The appropriations legislation passed on a voice vote following a markup session that featured no discussion of the nuclear industry regulator. The full House […]

By Wayne Barber The Trump administration’s remaining two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were approved Wednesday, with significant Democratic resistance, by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. David Wright, an energy consultant and former head of the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, squeaked by […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would provide $150 million to the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission for licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository for nuclear waste in Nevada. The funding in the $37.6 billion energy and water appropriations bill is in line with the Trump administration’s intention to resume […]

House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2018 energy and water budget that would give the the Department of Energy about $30 billion, including new cleanup work for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. The House Appropriations Committee voted by a voice vote, with a few Democrat dissenters, to send the nearly $38 billion 2018 Energy and Water Development […]

The Trump administration’s remaining two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were approved Wednesday, with significant Democratic resistance, by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. David Wright, an energy consultant and former head of the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, squeaked by on an 11-10 […]

The House of Representatives’ $37.6 billion energy and water appropriations bill would give the Nuclear Regulatory Commission slightly more funding than it requested in its latest budget, according to the detailed legislative report released Tuesday. The document was posted one day ahead of the House Appropriations Committee markup of the funding legislation. The committee recommendation […]

AREVA Nuclear Materials said Tuesday it had signed a deal to extract and ship the reactor pressure vessel and internal reactor parts at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for prospective plant owner NorthStar Group Services. The New York-based decommissioning specialist hopes by the first quarter of next year to secure state and federal regulatory […]

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) highlighted the potential for sabotage of spent nuclear fuel storage pools Monday in asking the heads of several federal agencies for details about recent reports of foreign cyberattacks on U.S. nuclear power installations. “Given the consequences of a breach of safety at a nuclear power station – including the deliberate […]

The full House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday is scheduled to mark up a fiscal 2018 spending bill that would give the Energy Department about $30 billion, including a big boost for nuclear weapons funding, and provide $120 million for the agency to license Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent disposal site for nuclear […]

After twice delaying the vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is set Wednesday to consider President Donald Trump’s appointments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Annie Caputo and David Wright Caputo and Wright both sailed through their confirmation hearings in June. If they are confirmed by the committee and then the full Senate, the NRC would […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission working group will in August provide recommendations on improving the security of industrial radiological sources, according to a new letter from NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki to Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office. In her June 23 letter, Svinicki provided an update on NRC […]

By Wayne Barber The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not impose fines against U.S. uranium producer Cameco Resources for nine violations of federal regulations identified in the agency’s November 2016 inspection of the company’s radioactive waste transportation program. The regulator determined after the inspection that Cameco had committed five Severity Level III violations, along with four […]

The state of Texas’ lawsuit demanding that the U.S. government end the years-old impasse on permanent storage of the nation’s nuclear waste has already been overtaken by events under the Trump administration, federal attorneys argued in new filings. For that and other reasons, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals should reject the state’s lawsuit, according […]

By Wayne Barber In keeping with a 2013 federal court order, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has now spent most of its unobligated Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) money on efforts related to licensing the Energy Department’s planned geologic repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The NRC recently reported to Congress that of the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must bill $805.9 million to its licensees for operations in the current fiscal year, the large majority of its annual budget. The nuclear-industry regulator has a total budget authority of $940.1 million for fiscal 2017, under the omnibus appropriations budget signed into law on May 5, according to the NRC’s final […]

In keeping with a 2013 federal court order, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has now spent most of its unobligated Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) money on efforts related to licensing the Energy Department’s planned geologic repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The NRC recently reported to Congress that of the roughly $13.55 million […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not impose fines against U.S. uranium producer Cameco Resources for nine violations of federal regulations identified in the agency’s November 2016 inspection of the company’s radioactive waste transportation program. NRC Deputy Region IV Administrator Scott Morris said in a June 29 letter to Cameco Resources President Brent Berg that he […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a regulatory conference for Thursday, July 13, to discuss a preliminary “Greater than Green” safety finding at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. Plant operator Entergy requested the meeting to provide its perspective on the finding, which involves its apparent failure to monitor or maintain a valve installed in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must bill $805.9 million to its licensees for operations in the current fiscal year, the large majority of its annual budget. The nuclear-industry regulator has a total budget authority of $940.1 million for fiscal 2017, under the omnibus appropriations budget passed in May, according to the NRC’s final fee rule, published […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission working group will in August provide recommendations on improving the security of industrial radiological sources, according to a new letter from NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki to Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office. In her June 23 letter, Svinicki provided an update on NRC […]