Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it has levied a $7,000 fine against a Puerto Rico-based medical diagnostics company for failing to carry out mandatory decommissioning activities after its NRC license expired. Somascan Inc. was licensed to employ radiopharmaceuticals and sealed sources in providing outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic medical services at its facility in San […]

The state of Texas’ lawsuit demanding that the U.S. government take significant steps toward permanent storage of the nation’s nuclear waste has already been overtaken by events under the Trump administration, federal attorneys argued last week. For that and other reasons, the state’s lawsuit should be denied, according to separate motions for the Nuclear Regulatory […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued a notice of violation against the owner of the shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for a onetime employee’s repeated failure to check radiation detection systems. The NRC’s Office of Investigations found that a senior radiation protection technician, who is no longer working at the Entergy plant, from […]

By Wayne Barber The U.S. Senate on Monday overwhelmingly approved the nomination of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Kristine Svinicki to another five-year term on the body. Meanwhile, two other nominees will have to wait until July for a committee vote on confirmation. Svinicki was confirmed in an 88-9 floor vote. Most of the opposition came […]

By Wayne Barber The opinion detailing the reasoning for a federal judge’s June 21 ruling blocking the $367 million merger of Waste Control Specialists and EnergySolutions had not been made public by Friday, a week after the companies walked away from the deal. The office of Judge Sue L. Robinson, of U.S. District Court for […]

Two of President Donald Trump’s picks to the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners will wait one more day, until today, for the the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to vote on their nominations. Annie Caputo and David Wright are now up for a committee vote as part of a business meeting scheduled for noon Eastern time. The meeting […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff last week approved the request from power company Entergy to use a facility in Idaho as a backup location for storage of wastewater from the shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Staff at the regulator in April issued an environmental assessment that found there would be “no significant impact” in a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued a notice of violation against the owner of the shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for a onetime employee’s repeated failure to check radiation detection systems. The NRC’s Office of Investigations found that a senior radiation protection technician, who is no longer working at the Entergy plant, from […]

Government officials across the political spectrum must shoulder the blame for failure to establish a permanent solution to the United States’ nuclear waste quandary, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday. “This is a failing of both Republicans, Democrats, Independents, all lumped together, that nuclear waste has set idle in 120 sites in 39 states for […]

Nuclear weapons programs would get the big boost the Donald Trump administration sought in 2018 and Cold War nuclear cleanup programs would get a little less than requested, if a draft spending bill released Tuesday by House appropriators becomes law. The bill, essentially a first draft that will undergo many changes before it reaches the […]

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Kristine Svinicki to another five-year term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to June 30, 2022. Svinicki, a former staffer for Republican senators and an NRC commissioner since 2008, has chaired the primary regulator for U.S. civilian nuclear operations since the early days of the Donald Trump administration. Monday’s 88-9 vote averted […]

By Wayne Barber Four Northeast states are calling for better consideration of states’ needs in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decommissioning rulemaking. The rulemaking, due for completion in 2019, is intended to improve the process for decommissioning of nuclear power reactors, notably by limiting the need for regulatory exemptions on emergency preparedness and other operational matters […]

By Wayne Barber In a race to beat the clock, the Senate on Thursday invoked closure on the nomination of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Kristine Svinicki to a new five-year term. Senators approved the cloture measure, effectively ending any debate on the renomination, by a vote of 89-10, according to Congress.gov. An actual vote […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry raised eyebrows this week by listing facilities in Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas as possible interim storage sites for U.S. nuclear waste, then a day later clarified that his agency has made no decisions on any potential locations. In successive budget hearings before House and Senate Appropriations committees, though, Perry left no […]

By Wayne Barber Now that Entergy has completed its final refueling for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., the company and other stakeholders are increasingly looking toward plant retirement in 2019 and the decommissioning process. Entergy completed its final refueling in May. On June 15, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held an agency […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday suggested the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and the Nevada National Security Site could be used for interim storage for nuclear waste. That would run up against existing law in the first instance and already faces vehement opposition in the second. In his first hearing on Capitol […]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has moved to trigger an imminent floor vote on the nomination of current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Kristine Svinicki for a new five-year term. McConnell has filed for cloture on Svinicki, a Senate source told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on Tuesday. Cloture is a procedure for ending debate […]

Four Northeast states are calling for better consideration of states’ needs in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decommissioning rulemaking. The rulemaking, due for completion in 2019, is intended to improve the process for decommissioning of nuclear power reactors, notably by limiting the need for regulatory exemptions on select operational matters such as decommissioning trust funds, emergency […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Kristine Svinicki took a step toward a new five-year term Thursday when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved her renomination on a voice vote. The vote came just two days after the confirmation hearing for Svinicki and the NRC’s two prospective new members: longtime Capitol Hill staffer Annie […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Tuesday authorized shipment by road of various forms of waste from the shuttered American Centrifuge project in Ohio to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site. The approval was signed on the same day that the NRC posted a Federal Register notice of its finding of no significant impact from the […]

Disputes over several pieces of language did not stop the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee on Thursday from sending legislation to advance interim and permanent storage of U.S. nuclear waste to the full panel for consideration. Democrats offered three amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 during a markup session, but […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Tuesday authorized shipment by road of various forms of waste from the shuttered American Centrifuge project in Ohio to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site. The approval was signed on the same day that the NRC posted a Federal Register notice of its finding of no significant impact from the […]

The three nominees for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made it through their Senate nomination hearing Tuesday with no indication of serious obstacles to their confirmation. After postponing the hearing last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee heard from each of the nominees: current NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki and new prospective appointees Annie Caputo, a senior […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Tuesday authorized shipment by road of various forms of waste from the shuttered American Centrifuge project in Ohio to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site. The approval was signed on the same day that the NRC posted a Federal Register notice of its finding of no significant impact […]

After a delay last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday is set to consider the Trump administration’s three nominees to fill expiring posts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee will consider the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget request for […]

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rules for power reactors transitioning to decommissioning is June 13. The NRC has already received 178 comments on the issue. An NRC preliminary draft regulatory analysis for the decommissioning rulemaking was filed in the Federal Register in May. It provides options and cost and […]

By Wayne Barber The federal government does not have to return more than $4 million in Nuclear Regulatory Commission fees to Southern Co. subsidiaries Alabama Power and Georgia Power, a Court of Federal Claims judge ruled Monday. In granting summary judgment to the U.S. government in this third round of litigation by the utilities, Judge […]

WASHINGTON — The federal government should prioritize interim storage of spent nuclear fuel at privately licensed sites instead of fast-tracking a permanent disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the head of the Senate panel in charge of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s budget said in a hearing Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate […]

WASHINGTON — The federal government should prioritize interim storage of spent nuclear fuel at privately licensed sites instead of fast-tracking a permanent disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the head of the Senate panel in charge of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s budget said in a hearing Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate […]

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules for Power Reactors Transitioning to Decommissioning is June 13. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has already received 179 comments on the issue, according to a commission website. A preliminary draft regulatory analysis notice was filed in the Federal Register May 9. NRC directed its […]