Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Amentum has been awarded £26 million ($35 million US) under a four-year contract to provide specialist services for the UK’s nuclear waste management association. Amentum will be one of the suppliers on all four lots of the United Kingdom’s Integrated Waste Management Specialist Nuclear Services Framework, according to Amentum’s Tuesday’s press release.  Under the framework, […]

The United States and the United Kingdom concluded a joint summit Thursday by putting out a memorandum of understanding on “technology prosperity,” including cooperation on issues from nuclear energy to artificial intelligence. While the deal between the Trans-Atlantic allies seeks to deepen collaboration on all-things-nuclear, it also sets out a goal of shedding dependence on […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has selected John Tappert as director of its Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. Tappert, who has been serving as the acting office director and previously as the office’s deputy director, was promoted to this role effective Sept. 7, according to a NRC’s Sept. 10 press release.  Tappert has been the acting […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: September 16: Meeting: The Portsmouth Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory meets in person starting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time at The Ohio State University, Endeavor Center, 1862 Shyville Road, Room 165, Piketon, Ohio 45661. 17: Virtual meeting: The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a hybrid meeting on Sept. 17 to discuss Holtec Decommissioning International’s licensing termination plan for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generation Station in New Jersey. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time at Lacey Township Municipal Building at 818 Lacey Road in Forked River, […]

David Wright has been ceremonially sworn in as Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair earlier this week. Wright has been officially back with the nuclear regulatory agency since early August after being confirmed by the Senate on July 28. He returns on a new five-year term that concludes on June 30, 2030.  His return in August marked […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to review the first two parts of Fermi America’s combined license application. The application contained sufficient design information for a license to construct four Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the proposed site in Amarillo, Texas, according to NRC’s Monday press release. NRC said it does not anticipate any safety concerns […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to review the first two parts of Fermi America’s combined license application. The application contained sufficient design information for a license to construct four Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the proposed site in Amarillo, Texas, according to NRC’s Monday press release. NRC said it does not anticipate any safety concerns […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission assistant general counsel for legislation, ethics, and administrative law Tison Campbell announced his Sept. 5 departure from the agency via LinkedIn. Starting as an attorney in the NRC’s Office of General Counsel, Campbell spent nearly 20 years working in various high-level legal roles at the nuclear regulatory agency. Campbell served as the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a hybrid meeting on Sept. 17 to discuss Holtec Decommissioning International’s licensing termination plan for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generation Station in New Jersey. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time at Lacey Township Municipal Building at 818 Lacey Road in Forked River, […]

The new William Wilcox Jr. K-25 Interpretive Center has been dedicated at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the department announced this week.  Visitors to the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant can view the entire footprint of what was once the world’s largest building, K-25. The 1940’s-era uranium enrichment facility helped […]

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voiced concerns Wednesday on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s independence and its ability to ensure nuclear safety. In particular, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked if any commissioners feared being fired by President Donald Trump’s administration if they deemed a reactor design unsafe, or failed to make a […]

Nuclear power reactors worldwide cranked out a record 2,667 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity during 2024, according to a report released this week by the World Nuclear Association. That is up slightly from the prior high of 2,660 TWh during 2006, according to the report released Monday Sept. 1. The global reactor fleet ran at […]

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voiced concerns Wednesday on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s independence and its ability to ensure nuclear safety. In particular, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked if any commissioners feared being fired by President Donald Trump’s administration if they deemed a reactor design unsafe, or failed to make a […]

Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will testify before a Senate oversight hearing Wednesday morning, amid an ongoing shakeup at the agency. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing, will be held at 10 a.m. Eastern Time in Room 562 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building, will feature Commissioners Bradley Crowell, Matthew Marzano […]

Three House Democrats have penned a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright requesting information on recent interactions between the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over agency roles in the nuclear sector. Reps. Diane DeGette (D-Colo.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote […]

Fermi America and Westinghouse will team up on deployment of four Westinghouse AP1000 units at Fermi’s proposed hyperscale data centers campus in Amarillo, Texas. “Partnering with Westinghouse, the global leader behind the fully licensed AP1000 design, marks a critical milestone in our project execution,” Fermi America chief nuclear construction officer Mesut Uzman said in Westinghouse’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the design certification for Westinghouse’s AP1000 large reactor until 2046, Westinghouse announced on Aug. 26. NRC issued a final rule changing the durations of its design certifications, a regulatory approval of a complete nuclear power plant design, from 15 to 40 years.  Westinghouse’s AP1000, currently the only operating generation […]

After three years in decommissioning, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan is on the brink of restarting, Holtec announced Tuesday. According to Holtec’s Tuesday press release, Palisades was granted operational status by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday. The Michigan nuclear plant is the first U.S. plant to move from decommissioning back to operational status, […]

After three years in decommissioning, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan is on the brink of restarting, Holtec announced Tuesday. According to Holtec’s Tuesday press release, Palisades was granted operational status by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Monday. The Michigan nuclear plant is the first U.S. plant to move from decommissioning back to operational […]

Three House Democrats have penned a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright requesting information on recent interactions between the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over agency roles in the nuclear sector. Reps. Diane DeGette (D-Colo.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote […]

A local Texas gulf coast group is calling for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to oppose Long Mott Energy’s construction permit application for small modular reactors in Seadrift, Texas over safety concerns. Dow and X-Energy submitted their construction permit application, under Dow’s subsidiary Long Mott Energy, to the NRC on March 31.  In an Aug. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license amendment for Urenco USA’s enrichment facility in New Mexico, the agency said on LinkedIn Thursday. The approval allows Urenco to produce higher-enriched uranium-235 to fuel advanced reactors. “We first gave Urenco permission to start making higher-enriched U-235 last December,” the post said. “Our most recent approval lifts the […]

Reform at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is necessary but it must be done without compromising its independence, a Washington D.C.-based think tank wrote in a  July 31 commentary. Former NRC chair Stephen Burns contributed to the piece by Third Way, a national think tank focused on policy and politics. Burns recently spoke at a House […]

A California-based environmental group wants Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent decisions to forgo additional seismic risk evaluation at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. Diablo Canyon is a two-unit nuclear plant in San Obispo, Calif. and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric. The company submitted a license renewal […]

A California Democrat and a New York Republican in areas with retired reactors are having another go at passing a House of Representatives bill aimed at increasing safety oversight at nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning. Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) recently said they would reintroduce the Increasing Nuclear Safety Protocols for Extended […]

After being confirmed by the Senate on July 28, David Wright was sworn in as chairman of the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Friday afternoon. Wright’s prior term expired at the end of June.  In an Aug. 1 emailed statement to ExchangeMonitor from a NRC spokesperson, Wright said: “Earlier this afternoon, I was sworn in […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright joined several members of the South Carolina congressional delegation this week to officially open the Savannah River National Laboratory’s new offsite Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative. The national laboratory will operate the 63,000-square-foot research center although it will be located the university, DOE said in a Thursday press release. The $66-million project […]

With Congress out on recess this month, a busy September looms with authorization bills requests in both chambers to finalize by Oct. 1 and pending nominations in the Senate for the Department of Energy.  Lawmakers will return facing a looming government funding deadline at the end of September, with a continuing resolution, which has become […]

A California Democrat and a New York Republican in areas with retired reactors are having another go at passing a House of Representatives bill aimed at increasing safety oversight at nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning. Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) recently said they would reintroduce the Increasing Nuclear Safety Protocols for Extended […]