Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Until last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had a full slate of five commissioners for the first time since 2019. Now, the civilian nuclear power regulator is down to four after the Senate left town without voting on whether to give Jeffrey Baran, the longest-serving NRC commission, another five years at the agency. The realm […]

The security of commercial nuclear power plants and fuel facilities overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is strong based upon force-on-force exercises and related reviews by the agency during 2022, according to a report to Congress. Thanks to the decline in COVID-19 infections among the workforce, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staged more force-on-force exercises […]

Westinghouse Electric has submitted its first batch of vendor design review paperwork to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a microreactor capable of generating up to 5 kilowatts of electricity, the company said Wednesday. Westinghouse filed four phase 1 submissions with the Canadian regulator June 30, the company said. The Pennsylvania-based company also intends to […]

The security of commercial nuclear power plants and fuel facilities overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is strong based upon force-on-force exercises and related reviews by the agency during 2022, according to a report to Congress. Thanks to the decline in COVID-19 infections among the workforce, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staged more force-on-force exercises […]

Until last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had a full slate of five commissioners for the first time since 2019. Now, the civilian nuclear power regulator is down to four after the Senate left town without voting on whether to give Jeffrey Baran, the longest-serving NRC commission, another five years at the agency. The realm […]

Anyone who wants to argue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should unconditionally allow power plants to use their decommissioning funds to replace major equipment has until August to refute the agency’s new draft guidance that says otherwise. “The disposal of the MRC [major radioactive components] when performed during the operational phase of the reactor facility […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel should decide this summer whether to force Pacific Gas and Electric to formally defend its request to relicense the Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s spent fuel storage facility. The environmental group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace has mounted a multipronged legal attack on Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) effort to […]

After seven months working for a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, longtime federal hand Candice Robertson is returning to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management as a senior adviser. Robertson’s first day back with the nuclear cleanup office will be Monday, July 3, Jeff Avery, DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could be down to four commissioners come Friday, with the Senate out of town and Commissioner Jeffrey Baran’s term was scheduled to expire. Baran’s nomination remained on the Senate’s executive calendar this week, but lawmakers returned home Thursday for their annual July 4 recess and were not scheduled to conduct any business […]

Anyone who wants to argue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should unconditionally allow power plants to use their decommissioning funds to replace major equipment has until August to refute the agency’s new draft guidance that says otherwise. “The disposal of the MRC [major radioactive components] when performed during the operational phase of the reactor facility […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could be down to four commissioners come Friday, when Commissioner Jeffrey Baran’s term will expire and the Senate out of town until July 10. Baran’s nomination remained on the Senate’s executive calendar as of Monday, but lawmakers returned home Thursday for their annual July 4 recess and were not scheduled to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its requested budget for fiscal year 2024, under a Republican-authored spending bill unveiled this week in the House. The civilian nuclear power and waste regulator would get about $979.2 million for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 if the bill, written by the House Appropriations energy and water development […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead for Centrus to demonstrate production of high assay low-enriched uranium at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regional Administrator Laura Dudes on June 12 wrote Mathew Snider, general manager of American Centrifuge Operating, to officially authorize the introduction of uranium […]

Some House Democrats told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a hearing this week that development of new nuclear power plants should be yoked to development of a permanent nuclear waste storage facility. In the same Wednesday hearing of the House Energy and Commerce energy, climate and grid security subcommittee, another Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), […]

Jeffrey Baran’s nomination for another term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was before the full Senate Thursday after a committee this week approved his nomination in a razor-thin party-line vote. In a Wednesday business meeting, the Democrat-controlled committee approved Baran’s nomination 10-9. Though the nomination was placed on the Senate executive calendar on Thursday, the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead for Centrus to demonstrate production of high assay low-enriched uranium at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regional Administrator Laura Dudes on June 12 wrote Mathew Snider, general manager of American Centrifuge Operating, to officially authorize the introduction of uranium […]

Some House Democrats told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a hearing Wednesday that development of new nuclear power plants should be yoked to development of a permanent nuclear waste storage facility. In the same hearing of the House Energy and Commerce energy, climate and grid security subcommittee, another Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), urged the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its requested budget for fiscal year 2024, under a Republican-authored spending bill unveiled Wednesday in the House. The civilian nuclear power and waste regulator would get about $979.2 million for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 if the bill, written by the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, […]

By the thinnest partisan margin, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday confirmed Jeffrey Baran for another term as a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a business meeting, the Democrat-controlled committee voted 10-9 on party lines to send Baran’s nomination to the Senate floor for a final vote. The full Senate […]

All five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were set to appear Wednesday for an oversight hearing before a House subcommittee. The hearing, “Oversight of NRC: Ensuring Efficient and Predictable Nuclear Safety Regulation for a Prosperous America,” was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern time before the House Energy and Commerce energy, climate and grid security […]

After delaying the decision late last month, a Senate committee was scheduled Wednesday to decide whether to recommend Jeffrey Baran for another five years as a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had planned to vote on Baran’s renomination during a May 31 business meeting but did not, […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — By June 30, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office expects to provide the Texas attorney general with a “detailed schedule” for retrieving boxes of transuranic waste stranded at a private disposal site in Andrews County for nearly a decade. In a May 10 letter to Phillip Ledbetter, managing enforcement lawyer with […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted one-time approval for the Department of Energy to return a problem container of transuranic waste with expired paperwork to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant parking lot in New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the return in a June 2 letter […]

Antinuclear activists want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up oral arguments in a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking a life extension for California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The groups, San Luis Obsipo Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth and Environmental Working Group, asked the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals bump the scheduled briefings […]

The chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission paid a visit to the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach, Calif., last week, local media reported. Chair Christopher Hanson toured the facility, located about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles, while commission staff are working with plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric to keep the plant […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted one-time approval for the Department of Energy to return a problem container of transuranic waste with expired paperwork to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant parking lot in New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the return in a June 2 letter […]

Antinuclear activists want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up oral arguments in a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking a life extension for California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The groups, San Luis Obsipo Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth and Environmental Working Group, asked the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals bump the scheduled briefings […]

A bill that would force reviews of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s efficiency and extend caps on industry liability for catastrophic nuclear accidents cleared a Senate committee Wednesday on a 16-3 bipartisan vote. Only three Democrats opposed the bill, the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act of 2023. Sens. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), […]

A company seeking to build a small modular demonstration reactor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site has received a qualified endorsement from a Nuclear Regulatory Commission advisory panel. Kairos Power said last week on Twitter the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards has recommended issuance of the construction permit for the […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was supposed to vote Wednesday on whether to give Jeffrey Baran another five years on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the vote never happened. “Why did we not vote Baran?” someone in the committee room said near a hot microphone after the body wrapped up its other business […]