Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to approve the sale of two Michigan nuclear power plants to a decommissioning company by Dec. 13, the agency said in a letter last week. NRC will issue “an order approving the transfer of licenses” of both Palisades Nuclear Generating Station and Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant to Holtec […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is trying to get a Texas-based minerals holding company booted off the Lone Star State’s lawsuit against a recently licensed interim storage facility in the state’s western reaches.  The company, Fasken Land and Minerals, has long opposed the planned Interim Storage Partners site at the existing Waste Control Specialists facility in […]

There won’t be any significant environmental or safety issues if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows Holtec International to dip into a Michigan nuclear plant’s decommissioning funds for nuclear waste management, the agency said recently. Granting Holtec an exemption to use Palisades Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning trust fund for spent fuel management and site restoration actiavities […]

As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission navigates some internal controversy surrounding a recently-approved decommissioning rule, its oversight of plant dismantlement came under fire this week at a hearing in the Senate. “[W]ith its recent approval of the proposed decommissioning rule, I fear the NRC now stands for not recognizing [public] concerns,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) […]

Although it’s been a whirlwind of a first year for Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Christopher Hanson, he’s proud to lead the nation’s nuclear energy regulator. “As chairman, I get to see even more of the organization than I did as a commissioner,” Hanson told RadWaste Monitor during a 30-minute virtual interview Tuesday.  In the nine […]

As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission navigates some internal controversy surrounding a recently-approved decommissioning rule, its oversight of plant dismantlement came under fire Wednesday at a hearing in the Senate. “[W]ith its recent approval of the proposed decommissioning rule, I fear the NRC now stands for not recognizing [public] concerns,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at […]

In an interview Tuesday with the Exchange Monitor, the chair of the The Nuclear Regulatory Commission hit back against another commissioner’s charges that a long-awaited decommissioning rulemaking proved the agency’s regulatory capture. “[O]ne of the things that’s getting out there in the aether is that somehow the agency’s taken on kind of a laissez-faire approach […]

There won’t be any significant environmental or safety issues if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows Holtec International to dip into a Michigan nuclear plant’s decommissioning funds for nuclear waste management, the agency said recently. Granting Holtec an exemption to use Palisades Nuclear Generating Station’s decommissioning trust fund for spent fuel management and site restoration activities […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will get a chance early next year to convince a federal judge to drop a lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel planned for New Mexico, according to a new court filing. The U.S. District Court for New Mexico will hold a hearing Jan. 20 on NRC’s […]

Texas skipped steps in the well-defined process for lodging disputes with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a recently licensed interim storage site in the Lone Star State and should not be allowed to take its beef over the site to court now, the commission told a judge Tuesday. The NRC presented the argument, for the […]

A federal court on Friday agreed to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s call to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage site in west Texas, according to case filings. Before the weekend, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals carried NRC’s Nov. 3 motion to dismiss Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s suit against the agency […]

Citing safety and security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission again delayed its review of a safety report required for licensing Holtec’s proposed interim storage site in New Mexico, the agency said Friday. Although NRC planned to have the safety and security report for Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site ready in time for a final licensing […]

As Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff trickle back into the office, the agency said this week that its current hybrid workplace model doesn’t yet have an expiration date. “We now are in a posture where most employees are teleworking about three days a week, and they’re in the office on varying days two days a week,” […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week allowed a new Exelon spin-off company to take ownership of over a dozen current and former nuclear power plants currently owned by the utility, according to a press release. As part of Exelon’s corporate restructuring, a currently-unnamed holding company will assume control of the utility’s 17 nuclear sites, NRC […]

Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to return to a pre-pandemic posture for its antiterrorism inspections at nuclear power plants, the agency will still allow exceptions to licensees who can prove the public health emergency is still causing problems, staff said at a public meeting this week. NRC’s plan is to “implement the full […]

The state of New Mexico is expanding its legal campaign against spent fuel storage with a new lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in Texas, according to a press release this week. State attorney general Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) asked a judge in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals […]

Fighting to keep its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site alive, Texas’ attorney general said this week that the Lonestar State deserves its day in federal court because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively licensed a permanent nuclear repository in the state. Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton “will argue that by licensing a de […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Wednesday allowed a new Exelon spin-off company to take ownership of over a dozen current and former nuclear power plants currently owned by the utility, according to a press release. As part of Exelon’s corporate restructuring, a currently-unnamed holding company will assume control of the utility’s 17 nuclear sites, NRC said […]

Fighting to keep its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site alive, Texas’ attorney general said Tuesday that the Lonestar State deserves its day in federal court because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively licensed a permanent nuclear repository in the state. Texas Attorney General Bill Paxton “will argue that by licensing a de facto […]

As Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff trickle back into the office, the agency said Monday that its current hybrid workplace model doesn’t yet have an expiration date. “We now are in a posture where most employees are teleworking about three days a week, and they’re in the office on varying days two days a week,” a […]

The state of New Mexico is expanding its legal campaign against spent fuel storage with a new lawsuit challenging a proposed interim storage facility in Texas, according to a press release Monday. State attorney general Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) asked a judge in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was to meet this week to give the interested public an update on its plans for fully resuming antiterrorism drills at nuclear power plants, according to a meeting notice. During the meeting, to be held virtually Thursday, NRC’s security and incident response office will discuss how the agency will conduct its […]

Happy Friday and happy belated Veterans Day, fellow nuke-watchers. Before the weekend begins, here are some other updates from around the civilian nuclear power space that RadWaste Monitor was tracking this week. Keeping Diablo Canyon Open Could Reduce Emissions, Save Billions, Stanford Study Says The state of California could significantly reduce its carbon emissions and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is wrapping up its end of the decommissioning process at a former California nuclear power plant and deemed several locations at the site safe for unrestricted use, according to a recent letter from the agency. NRC approved three of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) final status survey reports (FSSRs) for sections […]

An inspection at Holtec International’s headquarters found that the company violated some federal regulations in its spent fuel cask program, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent letter. In a letter to Holtec president and CEO Krishna Singh, dated Oct. 28 and made public Thursday,  NRC said its investigation team in May discovered three […]

Texas has “a strong leg to stand on” in opposing an interim storage facility planned there, according to an op-ed published over the weekend by the Texas state lawmaker who sponsored the state’s recently-enacted ban on high-level nuclear-waste storage. With the passage of House Bill 7 in September, the Texas legislature “prevented radioactive waste of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is wrapping up its end of the decommissioning process at a former California nuclear power plant and deemed several locations at the site safe for unrestricted use, according to a recent letter from the agency. NRC approved three of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) final status survey reports (FSSRs) for sections […]

An inspection at Holtec International’s headquarters found that the company violated some federal regulations in its spent fuel cask program, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a recent letter. In a letter to Holtec president and CEO Krishna Singh, dated Oct. 28 and made public Thursday,  NRC said its investigation team in May discovered three […]

Decommissioning at a long-shuttered California nuclear power plant is complete, the company in charge of the project told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has “completed the final phase of decommissioning” at the Humboldt Bay Power Plant’s Unit 3 reactor, the utility company told NRC in a letter dated Oct. 21. […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — Federal regulators should approve the sale of a Michigan nuclear power plant early next year, a Holtec executive said this week at the Exchange Monitor’s annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum. Holtec International expects the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve its acquisition of the Palisades Power Plant from Entergy “no later than January of […]