Nuclear Regulatory Commission

A possible government shutdown loomed closer at deadline, as Senate Republicans threatened to filibuster a stopgap budget to keep federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, funded when the 2022 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. The continuing resolution, which passed the House Tuesday on a 220-211 party-line vote, will keep federal agencies at their […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed two-month stopgap spending bill for 2022 that would keep the Department of Energy cleanup office at roughly fiscal 2021 levels, but also includes a provision to prevent a shortfall in uranium cleanup funds after Oct. 1. The plan released Tuesday by House Appropriations, and passed later the same day in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission again extended the deadline on the license transfer agreement for an Illinois nuclear power plant under decommissioning to give agency staff more time to clear the site for unrestricted use, according to a recent notice. The transfer of Zion Nuclear Power Station back to Exelon from EnergySolutions won’t need to be […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission nixed a New York county executive’s request for a full-time inspector to oversee the decommissioning of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant, according to a recent letter from the agency. Placing a full-time resident inspector at Indian Point Energy Center “is not necessary to provide for the protection of the public health […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reactor regulation department is building a team to assess some key takeaways from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft mission statement. NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) will designate a working group to investigate “lessons learned and best practices on the oversight of power reactors during the COVID-19 pandemic […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reactor regulation department is building a team to assess some key takeaways from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft mission statement. NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) will designate a working group to investigate “lessons learned and best practices on the oversight of power reactors during the COVID-19 pandemic […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission again extended the deadline on the license transfer agreement for an Illinois nuclear power plant under decommissioning to give agency staff more time to clear the site for unrestricted use, according to a recent notice. The transfer of Zion Nuclear Power Station back to Exelon from EnergySolutions won’t need to be […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest-ranking career executive is leaving the agency next month, according to a press release this week. Margaret Doane, who currently serves as NRC’s executive director of operations, will leave her post effective Oct. 8, the agency said in a statement Monday. Doane is headed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history this week when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a federal judge in New Mexico this week that it was ready for judgement in a court case over a proposed interim storage facility in the state, according to a new court filing. NRC told the U.S. District Court for New Mexico in a Tuesday filing that it had sent […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history this week when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S.. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews […]

In a court case over an interim storage facility planned for New Mexico, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tapped the judge’s shoulder Tuesday to let him know they had licensed a similar site just one state over. In a Tuesday court filing, NRC alerted the U.S. District Court for New Mexico to a license the agency […]

A U.S. congressman representing the Texas county slated to host an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to walk back its approval of the site in a press release Tuesday. “The decision handed down by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a new nuclear waste storage site in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest-ranking career executive is leaving the agency next month, according to a press release Monday. Margaret Doane, who currently serves as NRC’s executive director of operations, will leave her post effective Oct. 8, the agency said in a statement Monday. Doane is headed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the door for history Monday when it approved a private company’s application to build what would be the only consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S.. In a much-anticipated decision Monday, NRC greenlit Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) proposed consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews County, […]

A New Jersey power plant undergoing decommissioning needs to shore up its spent fuel inventory security procedures, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found in a recent site inspection. NRC logged three physical security violations at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station during an August inspection of the plant’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), according to a […]

A Louisiana nuclear plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida battered the state last week will soon resume normal operations, the utility company that owns the site said this week. Entergy Nuclear has “completed all necessary internal readiness reviews and has received recommendations and approvals” from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart Waterford Steam Electric […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said this week. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until […]

The governor of Texas drew a line in the sand this week on commercial interim storage, signing a law banning storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State. House Bill (HB) 7, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law Thursday, went into effect immediately. The law prevents anyone from storing or transporting […]

A new vaccine mandate from the White House will force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s federal workforce to get the jab, while the agency says the majority of its staff are still working from home. The Joe Biden administration’s Thursday evening executive order directed federal agencies like NRC to develop a “program to require COVID-19 vaccination […]

Members of the public are getting even more time to leave comments on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s planned agency-wide environmental justice review, according to a notice published this week. The new deadline for community input on NRC’s review is Oct. 29, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday morning. This is the agency’s second […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it plans a 90-day comment period concerning a proposal to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and transport it out of state for final disposal. In an initial 14-day comment period on the Test Best Initiative that ended last Friday, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still keeping its workforce at home as the COVID-19 Delta variant spikes infections across the country. NRC is following the Office of Management and Budget and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for managing the pandemic, a spokesperson for the agency told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing via email Wednesday. […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it plans a 90-day comment period concerning a proposal to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and transport it out of state for final disposal. In an initial 14-day comment period on the Test Best Initiative that ended last Friday, […]

A bill on the Texas governor’s desk that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste has the support of a coalition of anti-nuclear groups, according to a Tuesday press release. Representatives of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, Public Citizen and the Texas branch of the Sierra Club applauded the state legislature […]

A Louisiana nuclear plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida battered the state last week will soon resume normal operations, the utility company that owns the site said Tuesday. Entergy Nuclear has “completed all necessary internal readiness reviews and has received recommendations and approvals” from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart Waterford Steam Electric Station, […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said Tuesday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until 2027, […]

A New Jersey power plant undergoing decommissioning needs to shore up its spent fuel inventory security procedures, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found in a recent site inspection. NRC logged three physical security violations at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station during an August inspection of the plant’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), according to a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week sought to allay the concerns of the Texas county slated to host a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to a letter to the county’s chief executive. “NRC staff is conducting a detailed review of the license application from Interim Storage Partners, LLC, to determine whether […]

A Louisiana nuclear power plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida passed through has site power back online, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week. Waterford Nuclear Generating Station, located about 25 miles from New Orleans, got its offsite electrical power back Tuesday evening, NRC said in a statement published Wednesday morning on Facebook.  The […]