Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The final version of the next volume in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s long-awaited reactor decommissioning guidance is expected to be published “sometime next year,” an agency official said Monday. The NRC’s second of three rulemakings for decommissioning nuclear reactors is currently in the public comments phase, said Cynthia Barr, a senior analyst at the agency’s […]

The acting director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reactor regulation office will become the official head of the program, the agency announced this week. Andrea Veil, who had been serving as interim head of the Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) office since former director Ho Nieh’s departure in January, was selected to take on the position […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission study recommending updates for disposal of very low-level radioactive waste is scheduled to wrap up this spring, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffer said this week. The commission’s very low-level waste (VLLW) scoping study is supposed to finish up in April, Stephen Koenick, NRC low-level waste project chief, said Wednesday in a […]

A federal judge last week put an indefinite hold on a coalition of environmental groups’ petition against a proposed interim spent fuel storage site in west Texas, court filings show. The D.C. circuit court of appeals also agreed to consolidate the complaints filed by Don’t Waste Michigan, Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club against the […]

For newly minted Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Christopher Hanson, it’s good to be back in the office.  “I’m here a couple of days, mostly because I just have to get out of my house,” Hanson told RadWaste Monitor this week from NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. “I’ve got a dog and two teenagers at home […]

Reactor decommissioning sites could become prime locations for future advanced nuclear technology, an executive at the nation’s foremost nuclear industry group said this week. “In the past, I think many viewed decommissioning as a sign of the end of the commercial nuclear industry that’s inexorably approaching,” said Bruce Montgomery, director of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s […]

The president of a company in charge of a proposed interim storage facility in Texas told state lawmakers this week that it wouldn’t build the site unless it got the green light from the governor’s mansion. David Carlson, president and chief operating officer at Waste Control Specialists (WCS), told members of the Texas House Environmental […]

Christopher Hanson, the newly minted chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has seen nuclear energy from just about every angle the federal government looks at it. By the time he was sworn in as an NRC commissioner in June 2020, Hanson had done a five-year stint as Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) energy and water staffer […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission study recommending updates for disposal of very low-level radioactive waste is scheduled to wrap up this spring, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffer said this week. The commission’s very low-level waste (VLLW) scoping study is supposed to finish up in April, Stephen Koenick, NRC low-level waste project chief, said Wednesday in a […]

The Waste Management Symposia, a gathering of industry, government and academic nuclear waste specialists that can normally draw about 2,400 participants to Phoenix during March, starts today online with several sessions about the Department of Energy’s cleanup office. This year’s event, exclusive virtual due to COVID-19 precautions, kicks off at about 10 a.m. Eastern Time […]

A federal judge on Friday put an indefinite hold on a coalition of environmental groups’ petition against a proposed interim spent fuel storage site in west Texas, court filings show. The D.C. circuit court of appeals also agreed to consolidate the complaints filed by Don’t Waste Michigan, Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club against the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission resumed anti-terrorism exercises at nuclear power plants with additional COVID-19 guidelines in February, the agency said this week. Force-on-force inspections started up again last month, NRC spokesperson David McIntyre told RadWaste Monitor in an email Monday. The agency had previously said in a February webinar with industry that exercises would resume […]

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a proposed climate bill this week that would classify nuclear energy as a “clean energy project.” The CLEAN Energy Act, introduced by committee chairman Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) alongside Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), considers nuclear to be a zero-emissions energy source. As […]

The interstate agency overseeing the Susquehanna River basin plans to review water usage at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant after an environmental watchdog alleged that the site was violating the law, the agency’s executive director said this week. Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) chief Andrew Dehoff told RadWaste Monitor in an email Wednesday […]

Institutions formed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster “serve to strengthen” the entire nuclear industry, the former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said at an international nuclear energy commission panel this week. At the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) panel on Wednesday, George W. Bush-era NRC head Richard Meserve said that new institutions formed […]

A state lawmaker this week filed a bill to ban storage of spent nuclear fuel in Texas even as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission works toward licensing an interim storage site in the Lone Star state. H.B. 2692, introduced by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R) Wednesday, bars the storage of high-level radioactive waste within Texas borders. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking a judge to hold off on proceedings involving three environmental groups’ petitions against a proposed interim storage site until the agency can settle a fourth complaint with a minerals company, according to new court filings this week. The Wednesday filing in the D.C. circuit court of appeals concerned Fasken […]

Institutions formed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster “serve to strengthen” the entire nuclear industry, the former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said at an international nuclear energy commission panel Wednesday morning. At the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) panel, George W. Bush-era NRC head Richard Meserve said that new institutions formed in Japan […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission resumed anti-terrorism exercises at nuclear power plants with additional COVID-19 guidelines in February, the agency said. Force-on-force inspections started up again last month, NRC spokesperson David McIntyre told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing in an email Monday. The agency had previously said in a February webinar with industry that exercises would resume […]

A minerals company that had its objections to a proposed interim storage facility tossed last month by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again asking the agency to reconsider, according to a new filing this week. In their Tuesday appeal, Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd. argued that the NRC had unfairly denied an objection to Interim […]

Another New York politician this week leaned on the state’s Public Service Commission to block the transfer of the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station’s operating license to Holtec International until the latter proves it can afford to safely decommission the site. On Tuesday, George Latimer, county executive for Westchester County, N.Y., echoed concerns earlier voiced […]

A coalition of watchdog groups asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a two-month extension on today’s filing deadline for objections to the sale of two nuclear plants in Michigan. According to a filing provided to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by nuclear watchdog Beyond Nuclear, the organization — along with watchdog groups Don’t Waste Michigan and […]

A New Jersey district court judge signed a settlement last week ending a legal feud between Holtec International and Lacey Township, N.J., over fuel from the Oyster Creek Generating Station, according to court papers. Judge Michael A. Shipp signed the order Feb. 9, setting the stage for Holtec to move forward with the decommissioning of […]

A New Mexico Senate committee this week passed a bill that would create a statewide task force to negotiate with the federal government over the siting of nuclear-waste storage sites in the Land of Enchantment. The state Senate Conservation Committee on Tuesday passed SB 82, introduced by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), on a 5-2 […]

A major environmental group continued to spar with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week in attempts to delay federal approval on two proposed interim storage sites for nuclear waste, according to court records and an agency memo. For all its maneuvering, however, the Sierra Club did not gain much ground this week. The NRC rejected […]

In the midst of a winter weather emergency that left millions without power and caused a nuclear plant to shut down in the Lone Star State, Waste Control Specialists’ waste storage site experienced no problems, the president of the company said this week. David Carlson, president and chief operating officer of WCS told RadWaste Monitor […]

The EnergySolutions-led group in charge of dismantling the Three Mile Island nuclear plant didn’t get required waivers to ignore federal environmental rules and therefore violated the law when it purchased the plant this year, an environmental group alleged this week. State and federal regulators said they are looking into claims made by Three Mile Island […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission spent under $8,000 in December on planning activities for the moribund Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the agency’s chairman told the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter last week. In a letter dated Feb. 8, NRC chair Christopher Hanson told Energy and Commerce head Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) that […]

The energy company currently operating Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station and the company set to purchase it this week asked a federal judge to allow them to intervene in a lawsuit filed against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the state of New York. Entergy and Holtec International requested leave to intervene Thursday, according to their […]

A major environmental group asked a judge to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reconsider a basket of objections to the licensing of an interim storage site, including one the agency initially acted on, according to court filings last week. Sierra Club filed a petition Feb. 9 in D.C.’s Ninth Circuit court to reopen nine […]