Nuclear Regulatory Commission

By John Stang The upcoming decommissioning of the Crystal River nuclear power plant needs more government oversight, some type of independent monitor, and better guarantees against cost overruns, a Florida government watchdog agency told the state Public Service Commission last week. “We ask you to order some modest changes” in the decommissioning contract, Charles Rehwinkel, an […]

The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission have begun early discussions on extending the nearly 2-decade-old license for a spent-fuel storage facility that has not been built at the Idaho National Laboratory. “This matter is unique in that the facility was never constructed or operated. It’s also the first of a kind in that […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it would extend the comment period to Nov. 3 on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas. The 60-day extension is intended to give stakeholders sufficient time to provide input during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The NRC staff intends […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will prepare an updated technical review for the Saltstone Disposal Facility at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Energy Department requested the technical review of the 2020 Saltstone Disposal Facility performance assessment in keeping with a provision of the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act, according to the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again considering updating rule language on financial assurance for decommissioning of nuclear power plants and other facilities to strip out any reference to credit ratings. The update is required under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, according to a June 26 memo from NRC Executive Director […]

It is ultimately up to Congress to decide whether it wants the federal government to move ahead with establishing a repository for nuclear waste under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said Tuesday. During an oversight hearing before the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee, Brouillette said the Trump administration is focused […]

A coalition of 60 advocacy groups is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to freeze the comment period on the draft environmental impact statement for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proceeding should be suspended until the end of the federal public health emergency for novel […]

Failure to provide funding for the Yucca Mountain geologic repository in Nevada signals a lack of leadership in Congress and at the White House toward finally resolving the decades-long impasse over disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste, Representative Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) said during a budget markup Monday. The House Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 in favor […]

There remains no need to transfer management of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy, the House Appropriations Committee said Sunday. The Trump administration proposed relocating the 46-year-old cleanup program in budget requests both for the current fiscal 2020 and for the […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts’ court challenge to the transfer of the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is being dismissed with prejudice, which would prevent it from being refiled. The parties to the petition for review filed the dismissal agreement on June 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic could further extend its timeline to rule on two applications for facilities in Texas and New Mexico for storage of spent nuclear fuel. The agency’s reviews are now expected to wrap by next summer, but that is subject to change. They are already off their […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its full budget request for the upcoming 2021 federal fiscal year via the House Appropriations energy and water development bill issued this week. That covers $849.9 million for the core operations at the federal regulator, plus just under $13.5 million for the NRC Inspector General’s Office. That would be […]

Community advisory boards for nuclear power plants in decommissioning would benefit from being formed early in the process and with a clear framework for their function, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report made public Thursday. The benefits of giving the plant operators a place on the panels, though, was debated as the agency […]

By John Stang Local leaders on Thursday touted the anticipated economic benefits of a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in southeastern New Mexico, while others characterized the project as an example of economic racism. About 40 people spoke during a second webinar to discuss the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on […]

The House Appropriations Committee appears ready to support the Department of Energy’s request for $27.5 million in its next budget to help stand up a program for temporary centralized storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The $49.6 billion energy and water development appropriations legislation unveiled Monday would provide that amount to cover […]

Community advisory boards for nuclear power plants in decommissioning benefit from being formed early in the process and with a clear framework for their operation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report made public Thursday. The agency was required to prepare the report, on best practices for establishment and operation of the local panels, […]

The House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee needed just 30 minutes Tuesday to advance its latest funding bill for consideration by the full committee. Subcommittee members proposed no amendments to the $49.6 billion appropriations legislation covering the Department of Energy and other agencies, but did air complaints on matters including the level of nuclear-weapon […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts’ court challenge to the transfer of the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is being dismissed with prejudice, which would prevent it from being refiled. The parties to the petition for review filed the dismissal agreement on June 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its full budget request for the upcoming 2021 federal fiscal year via the House Appropriations energy and water development legislation unveiled Monday. That covers $849.9 million for the core operations at the federal regulator, plus just under $13.5 million for the NRC Inspector General’s Office. That would be good […]

The House Appropriations Committee appears ready to support the Department of Energy’s request for $27.5 million to help stand up a program for temporary storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The $49.6 billion energy and water appropriations legislation released Monday would provide that amount to cover DOE costs “necessary for nuclear waste disposal […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in May spent $2,859 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance, breaking its streak of using next-to-nothing from the account intended to pay for the repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Since early 2019, the regulator had each month spent a few hundred dollars on unspecified program planning and support. It applied […]

A batch of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) will complete its journey to disposal by truck after a fire near Chicago earlier this month on a railcar being used to transport it to Texas. “The transloaded waste is being re-profiled to be shipped by truck,” a spokesperson for Veolia subsidiary Alaron Nuclear Services, which generated the […]

NorthStar Group Services has requested approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for disposal in Idaho of 2 million gallons of wastewater from decommissioning at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The agency on June 23 informed a subsidiary of the New York City-based environmental solutions provider, NorthStar Nuclear Decommissioning Co., that it had accepted the […]

Representatives of more than 40 companies attended the June 24 industry pre-proposal conference for the upcoming contract for cleanup of the Luckey Site in Ohio under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The Army Corps on June 26 posted the attendance list, along with the first tranche of […]

By John Stang The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Wednesday delayed until July 15 a decision on whether to reduce a specific charge for disposal of radioactive waste at a state-owned facility operated by Waste Control Specialists. The Dallas-based company requested a cut in the state’s curie inventory charge from $0.40 per millicurie (1/1000th […]

By John Stang The Sierra Club plans to appeal a June 18 order by a licensing board at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that rejected its remaining challenges to Holtec International’s application to build an interim used nuclear fuel storage installation in New Mexico. This will send the matter back to the full commission, which has […]

The vast majority of Nuclear Regulatory Commission personnel continue to work remotely, even as the agency last month began reopening its offices after a months-long drawdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 98% of the NRC’s full-time staff of nearly 3,000 had been teleworking from March to mid-June. That percentage has since dropped slightly, to […]

NorthStar Group Services has requested approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for disposal in Idaho of 2 million gallons of wastewater from decommissioning at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The agency on June 23 informed a subsidiary of the New York City-based environmental solutions provider, NorthStar Nuclear Decommissioning Co., that it had accepted the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing Holtec International to delay conducting a mandatory force-on-force security exercise at the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal regulator issued the exemption on June 18. The document was posted Friday to the agency’s website. Nuclear licensees for months have received expedited NRC […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has formally accepted for review an Energy Department proposal to dispose of vitrified low-activity waste inside the fence at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Energy Department on April 23 filed its draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) evaluation with the NRC, which in this case is serving as […]