Nuclear Regulatory Commission

A bipartisan duo on Tuesday reintroduced legislation in the House of Representatives intended to help the federal government finally build a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019 is a slightly updated version of legislation introduced in 2017 by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). That bill advanced out […]

WASHINGTON — Plans for consolidated interim storage of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors leave questions about the ultimate disposition of that radioactive material once a facility’s federal license expires, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Monday. Speaking at a Capitol Hill event on nuclear decommissioning, Jaczko posited a scenario in which […]

Despite complaints from two senior Republicans, the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee on Wednesday signed off on a new spending bill that would provide no money for licensing the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The $46.4 billion energy and water appropriations legislation for fiscal 2020, filed Tuesday, includes funding for the […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s draft fiscal 2020 energy and water bill provides no money to resume federal licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Instead, the legislation would provide an unspecified appropriation for initial interim storage operations for spent reactor fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, according to a press release from […]

The Department of Energy is still waiting on action from Congress that would be necessary to carry out its legal requirement to dispose of the nation’s Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste, a senior official said last week. The agency has largely been in a holding pattern since issuing a November 2017 report to Congress […]

WASHINGTON — Plans for consolidated interim storage of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors raise questions about the ultimate disposition of that radioactive material once a facility’s federal license expires, former Nuclear Regulatory Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Monday. Speaking at a Capitol Hill event on nuclear decommissioning, Jaczko posited a scenario in which the […]

Exelon said Wednesday that efforts in the Pennsylvania legislature to provide financial support to the state’s nuclear power sites would not arrive in time to save its reactor at the Three Mile Island Generating Plant near Harrisburg. “With only three legislative days remaining in May and no action taken to advance House Bill 11 or […]

The House of Representatives’ fiscal 2020 Energy and Water appropriations bill that contains the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission budgets will include about 4% more funding than the enacted 2019 bill did, according to spending limits published Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The total allocation for the 2020 Energy and Water Development […]

The California Coastal Commission is tentatively scheduled in June to consider a permit that would allow major decommissioning to begin at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. “Commission staff is presently planning on the item being heard at the Commission’s June meeting, but this schedule is not final and could be subject […]

A panel of administrative judges at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday rejected all petitions for an evidentiary hearing to contest Holtec International’s license application for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) ruled that only three of six petitioning groups proved they […]

The federal government must be allowed to resume the long-delayed licensing for a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday. In testimony on Capitol Hill, Perry suggested he is not committed solely to one disposal location, but rather to finally ending a decades-long impasse on finding a permanent […]

SHINE Medical Technologies on Thursday broke ground on a production plant for the medical isotope molybdendum-99. The 43,000-square-foot plant in Janesville, Wis., will ultimately house eight accelerator-based manufacturing systems that could meet more than one-third of worldwide need for the isotope, SHINE said in a press release. The company has said it hopes to reach […]

A panel of administrative judges at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday rejected all petitions for evidentiary hearings to contest Holtec International’s license application for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that only three of six petitioning groups proved standing to participate […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March spent just $128 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, according to its latest update to Congress. That left the agency with $407,102 in unspent, unobligated funding for work on licensing a federal repository for disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste from […]

The Energy Department should prepare comprehensive assessments of Cold War nuclear sites now storing high-level radioactive waste to determine how much of it could safely be handled as low-level or transuranic waste, the Energy Communities Alliance said Monday. That is one of a set of recommendations in an ECA report, which aims to build on […]

The Energy Department has extended the deadline for responses to its small business sources-sought notice for Idaho National Laboratory remediation work by one week, until May 8. The extension is one of several modifications posted on the FedBizOps website since the initial market research notice was posted on April 10. The Energy Department is researching […]

The San Diego advocacy group Public Watchdogs is suing a California state agency to prevent decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) until a new environmental review of the project is conducted. At issue is the California State Lands Commission’s approval on March 21 of an agency staff environmental impact report (EIR) on […]

Texas must have a say in approval of disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste in the state, Gov. Greg Abbott said in an April 26 letter to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Kristine Svinicki. Proceedings underway at both federal agencies could ultimately open the door for disposal of […]

The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District (OPPD) on Monday announced it had hired nuclear services firm EnergySolutions to support decommissioning of the retired Fort Calhoun Station power plant. EnergySolutions will provide “technical and specialized project expertise,” while OPPD personnel will manage the overall decommissioning, according to a press release from the utility. “ES brings a […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun the process of streamlining the environmental reviews it conducts in ruling on license applications. The industry regulator discussed the outlines of its plan in a recent solicitation for a consultant who will support the improvement proceeding. “The main objective of this contract is to obtain technical assistance in […]

By John Stang Officials from Nevada sent mixed signals this week to the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee regarding upcoming legislation intended to kick-start the stalled nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain. On Tuesday, nine of Nevada’s 17 counties indicated support for the legislation in a letter to committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.), […]

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) this week confirmed a 2018 finding that exposure to contaminants from former radioactive waste storage near St. Louis, Mo., could have heightened the risk for various cancers among residents of the area. The ATSDR on Tuesday issued its final report on cancer risks near Coldwater […]

A trio of U.S. senators on Tuesday took a third swing at legislation that would remove management of the federal nuclear waste program from the Department of Energy in hopes of finally driving it forward. The 2019 version of the Nuclear Waste Administration Act appears identical to the iterations of the bill introduced in 2013 […]

Officials from Nevada sent mixed signals this week to the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee regarding legislation intended to kick-start the stalled nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain. On Tuesday, nine of Nevada’s 17 counties indicated support for the legislation in a letter to committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.), the bill’s sponsor, and […]

Stephen Burns retired Tuesday after nearly five years as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including more than two years as chairman. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted Burns’ retirement during a Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee hearing on the NRC budget plan for fiscal 2020. The agency then confirmed his departure, […]

A trio of U.S. senators on Tuesday took a third swing at legislation that would remove management of the federal nuclear waste program from the Department of Energy in hopes of finally driving it forward. The 2019 version of the Nuclear Waste Administration Act appears identical to the iterations of the bill introduced in 2013 […]

Texas must have a say in approval of disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste in the state, Gov. Greg Abbott said in an April 26 letter to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Kristine Svinicki. Proceedings underway at both federal agencies could ultimately open the door for disposal of […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to hire a consultant to provide guidance on streamlining its environmental reviews of license applications. “The main objective of this contract is to obtain technical assistance in assessing the NRC’s environmental review process and providing recommendations for improving the environmental review process at the NRC,” the agency said in […]

Vermont on April 10 formally applied to become the 39th agreement state to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If the application is approved, per the terms of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act, Vermont would assume authority from the federal agency for licensing and regulation of radioactive byproduct materials, source materials, and limited amounts of special […]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) is reviving legislation aimed at moving the federal government closer to resolving the decades-long impasse over disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. Barrasso on Wednesday unveiled the discussion draft of the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, which is largely identical to the same-named bill introduced in 2017 by Rep. […]