Nuclear Regulatory Commission

A split Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday narrowly signed off on a new rule intended to further protect U.S. nuclear power plants from a disaster akin to the March 2011 reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan. Commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to approve the rule on mitigation of beyond-design-basis events. It […]

Elevated levels of radioactive tritium were found in groundwater samples taken early last year from the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin, produced during demolition of the reactor building, according to a site investigation report submitted to the state in November. However, subsequent sampling through much of the year showed tritium release into groundwater […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Trump administration is likely in its fiscal 2020 federal budget plan to again propose funding for licensing the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, nuclear industry representatives said here Tuesday. But whether Congress will appropriate any money remains in question. “I think the budget request for the next fiscal […]

The advocacy group Beyond Nuclear has asked a federal appeals court to order the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to revisit its 2018 decision against dismissing two licensing proceedings for facilities for interim storage of spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The agency erred in kicking the legal question raised by Beyond Nuclear to a quasi-judicial NRC […]

A three-member Atomic Licensing and Safety Board at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in March to decide which organizations can intervene in the agency review of the license application for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico. The board has scheduled oral arguments on the intervention and hearing petitions for Wednesday and […]

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will remain in a leadership role on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where last year he began a concerted push for a policy bill to advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository toward realization. With the Democrats taking control of the House in the November midterm elections, though, Shimkus […]

WASHINGTON — The United States still needs to find an isolated location to bury its nuclear waste, just not below Yucca Mountain in Nevada, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Thursday. “The concept has always been bury it and forget. That’s the idea, that you could find a place where you could isolate […]

By John Stang California utility Pacific Gas & Electric said this week it does not expect its impending bankruptcy filing to impact the future closure and decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The company announced its intent to file for federal bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, as it tries to figure out how to […]

By John Stang The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office plans to formally raise concerns about decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to allow owner Entergy to transfer its license to Holtec International. “The Attorney General intends … to intervene in the pending license transfer proceeding to articulate … […]

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will remain in a leadership role on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where last year he began a concerted push for a policy bill to advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository toward realization. With the Democrats taking control of the House in the November midterm elections, though, Shimkus […]

A three-member Atomic Licensing and Safety Board at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in March to decide which organizations can intervene in the agency review of the license application for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico. The board has scheduled oral arguments on the intervention petitions for Jan. 23 and […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November spent just $901 of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay for a permanent repository for radioactive waste. That left the agency with $414,118 in unobligated balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, according to the latest expenditure report to Congress. Of the November spending, $379 was […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

Congress is back for the 116th time, and the two parties this week officially elected leaders for several committees important to those who watch the Department of Energy’s nuclear portfolio. Republicans still control the Senate, while Democrats have taken over in the House following the November midterm elections. Following is a list of newly selected leaders […]

Westinghouse Electric intends to create a business unit covering services for the full nuclear power life cycle as part of a broader reorganization announced Tuesday. The Plant Solutions business will encompass delivery of new power facilities; government services; and deconstruction, decommissioning, and remediation resources, according to a press release. it will be led by David […]

Congress should fund the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada this year as part of a broader nuclear waste management approach, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), now officially the Department of Energy’s head Senate appropriator in the 116th Congress, said Wednesday. “This year, we should resolve the more than 30 year stalemate over how to dispose of […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expect in late spring to issue a draft regulatory basis for disposal of Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste. The finalized version of the document would evaluate whether there is justification to conduct a rulemaking to update federal regulations for disposal of the material. The draft regulatory basis would […]

The partial shutdown of the federal government has forced relocation of oral arguments next week on requests to intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico. The oral arguments will now be held at the State Bar of New Mexico in Albuquerque rather than […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to take nine months to a year to complete its technical review of the request from Entergy and Holtec International to transfer the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. The two corporations in November submitted the request to transfer the plant reactor […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week preliminarily rejected an environmental group’s petition that power company FirstEnergy Corp. be penalized for failing to ensure it had sufficient funding to decommission three nuclear power plants scheduled to close by 2021. The latest available information does not demonstrate that FirstEnergy and several subsidiaries are breaching NRC regulations, […]

By John Stang Holtec International is philosophically at ease with accepting a pair of potential violations being considered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but contended Wednesday there was no safety threat in procedural glitches in modifying the design of a storage container for spent nuclear fuel. During a meeting at NRC headquarters, Holtec President […]

Power company Entergy on Friday completed the sale of its shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to NorthStar Group Services, a deal more than two years in making. The announcement closes a first-of-its-kind deal for managing post-closure cleanup of these facilities, with the owner passing full responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week preliminarily rejected an environmental group’s petition that power company FirstEnergy Corp. be penalized for failing to ensure it had sufficient funding to decommission three nuclear power plants scheduled to close by 2021. The latest available information does not demonstrate that FirstEnergy and several subsidiaries are breaching NRC regulations, Ho […]

Both the Energy Communities Alliance and the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council favor changing the Energy Department’s interpretation of high-level radioactive waste to focus less on how it was produced and more on its hazard profile. The comment deadline was set to end Wednesday for DOE’s proposed reinterpretation of what constitutes high-level waste (HLW). “We are […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have stated their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The Department of Energy is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material classified as high-level radioactive waste, which requires disposal in a deep geological repository. The definition now is tied […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to take nine months to a year to complete its review of the request from Entergy and Holtec International to transfer the federal license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. The two corporations in November submitted the request to transfer the plant’s operations license and license for […]

The partial shutdown of the federal government appears likely to force relocation of oral arguments on requests to intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico. The NRC has received its full-year funding for the current fiscal 2019, but federal courts are expected to […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing to accept public comments and requests for intervention for its review of the license transfer application for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. Pilgrim is scheduled to close by June 1 after nearly 47 years of service. Owner Entergy wants to sell the single-reactor facility on Capd […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects in late spring to issue a draft regulatory basis for disposal of Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste. The finalized version of the document would evaluate whether there is justification to conduct a rulemaking to update federal regulations for disposal of the material. The public would have the […]