Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has less than $500,000 left in its available balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, which pays for the agency’s work on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. In its latest update to Congress on activities related to licensing of Yucca Mountain, the NRC said its unobligated Nuclear […]

A proposed timetable was submitted Monday for the Vermont Public Utility Commission to review the proposed sale of the closed Vermont Yankee reactor site from Entergy to NorthStar Group Services. All but one of the parties authorized to intervene in the PUC review of the sale — including Entergy, NorthStar, three Vermont state agencies, and […]

Former Waste Control Specialists President and CEO Rod Baltzer said Friday he has opened a new consulting firm, and is not straying far from his specialty in low-level radioactive waste disposal. “I haven’t Tweeted in a while, but wanted you to know I have started a consulting firm since leaving WCS,” Baltzer said in a […]

A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission advisory panel on Wednesday suggested which options it opposes for re-establishing a massive database of documents on licensing the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, but ended a two-day meeting without recommending a clear path forward. Members of the Licensing Support Network Advisory Review Panel (LSNARP) now have […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday said it would conduct a full technical review of Holtec International’s application for a license to build an interim spent-fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The Camden, N.J.-based energy technology company filed its application on March 30, 2017, for authorization to store as much as 8,680 metric […]

A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission advisory panel on Wednesday suggested which options it opposes for re-establishing a massive database of documents on licensing the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, but ended a two-day meeting without recommending a clear path forward. The Licensing Support Network (LSN) was shut down in 2011, and nearly […]

Members of an advisory panel to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today will have an opportunity to offer their opinion on the future of a retired database for nearly 3.7 million documents on the agency’s review of the Energy Department license application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The Licensing Support Network […]

There is no need to rebuild the database of documents for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, according to the lobbying body for the nuclear industry. The Nuclear Energy Institute earlier this month threw its weight behind keeping the Licensing Support […]

By John Stang A California watchdog organization has petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to significantly increase the required longevity of the dry casks used for storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel at power plants around the country. On Jan. 2, Citizens’ Oversight submitted the petition for rulemaking that argued the 40-year design life required […]

There is no need to rebuild the database of documents for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, according to the lobbying body for the nuclear industry. The Nuclear Energy Institute earlier this month threw its weight behind keeping the Licensing Support […]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who has pledged to stop the Department of Energy from building a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in his state, is still preventing the White House from filling a key nuclear regulatory position in the U.S. government, Politico reported last week. President Donald Trump nominated Republican Annie Caputo for a […]

By John Stang The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has requested a $970.7 million budget for fiscal 2019, a nearly $60 million spike from the current level largely on the back of proposed funding for licensing of the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. If approved by Congress, the nuclear industry regulator’s budget would […]

By John Stang The retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California recently transferred the first two used fuel canisters to its new dry storage site. Right now, roughly a third of SONGS’ 3.55 million pounds of spent reactor fuel is already held in 51 canisters in the original independent spent fuel storage installation. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving toward a potential rulemaking on disposal of Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) and transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes from nongovernment sources, this week requesting public input for a regulatory basis that would help guide the process. The commission first requested the regulatory basis in December 2015, after Texas inquired about licensing a […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued a new strategic plan outlining a long list of measures it will take to ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive materials in the United States. The strategic plan, covering fiscal years 2018 to 2022, is largely in line with the goals from the agency’s prior […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) needs more funding in fiscal 2019 for licensing Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear waste repository, mostly to put more full-time people on the project, the independent nuclear-waste regulator said in its budget request this week. In a roughly $970-million request for the budget year starting Oct. 1, the […]

The law firm Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence will continue to help Nevada oppose the Department of Energy’s plans to open a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the state, under a two-year contract worth roughly $5 million. The state Board of Examiners approved the new contract on Tuesday. Nevada has retained the firm […]

The Department of Energy will not release its detailed budget request for fiscal 2019 until sometime within the next two weeks. That is according to a Tuesday message from a Department of Energy (DOE) official reviewed by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The official also said the annual “budget in brief,” a summary that might or […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued a new strategic plan outlining a long list of measures it will take to ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive materials in the United States. The strategic plan, covering fiscal years 2018 to 2022, is largely in line with the goals from the agency’s prior […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has requested a $970.7 million budget for fiscal 2019, a nearly $60 million spike from the current level largely on the back of proposed funding for licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The number of full-time equivalent positions at the nuclear industry regulator, meanwhile, would drop […]

The Donald Trump administration on Monday stuck to its guns about turning Nevada’s Yucca Mountain into a permanent nuclear waste repository, requested almost $170 million in fiscal 2019 for the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to work on the licensing the facility. The total 2019 request is just over 10 percent higher […]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who has pledged to stop the Department of Energy from building a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in his state, is still preventing the White House from filling a key nuclear regulatory in the U.S. government, Politico reported last week. The mostly silent blockade against Annie Caputo, a Republican whom […]

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) last week introduced legislation that would block retired nuclear power plants from receiving exemptions to certain federal regulations until all of the site’s used nuclear fuel is in dry storage. If the Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2018 passes, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission would be barred from providing waivers […]

Two lawmakers from Vermont are again pressing legislation intended to provide states with more say in the planning for decommissioning of nuclear power plants. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) filed the Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2018 in their respective chambers on Wednesday. They previously introduced largely identical legislation in the […]

Parties to the state regulatory review for the planned sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on Friday reported “substantial progress” in resolving two key points of dispute in the deal. That could open the door for the Vermont Public Utility Commission to reschedule hearings postponed from last month and continue its decision-making process. […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s record of policing itself is “mixed at best,” and the agency might benefit from independent oversight by an entity such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said Tuesday. Pallone made his remarks during a House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on U.S. nuclear infrastructure. “For example, […]

The Department of Energy will remain frozen at fiscal 2017 spending levels through at least late March, under the stopgap spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday morning after an overnight government shutdown — the second of fiscal 2018. The bill is the fifth continuing resolution of the fiscal […]

When completed, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemaking on decommissioning nuclear reactors could save millions of dollars over six decades, according to a new analysis of the costs and benefits of the process. As it approaches the end of the process started in 2015, agency staff plans to submit a draft of new proposed rules […]

The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will remain frozen at fiscal 2017 spending levels through at least late March, under the stopgap spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday morning after an overnight government shutdown — the second of fiscal 2018. The bill is the fifth continuing resolution of […]

The Department of Energy and other federal agencies could get a full fiscal 2018 budget as soon as late March, if a budget compromise Senate leaders announced Wednesday becomes law. That would be nearly six full months after the current budget year began on Oct. 1, 2017. On Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell […]