Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again seeking more information from the Department of Energy as it weighs whether to renew the license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. In March 2017, DOE applied for a 20-year renewal of the license for the […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff last week formally signed off on exemptions in operation of a spent fuel storage facility for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The Feb. 2 safety evaluation report follows a Jan. 11 environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact by agency staff for those same exemptions requested by plant owner Entergy. […]

The House of Representatives wants to give the Pentagon a permanent budget for the rest of fiscal 2018 while keeping other federal agencies at 2017 spending levels under another stopgap spending plan that would expire March 23. The continuing resolution would free the Defense Department to begin new programs with funding through the end of the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed the first of five planned on-site inspections to evaluate Entergy’s progress in carrying out its operations improvement plan at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. Four NRC officials were on-site from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8, according to a letter from the agency to Entergy, dated Feb. […]

Utility company Exelon announced Friday that it would in October retire the Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey at the close of its current operational cycle. That is more than a year ahead of the December 2019 closure date mandated in a 2010 agreement with the state of New Jersey, according to a press […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a full technical review of a request that would eliminate the requirement that the agency authorize dismantlement and disposal of the reactor on the retired nuclear-powered merchant vessel NS Savannah. The regulator as of early January had completed its acceptance review of the Oct. 31, 2017, license amendment […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December spent $9,999 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving just under $514,000 for work on licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, according to the agency’s latest update to Congress. Three years after the Obama administration halted work on Yucca Mountain, a federal […]

Next week, the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee on will hold another hearing on modernizing the Department of Energy, this time with a focus on U.S. nuclear infrastructure, the committee announced Tuesday. The hearing, “DOE Modernization: Advancing the Economic and National Security Benefits of America’s Nuclear Infrastructure,” is on the slate for 10 a.m […]

The House’s top Department of Energy appropriator signaled Monday he might be interested in running the full Appropriations Committee next year after current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) retires from Congress. In a Twitter message, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the blunt-talking, hard-nosed dentist-turned-lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said he has “always” […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission believes it needs to collect $826.7 million in fees from licensees and license applicants to fund its operations in the current year. The remainder of the anticipated budget authority of $967 million would come from other sources. Of the total fee amount, $289.4 million would fund direct services for applicants […]

By John Stang Northwest Medical Isotopes (NWMI) made it through a Nuclear Regulatory Commission public hearing Tuesday without major warning signs for its plan to build and operate a medical isotope production plant in Missouri. It could take the commission anywhere from one to four months to rule on the construction permit for the facility, […]

The federal government reopened Tuesday following a three-day shutdown, after Senate Democrats largely dropped their opposition to a stopgap budget bill to keep agencies open through Feb. 8. President Donald Trump signed the bill late Monday evening after it quickly passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure funds the Department of Energy (DOE) at […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission aims by the end of February to determine whether to transition to a full technical review of Holtec International’s application to build a facility for interim storage of spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. The pending completion of the NRC acceptance review of the 2017 application comes as […]

The U.S. Department of Energy remains committed to meeting its legal mandate for permanent disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel, but is waiting on Congress to provide the funding needed to push that program forward, a senior DOE official said Tuesday. Resolving the decades-long impasse on the disposition of what is now more than 75,000 […]

By John Stang The Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) this week postponed a status conference on talks over the sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to Feb. 5 because negotiations are still unresolved. The PUC had scheduled the status conference for Thursday with representatives from plant owner Entergy, prospective buyer NorthStar Group […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission aims by the end of February to decide whether to move forward with a full technical review of Holtec International’s license application for a consolidated interim spent fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. The regulator has been conducting its acceptance review since the New Jersey energy technology […]

The federal government reopened Monday after a three-day shutdown, after Senate Democrats largely dropped their opposition to a stopgap budget bill to keep agencies open through Feb. 8. President Donald Trump signed the bill late Monday evening. The measure funds the Department of Energy (DOE) at fiscal 2017 levels, but allows the agency’s Inspector General’s […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is waiting to see whether the Department of Energy will issue a topical safety analysis report (TSAR) on temporary storage of spent commercial nuclear reactor fuel, officials said last week. The TSAR would be expected to address technical issues with consolidated interim storage of used fuel, which could be important […]

The California Coastal Commission said it has effectively been forced to approve permits for spent fuel storage at three nuclear power plants because the federal government has yet to establish a permanent national repository for the radioactive waste. Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco emphasized the danger presented by coastal storage of radioactive material from the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission just last month issued an updated contingency plan for a lapse in funding, fortuitous timing as the federal government appeared on the precipice of a shutdown Friday afternoon. The latest in a series of short-term congressional spending plans, which have kept the federal government open since the current fiscal year […]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) injected a bit of drama into an otherwise routine confirmation hearing Thursday by saying he would not support the nomination of Anne Marie White to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management until the Energy Department agrees to discontinue its “uranium barter” program. Barrasso made his comments during a Senate […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for a request from power company Entergy for exemptions related to storage of spent fuel at the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Following the Jan. 11 finding, the last step in the process is completion of a NRC […]

The California Coastal Commission said it has effectively been forced to approve permits for spent fuel storage at three nuclear power plants because the federal government has yet to establish a permanent repository for the radioactive waste. Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco emphasized the danger of coastal storage of radioactive material from the Humboldt Bay, […]

After a series of temporary spending measures, major media outlets are reporting that the chance of a federal government shutdown is growing more likely at the end of the day Friday when the latest stop-gap ends. Congress on Dec. 21 adopted its third budget continuing resolution to all federal agencies operational through Jan. 19. Should […]

The owner and prospective buyer of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have revised their financial assurance plan to address concerns about the sale they hope to complete in 2018. The update was noted in a Jan. 5 letter from Stephanie Hoffman, special counsel for the Vermont Public Service Department, to Judith Whitney, clerk for […]

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) wrung a renewed commitment from the Department of Energy to open a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., during a hearing here Tuesday. Shimkus, Congress’ chief advocate for Yucca, pinned down Dan Brouillette, deputy energy secretary, on the agency’s position during a three-hour House […]

Members of the advisory panel for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s digital repository for documents on the license adjudication for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository have until Feb. 13 to submit recommendations on reconstituting the retired system. That is also the date for panel members to share their thoughts on the NRC staff’s […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given final authorization for power company Entergy to use the decommissioning trust fund for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for management of the site’s spent reactor fuel. The regulator announced publication of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on the exemption to federal rules […]

Three Trump administration nominees to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission remain in consideration by the Senate even many other would-be appointees to senior federal jobs were returned to the White House this week. Annie Caputo, David Wright, and Jeff Baran are on the “status quo list,” approved by unanimous Senate consent before the holidays, which […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has postponed until the end of February a meeting of the advisory panel on management of the Licensing Support Network, the repository of documents on the agency’s review of the license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Last month, the NRC announced a Jan. 30-31 meeting of the […]