Waste Control Specialists

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the vast majority of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of via a near-surface facility. This is another step, if a small one, toward the federal government potentially sending thousands of cubic meters of the waste to a disposal facility in West […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the vast majority of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of via a near-surface facility. This is another step, if a small one, toward the federal government potentially sending thousands of cubic meters of the waste to a disposal facility in West […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the vast majority of Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of via a near-surface facility. The waste, under existing federal regulations, must be interred in a geologic repository unless the federal commission approves a request for another means of disposal. The United States […]

By John Stang For the second time this year, opponents of temporary, centralized storage of the nation’s spent nuclear power reactor fuel took a crack at such a project before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The opponents presented their cases to the three-person board Wednesday and Thursday that […]

By John Stang The U.S. Regulatory Commission this week pushed back its schedule for completing reviews of license applications for two planned used nuclear fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico. The agency by letter notified the corporate teams behind the projects: Holtec International, which wants to build a site with maximum capacity exceeding […]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week vetoed legislation that would have given Waste Control Specialists a two-year break on certain charges and fees for its radioactive waste disposal operations. “Senate Bill 1804 was a laudable effort to address domestic violence, until someone slipped in an ill-considered giveaway to a radioactive waste disposal facility,” Abbott […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will provide Texas with multiple opportunities for input in potential updates to federal regulations that could enable disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste in the state. That would encompass the public comment period for an upcoming NRC draft regulatory basis for GTCC waste disposal and the […]

The Department of Energy formally published its reinterpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Monday’s Federal Register. As telegraphed for months, and officially announced on June 5, DOE now interprets that the existing HLW definition in the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act means not all wastes from spent […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will provide Texas with multiple opportunities for input in potential development of a federal rule that could enable disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste in the state. That would encompass the public comment period for an upcoming NRC draft regulatory basis for GTCC waste disposition and […]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week vetoed legislation that would have given Waste Control Specialists a two-year break on certain charges and fees for its radioactive waste disposal operations. “Senate Bill 1804 was a laudable effort to address domestic violence, until someone slipped in an ill-considered giveaway to a radioactive waste disposal facility,” Abbott […]

The Energy Department in today’s Federal Register formally published its reinterpretation of high-level radioactive waste. As announced last week and months ago, DOE interprets that the existing HLW definition means that not all wastes from spent fuel reprocessing are highly-radioactive. Some material on the less radioactive end of the traditional high-level spectrum could conceivably be […]

The Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Andrews County, Texas is still an attractive potential home for thousands of metric tons of elemental mercury. That’s according to a supplemental analysis published Monday by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The document says facilities at WCS would still be a good option for storage of up to […]

The Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Andrews County, Texas is still an attractive potential home for thousands of metric tons of elemental mercury. That’s according to a supplemental analysis published Monday by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The document says facilities at WCS would still be a good option for storage of up to 6,800 metrics […]

The Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Andrews County, Texas is still an attractive potential home for thousands of metric tons of elemental mercury. That’s according to a supplemental analysis published Monday by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The document says facilities at WCS would still be a good option for storage of up to 6,800 […]

The Texas Legislature last week approved a bill that would delay by two years select charges and fees for operation of Waste Control Specialists’ (WCS) radioactive waste disposal facility. Two amendments from Rep. Alfonso Nevárez (D) were attached on May 22 to a state bill on domestic violence, which was passed in April by the […]

The Texas Legislature has approved a bill that would delay by two years certain charges and fees for Waste Control Specialists’ (WCS) radioactive waste disposal operations. Two amendments from Rep. Alfonso Nevárez (D) were attached to a state bill on domestic violence, which was passed in April in the Texas Senate and last week in […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

WASHINGTON — While more than three months passed since the public comment period closed, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is “trying to keep this conversation going” on reinterpreting what material should be deemed high-level radioactive waste (HLW) by the Department of Energy. That was the word Wednesday from the ECA’s director of nuclear energy policy, […]

A quasi-judicial Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled on May 10 to decide which organizations are authorized to intervene in the license application for a temporary storage facility in New Mexico for spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. The same three-person board would then begin adjudicating corresponding […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a meeting for April 25 in Florida to take public comment on Duke Energy’s request for the release of much of the property for its retired Crystal River nuclear power plant. In January, Duke filed the request for release of 3,854 acres of the 4,738-acre property from the […]

Committees in both chambers of the Texas Legislature have advanced identical pieces of legislation intended to give Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists an edge in the market for disposal of low-level radioactive waste. The Texas House Environmental Regulation Committee on April 4 voted 5-3 in favor of Rep. Brooks Landgraf’s (R) H.B. 2269. On Monday, the state […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday urged a federal appeals court to dismiss an anti-nuclear advocacy group’s motion demanding the agency rule on the legality of two license applications for interim storage of spent nuclear power reactor fuel. Beyond Nuclear filed its petition for review in December with the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday urged a federal appeals court to dismiss an anti-nuclear advocacy group’s motion demanding the agency rule on the legality of two license applications for interim storage of spent nuclear power reactor fuel. Beyond Nuclear filed its petition for review in December with the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has given its blessing for Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to continue storing transuranic waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory through late December 2020. The commission on March 20 issued an amendment to Waste Control Specialists’ state radioactive materials license allowing it to retain the potentially […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators suggested Wednesday it is gearing up for another legislative campaign to authorize interim storage of the nation’s growing stockpile of nuclear waste. Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he hopes to meet within two weeks with panel Ranking Member Dianne Feinstei (D-Calif.), the […]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is poised to give its blessing for Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to continue storing potentially problematic transuranic waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory through late December 2020. The chief clerk for TCEQ is expected this week to issue an amendment to Waste Control Specialists’ state […]

The Department of Energy does not know yet what action it will take on its proposed reinterpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White said last week. “We don’t have a real distinct schedule on that. Again, we are trying to take our time and be deliberative,” […]