Yucca Mountain Repository

The Trump administration this week again proposed to fund resumption of licensing for the long-planned, long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The state’s congressional delegation immediately pushed back against the latest White House budget plan, reminding President Donald Trump that he suggested last fall he would oppose the disposal facility. The Department of […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it had promoted a nearly three-decade agency staffer to the position of director for the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS). Later in March, John Lubinski will formally succeed Marc Dapas, who retired in January after nearly four years as director. Acting NMSS Director Scott Moore […]

The Trump administration is again proposing to fund resumption of licensing for the long-planned, long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, respectively the applicant and adjudicator for the license, together requested just over $154 million for the 2020 federal fiscal year. That is down by more […]

Lawmakers from Nevada this week reintroduced two pieces of legislation intended to make it much more difficult, if not outright impossible, for the federal government to build a nuclear waste repository in their state. The bills dropped just days before the White House is due to roll out its budget request for fiscal 2020. Issue […]

For the second time, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday approved four nominees for senior Department of Energy positions, including Rita Baranwal as assistant secretary for nuclear energy. By voice vote Thursday, the panel advanced all four to the full Senate. A committee press release did not say when the Senate […]

Members of Nevada’s delegation to Congress on Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would require the Department of Energy to obtain consent from state, local, and tribal governments before building a nuclear waste repository in a given state. The lawmakers left no doubt that their primary intent is to prevent DOE from building the repository at Yucca […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had a $408,479 unspent, unobligated balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund at the end of January, according to the agency’s latest monthly update to Congress. The NRC spent $4,073 in January: $2,444 for unspecified program planning and support and the remaining $1,629 on federal litigation. Established by Congress in 1982, […]

The Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday is scheduled to vote to approve, or not, four nominees for senior Department of Energy jobs, including the White House’s choice to lead the Office of Nuclear Energy. Along with Nuclear Energy office director-designate Rita Baranwal, the panel has scheduled confirmation votes for: William Cooper, DOE general […]

By John Stang A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $103 million to the owners of three retired nuclear power plants for failing to meet its legal mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from the properties. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Nancy Firestone ruled on Feb. 21 that the […]

WASHINGTON — A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and other issue experts made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to argue for a top-to-bottom rethinking of management of the nation’s nuclear waste. “The situation in the U.S. is terribly broken, has been for decades, and without some major change to the program I don’t […]

While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will readjust its classification of high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of the […]

Nevada’s congressional delegation is refreshing its opposition to building a nuclear waste repository in their state ahead of the imminent rollout of the White House’s next budget proposal. The Trump administration is expected to issue its fiscal 2020 spending plan on or around March 12, delayed several weeks by the recent partial shutdown of the […]

A planned trip this week by several U.S. senators to the proposed site of a nuclear waste repository in Nevada has been canceled, Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-Tenn.) office said Wednesday. “The CODEL is being rescheduled,” a spokesperson for Alexander said by email, referring to the congressional delegation. The problem appeared to be scheduling conflicts with […]

A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and other issue experts are making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to argue for a top-to-bottom rethinking of management of the nation’s nuclear waste. “The situation in the U.S. is terribly broken, has been for decades, and without some major change to the program I don’t really […]

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $103 million to the owners of three retired nuclear power plants for failing to meet its legal mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from the properties. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Nancy Firestone ruled that the federal government must pay […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) this week will lead a handful of his colleagues on a visit to the site of the planned nuclear waste repository below Yucca Mountain, Nev. “Senator Alexander is leading a bipartisan delegation of Senators to Yucca Mountain in Nevada as part of his ongoing effort to help solve the nuclear waste […]

The trade group for the U.S. casino industry this month, in a letter to Congress, reaffirmed its opposition to development of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Addressing all members of the 116th Congress, the American Gaming Association noted that the long-planned underground repository would be built 90 miles from the nation’s mecca […]

The trade group for the U.S. casino industry this month, in a letter to Congress, reaffirmed its opposition to development of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Addressing all members of the 116th Congress, the American Gaming Association noted that the long-planned underground disposal facility would be built 90 miles from the nation’s […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December spent $1,566 of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay the agency’s licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. That left the industry regulator with an unobligated, unexpended balance of $412,552, according to its latest report to Congress, posted this week on […]

A senior Department of Energy official on Thursday urged the Senate to confirm nominees to fill four leadership vacancies, including a candidate to oversee the agency’s nuclear power and waste activities. “I’d like to kindly ask the committee for consideration … around the leadership positions that are still open for us as a department. We […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December spent $1,566 of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay the agency’s licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. That left the industry regulator with an unobligated, unexpended balance of $412,552, according to its latest report to Congress, posted this week on […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which Congress in 1987 […]

After decades on staff and one term as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stephen Burns plans to retire in June — for the second time. Burns noted his decision during an all-staff meeting Monday near NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. “At the All Hands, the Commissioner reiterated (not for the first time) […]

About 370,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel have been produced by commercial reactors worldwide since the 1950s, with another 12,000 metric tons being generated annually, according to a new report from the environmental organization Greenpeace. Roughly one-third of the spent fuel has been reprocessed, leaving the rest in storage in 14 nations. “The majority […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which Congress in 1987 […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities around the nation is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which […]

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

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 […]

Governors from 22 western U.S. states and territories are calling on the new Congress to advance a solution to the long impasse over disposal of the nation’s radioactive waste. Radioactive waste management was among the many issues for state and federal cooperation included in the Western Governors’ Association’s priorities list, mailed Jan. 14 to House […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]