Yucca Mountain Repository

The Trump administration is now 0-2 in its efforts to persuade Congress to fund the long-proposed, still-unrealized nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The House and Senate late Monday afternoon released the conference report for the consensus version of the fiscal 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, […]

Former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman died Friday, news outlets reported. He was 79. Bodman led the Department of Energy from 2005 to 2009 during George W. Bush’x second term in office. During his tenure, Bodman fired Linton Brooks — the second full-time administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration — following security lapses at the […]

Seventy percent of all retired reactors around the world were undergoing decommissioning as of July, according to the latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report. That figure covers 115 of 173 permanently shuttered reactor units, the report issued Tuesday says. Nineteen reactors have been fully decommissioned, which the report defines as defueled, deconstructed, and dismantled. Thirteen […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — While it was never formally canceled, there is little doubt the Obama administration’s initiative for consent-based siting of the nation’s nuclear waste has no future while its successor is in office, a senior Department of Energy official said Wednesday. The agency still has a web page for consent-based siting, but since early 2017 […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — There is little chance the appropriations bill covering the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will provide any funding in fiscal 2019 for licensing the long-planned Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nevada, issue observers said Wednesday. Politics are at the heart of the matter, specifically safeguarding Sen. Dean Heller’s (R-Nev.) chances […]

There is little chance the final appropriations bill covering the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will provide any funding in fiscal 2019 for licensing the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nevada, one industry observer said Wednesday. Lawmakers on the House-Senate conference committee for the “minibus” that would fund several agencies met Wednesday, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July spent another $5,861 from its Nuclear Waste Fund balance, according to its latest report to Congress. The spending was similar in both amount and type to costs listed in agency reports filed in recent months. That was topped by $4,315 for a February meeting of the Licensing Support […]

The state of Nevada on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to block Nuclear Regulatory Commission member David Wright from participating in any licensing decision for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the state. The filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit comes nearly two months after […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 signed the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2019, accepting its prohibition on funding for disposal of defense nuclear waste. The final bill is another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to revive plans for a radioactive waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, state […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

A recent meeting between senior U.S. and South Korean officials ended with a pledge to cooperate on dealing with used nuclear reactor fuel and other atomic operations, according to the Department of Energy. U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Friday led the second plenary of the […]

The Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel said during his confirmation hearing Thursday the agency should follow the law on establishing a nuclear waste repository below Yucca Mountain in Nevada During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee session, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked how William Cooper would approach the long-planned […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June spent just over $2,000 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving it with $455,063 absent an infusion of money from Congress. The Nuclear Waste Fund is intended to pay for licensing and construction of a permanent repository for U.S. spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level defense […]

The Senate on Wednesday voted 87-10 in favor of advancing the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides no support for shipping radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs to the always-controversial planned repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. This is the latest hit to the Trump administration’s efforts to resume licensing for the underground […]

The final version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which now needs only Senate approval and a presidential signature to become law, authorized no funding to send high-level nuclear waste generated by U.S. defense programs to the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) quickly claimed credit for the lack […]

Nearly a week after a technically bipartisan delegation of House members and staff visited Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., lawmakers still have not set a date to begin final negotiations on a 2019 budget bill that, technically, could include funding for the proposed waste-repository. Those negotiations, a bicameral conference committee of lawmakers from the […]

Nearly a week after a technically bipartisan delegation of House members and staff visited Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., lawmakers still have not set a date to begin final negotiations on a 2019 budget bill that, technically, could include funding for the proposed waste-repository. Those negotiations, a bicameral conference committee of lawmakers from the […]

Congress this week delayed final negotiations on a 2019 spending bill that includes the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission budgets for disposal of spent nuclear-reactor fuel, with the House again seeking to fund the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada and the Senate again opposing it. The House and Senate were supposed to […]

By John Stang Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is leading a dozen U.S. House members on a tour of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada on Saturday in hopes of bolstering his case to revive stalled plans for a nuclear waste repository there. Nevada leaders quickly criticized the trip as flawed because no local interests will […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chief architect of a massive nuclear-waste policy bill that cleared the House earlier this year, is scheduled Saturday to lead a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers on a tour of Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev. A House aide confirmed the scheduled trip Monday, but would not disclose the names or number […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission (VPUC) on Friday said it would not issue a final ruling on the proposed sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant until after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to approve the transfer of the site license from owner Entergy to planned buyer NorthStar Group Services. In […]

Newly installed Nuclear Regulatory Commission member David Wright has rejected Nevada’s request that he recuse himself from any decision on licensing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the state. Wright pushed back against the state’s contention that his actions and comments in recent years showed he supported building the disposal facility in Nevada […]

Newly installed Nuclear Regulatory Commission member David Wright has rejected Nevada’s request that he recuse himself from any decision on licensing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the state. Wright, who was sworn into office on May 30, pushed back against the state’s contention that his actions and comments in recent years showed […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in May spent $10,789 from the Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving its available balance at $457,235, according to the latest update to Congress. The agency spent nearly all of that — $10,366 – on costs from a February meeting of the Licensing Support Network Advisory Review Board and collecting information about possible […]

For the second year in a row, the House and Senate have set up a showdown over whether to fund the Donald Trump administration’s request to license a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Senate on Monday passed a so-called minibus appropriations package that includes $35 billion for the Department of Energy […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirmed to two U.S. senators recently that is only authorized to license the Department of Energy for permanent disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), top members of the Senate Environment and Public Works clean air and nuclear safety, […]

The second intercameral congressional confrontation over Yucca Mountain in as many years seemed all but imminent Friday, after the Senate scheduled a Monday vote on a Department of Energy appropriations bill that would again provide no funding for the proposed nuclear-waste repository. The Senate has been debating a so-called fiscal 2019 minibus appropriations package all […]

The Energy Department said recently it had nearly $38 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund, in the first of what it pledged will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal account intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General […]

The Energy Department last week issued the first of what it said will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal fund intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General Counsel Eric Fygi said the department was acceding to the […]