Yucca Mountain Repository

The federal government is likely to rack up tens of billions of dollars in liability over the Department of Energy’s decades-long failure to meet its legal mandate to build a permanent home for spent fuel from U.S. commercial power reactors, lawmakers and panelists said Tuesday during a congressional hearing on U.S. nuclear waste management. More […]

Lawmakers are piling on to co-sponsor a House bill that would smooth the way to open Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent nuclear waste repository. This week alone, 32 additional representatives associated themselves with Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 (H.R.3053): a 45-page bill officially introduced in the […]

So far this week, 16 more lawmakers have signed on to co-sponsor a bill that would smooth the way to open Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent nuclear waste repository. That makes a total of 78 for Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 (H.R.3053): a 45-page bill […]

The federal government is likely to rack up tens of billions of dollars in liability over the Department of Energy’s decades-long failure to meet its legal mandate to build a permanent home for spent fuel from U.S. commercial power reactors, lawmakers and panelists said Tuesday during a congressional hearing on U.S. nuclear waste management. More […]

Officials from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce are headed to Washington, D.C., next week to visit with Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.): architect of a bill that would help clear the way for the federal government to turn Yucca Mountain in Nevada into a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. The Las Vegas Chamber — like […]

Officials from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce are headed to Washington, D.C., next week to visit with Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.): architect of a bill that would help clear the way for the federal government to turn Yucca Mountain in Nevada into a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. The Las Vegas Chamber — like […]

Changes to the legal and regulatory framework for management of Energy Department nuclear waste could save $40 billion in costs for cleanup of the DOE nuclear complex and hasten the removal of that waste from local communities, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said in a new report. “ECA understands this is a large change from […]

The primary obstacle to opening Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear waste-disposal site could be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the House’s top Energy Department appropriator said Thursday. “[I]n the Senate they have a two-vote Republican majority,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said during the Energy Department-sponsored National Cleanup Workshop in Alexandria, Va. “One of those […]

Holtec International is committed to its plan to build and operate an interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel in New Mexico, no matter what route Congress eventually selects for managing the nation’s nuclear waste, according to the chairman of the organization partnering on the project. “If there is not a bill passed, Holtec and […]

Nevada on Tuesday extended a contract with a Texas-based law firm to continue fighting the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository for another six months at a cost of roughly $1 million. Extending the contract of Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence, which also has an office in Washington, D.C., was one of many business items considered […]

The primary obstacle to opening Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear waste-disposal site could be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the House’s top Energy Department appropriator said Thursday. “[I]n the Senate they have a two-vote Republican majority,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said during the Energy Department-sponsored National Cleanup Workshop in Alexandria, Va. “One of […]

Nevada on Tuesday extended a contract with a Texas-based law firm to continue fighting the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository for another six months at a cost of roughly $1 million. Extending the contract of Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence, which also has an office in Washington, D.C., was one of many business items considered […]

Holtec International is committed to its plan to build and operate an interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel in New Mexico, no matter what route Congress eventually selects for managing the nation’s nuclear waste, according to the chairman of the organization partnering on the project. “If there is not a bill passed, Holtec and […]

Smartphone technology revolutionized the way people make dinner reservations and get their news, but it hasn’t done much to enhance public discourse on nuclear waste management, according to Pajarito Scientific Corp. President and CEO George Dials. “I’ve never seen a time when there was such an impasse in merely communicating,” Dials, an industry veteran who […]

SUMMERLIN, Nev. — Disposal of spent fuel is crucial to the domestic nuclear industry and will be among the Trump administration’s priorities in this sector, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Edward McGinnis said Tuesday. “The back end is a key pillar of our nuclear sector,” McGinnis said in the opening plenary to the […]

SUMMERLIN, Nev. — The state of Nevada plans to submit 30 to 50 new contentions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission against building a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the state’s point man on the project said Wednesday. Should the NRC ultimately approve a license for construction of the underground storage site, state lawsuits […]

The drive to restart the Energy Department’s application to license Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent nuclear-waste repository has stalled at least for another three months under a stopgap budget bill expected to become law soon. Both chambers of Congress by Friday had approved a continuing resolution that funds the federal government for […]

Congress is working on a stopgap spending bill that will, by and large, keep the Energy Department funded at 2017 levels until mid-December, leading lawmakers and President Donald Trump said Wednesday. The so-called continuing resolution will fund the federal government through Dec. 15, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy […]

The state of Nevada plans to submit 30 to 50 new contentions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission against building a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the state’s point man on the project said Wednesday. Should the NRC ultimately approve a license for construction of the underground storage site, state lawsuits would follow, Robert […]

Disposal of spent fuel is crucial to the domestic nuclear industry and will be among the Trump administration’s priorities when it comes to nuclear energy, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Edward McGinnis said Tuesday. “The back end is a key pillar of our nuclear sector,” McGinnis said in the opening plenary to the […]

The state of Nevada objected to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recently announced plan to this fall prepare to resume its review of the Energy Department’s application to license the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nye County, Nev. The NRC on Aug. 8 said it would spend about $110,000 on “information-gathering activities” to gather input about […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July spent just shy of $149,000 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund on activities related to licensing of the planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Nearly all of the money — $143,744 – went toward knowledge management reports that provide technical data to assist in the review […]

The state of Nevada objected to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recently announced plan to this fall prepare to resume its review of the Energy Department’s application to license the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nye County, Nev. The NRC on Aug. 8 said it would spend about $110,000 on “information-gathering activities” to gather input about […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July spent just shy of $149,000 of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund on activities related to licensing of the planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Nearly all of the money — $143,744 – went toward knowledge management reports that provide technical data to assist in the review […]

HBO’s satirical “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday gave over much of its 30-minute broadcast time to the potential threat posed to the United States by its growing stockpile of nuclear waste. Using data from sources including the Nuclear Energy Institute and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, host John Oliver called attention to more than 71,000 tons of spent […]

Congress skipped town, and so did many other readers, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during the ExchangeMonitor’s annual August publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. Fluor Posts Job Ad For SRS Liquid Waste Work Ahead of Contract Award Fluor Corp. […]

Where many leaders in Nevada see only risk when it comes to the long-planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, Nye County Board of Commissioners Chairman Dan Schinhofen sees opportunity. Nye County is the poorest county in Nevada, with a median income more than $10,000 less than the statewide median, according to reporting earlier this year. […]

HBO’s satirical “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday gave over much of its 30-minute broadcast time to the potential threat posed to the United States by its growing stockpile of nuclear waste. Using data from sources including the Nuclear Energy Institute and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, host John Oliver called attention to more than 71,000 tons of spent […]

Congress skipped town, and so did many other readers, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during the ExchangeMonitor’s annual August publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. NRC Planning Yucca Info Gathering for Fall Although it has yet to officially rematerialize, the […]

HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday gave over much of its 30-minute broadcast time to the threat posed to the United States by its growing stockpile of nuclear waste. Using data from sources including the Nuclear Energy Institute and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, host John Oliver called attention to more than 71,000 tons of spent […]