Yucca Mountain Repository

The House Energy and Commerce Committee pushed back by at least one day its review of legislation intended to jump-start centralized storage and ultimately disposal of radioactive waste now dispersed around the country. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), was one of 18 bills scheduled for markup on […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The head of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy on Monday said she was committed to studying the potential use of advanced reactors in recycling radioactive spent fuel. Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal, though, said that storage and permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste also remain […]

The House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled Tuesday to consider legislation intended to advance storage and disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), is one of 18 bills due for markup starting at 10 a.m. The bill contains various amendments […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has “no authority” under federal law to issue contracts for any commercially operated facility for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a recent letter to a member of Congress. That runs counter to the business plans laid out by both corporate teams seeking federal […]

By John Stang The chair of a key U.S. Senate committee said Thursday she hopes to have a new secretary of energy confirmed in time to take office when Rick Perry steps down from the position on Dec. 1. “My intention is to move you through the committee process as fast as possible,” Senate Energy […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and other agencies would remain funded at prior-year levels almost through the end of December, under a second stopgap spending plan announced this week to keep the federal government operating while Congress tries to finalize its fiscal 2020 budget. Meanwhile, the top Democrat and Republican members of the House and […]

The United States must finally settle on a strategy for disposition of spent nuclear fuel if it hopes to revitalize its atomic energy sector, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said Wednesday, without offering a timeline for introduction of a bill intended to help achieve that goal. Barrasso discussed the matter in starting off a hearing of […]

The Department of Energy has no authority to issue contracts for any commercially operated spent nuclear fuel storage services, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a recent letter to a member of Congress. That runs counter to the business plans laid out by both corporate teams seeking federal regulatory approval for consolidated interim storage facilities […]

European nations continue to struggle with establishing permanent disposal for tens of thousands of tons of radioactive spent nuclear fuel, and with determining how much it will cost, according to a new report published by the Berlin-based Heinrich Boell Foundation. Sixteen European nations held 60,500 tons of used fuel as of the end of 2016, […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Monday said he would not reverse his decision to retire, even with the opportunity to take the top Republican spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Shimkus said last week he would reconsider his Aug. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2020 after Energy and Water […]

By John Stang The state lawmaker who has headed Wyoming’s latest exploration of hosting a spent nuclear fuel storage facility has shifted that leadership role over to Gov. Mark Gordon (R). On Tuesday, state Sen. Jim Anderson (R) told the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Minerals, Business, and Economic Development Committee he would not file a proposed […]

With members of the House out of town this week, Congress made little progress on authorizing and appropriating government funding, including measures covering the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. However, Armed Services Committee staffers worked behind the scenes this week to hash out differences in the House and Senate versions of the 2020 […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday officially nominated Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry, who will resign as secretary of energy on Dec. 1. Brouillette, a former auto-insurance lobbyist with some turn-of-the-millennium Washington experience on his rapidly expanding resume, must be confirmed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before he […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Monday said he would not reverse his decision to retire, even with the opportunity to take the top Republican spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Shimkus said last week he would reconsider his Aug. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2020 after Energy and Water […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September continued its nearly yearlong trend of spending just a few hundred dollars per month of its balance from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund. The total for the month was $699 for unspecified program planning and support, according to the agency’s latest report to Congress. That is primarily how […]

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a longtime supporter of cleaning up the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, said Monday he would not run for re-election in 2020. “I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, nor election to any other office, but instead I will close the public service […]

Prospects for timely passage of a permanent 2020 budget for the Department of Energy and other agencies dimmed a little this week, when most Senate Democrats refused to curtail debate on spending legislation that includes funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall. The Senate failed Thursday to invoke cloture on a basket of […]

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation offered a quick message to the Trump administration’s newly selected successor to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry: Stop trying to bring nuclear waste into the state, and quickly remove the plutonium shipped last year. Perry announced on Oct. 17 that he would resign after more than two-and-a-half years as head […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday filed cloture on the motion to proceed with two appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, opening up the possibility of the Senate voting next week on first a minibus bill full of domestic spending and then following with a second minibus that includes the Department of Energy. The […]

The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in August continued to spend little of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund – just $863, leaving it with an unobligated tranche of $407,176. The money was used for unspecified program planning and support, according to the agency’s latest spending report to Congress. As of Aug. 31, the […]

The United States should stop trying to build a centralized disposal facility for its nuclear waste, and instead enact on a “decentralized” regime while pursuing new technologies to deal with the material, according to a new report from an environmental think tank. “The current policy regime for nuclear waste management is broken,” the Oakland, Calif.-based […]

The U.S. government has paid at least $7.4 billion to nuclear power plant owners for failing to meet its Jan. 31, 1998, deadline to begin taking their spent reactor fuel for disposal, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The U.S. Energy Department projects its total liability could be as high as $35.5 billion. The […]

A longtime manager at the Department of Energy has been selected to lead fuel cycle and supply chain activities at the Office of Nuclear Energy. “I am pleased to announce that I have selected Andrew Griffith to be the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain, NE-4. This reassignment is effective immediately,” according to […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 82-15 to pass a stopgap budget to keep the federal government operating for nearly two months into fiscal 2020 in the absence of a full-year spending plan. The House approved the continuing resolution last week, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign it ahead of the Oct. 1 […]

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Thursday advanced legislation intended to bring the U.S. government closer to finally removing nuclear waste from dozens of sites around the nation and then ultimately burying it in a geologic repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a unanimous voice vote, the environment and climate change subcommittee sent the […]

The House Energy and Commerce environment and climate change subcommittee is scheduled Thursday to vote on a bill aimed at advancing establishment of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019 is among 15 bills scheduled for markup beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time at 2123 Rayburn […]

The U.S. government has paid at least $7.4 billion to nuclear power plant owners for failing to meet its Jan. 31, 1998, deadline to begin taking their spent reactor fuel for disposal, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The date was set in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which put the Department of […]