Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before we head off into the last weekend in January, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week.
The ranking member of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee this week pressured the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a letter to explain its employee telework policy.
In the Tuesday letter, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.V.) expressed concern that “poorly-planned telework policies” could force taxpayers to foot the bill for unused office space, such as at NRC’s Rockville, Md., headquarters. If the commission still plans to allow its employees to work remotely in some capacity, Capito said that it should “conduct a thorough examination” of its office needs.
“For NRC to fulfill its mission and serve the public as a credible, transparent nuclear safety regulator, the Agency’s culture must be predicated on trust, open communication and effective collaboration,” Capito said. “That culture is more likely to be successfully established and strengthened through personal relationships — relationships facilitated by in-person interactions.”
This week, a pair of Canadian ministers representing the proposed host province for the country’s geologic nuclear waste repository toured a facility developing technology for such a project, according to a press release.
Canada’s state-run Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) hosted Todd Smith, Ontario’s minister of energy, and provincial agriculture minister Lisa Thompson at its Discovery and Demonstration Centre in Oakville, Ontario, according to a press release dated Tuesday. According to NWMO, the Centre is used to, among other things, optimize repository designs and develop a spent fuel transport strategy.
Ontario is home to two proposed locations for Canada’s nuclear waste repository. NWMO is considering a site in the township of South Bruce, along Lake Huron, for such a project. The town of Ignace, located a little less than 100 miles north of Minnesota, is another possible site.
A leading U.S. industry group recently announced Dorothy Davidson, president of Orano Federal Services, as one of its newest board members, according to a press release from the company this week.
Davidson is one of three new members of the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council’s (NIC) board, Orano said in the Tuesday press release. In her role, she will assist NIC with its “educational programs, industry insights, and market intelligence” aimed at promoting nuclear power, the company said.
“I am honored to be a part of this influential organization at a time of great opportunity for launching and expanding innovative nuclear energy in the United States,” Davidson said in a statement. “Orano is serving an integral role supporting used fuel management for several creative reactor designs while also supporting DOE and industry initiatives for advanced fuel supply chains, nuclear materials management, and environmental cleanup.”
