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Judge Denies Temporary Restraining Order on SONGS Spent Fuel Offload
Friday, September 13th, 2019
By John Stang A federal judge has denied a watchdog organization’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the transfer of used reactor fuel into dry storage at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino on Monday also gave the defendants until Sept. 20 to file motions […]
READ MORESenate Appropriators Give Nothing to Yucca Mountain
Friday, September 13th, 2019
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday rolled out and quickly passed energy and water development legislation that would again give nothing for licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Instead, the $48.9 billion Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2020 would provide funding for a pilot program […]
READ MOREDOE Undersecretary Puts Nuclear Waste Disposal Onus on Congress
Friday, September 13th, 2019
A senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday placed the onus squarely on Congress to provide the means for permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. For now, that is the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, as directed under the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Undersecretary of […]
READ MORERemoving FUSRAP From Army Corps a No-Go in Congress
Friday, September 13th, 2019
Senate appropriators on Thursday joined their House counterparts in nixing a request from the Trump administration to transfer the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back to its former home at the Department of Energy. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 in favor of the $48.9 billion […]
READ MOREInterim Storage Partners Wants to Quash Last Contention Against NRC Spent Fuel License
Friday, September 13th, 2019
Interim Storage Partners (ISP) on Monday petitioned for dismissal of the sole permitted contention against federal licensing of its planned consolidated interim storage facility in West Texas for spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Upon rejecting the contention from the Sierra Club, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board should close out the […]
READ MORENo Major Environmental Impact in Keeping Three Mile Island Waste in Idaho, NRC Says
Friday, September 13th, 2019
Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have formally determined there would be no significant environmental impact in a 20-year renewal of the Department of Energy’s license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. The agency is expected to formally post the final environmental […]
READ MOREWrap Up: DOE to Renew BWXT Rad Waste Storage Contract
Friday, September 13th, 2019
The U.S. Energy Department announced on Sept. 6 it would keep BWX Technologies as a contractor for storage of radioactive hot cell waste and spent nuclear fuel. The department’s Idaho Operations Office and Office of Nuclear Energy announced plans to issue the sole-source, five-year contract for continued waste storage at a BWXT facility in Lynchburg, […]
READ MOREU.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Takes Over Magnox Ltd.
Friday, September 6th, 2019
The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority last week formally assumed management of the company that is decommissioning the nation’s Magnox reactors. Magnox Ltd. shifted just before midnight on Aug. 31 from the privately operated Cavendish Fluor Partnership to the nondepartmental executive agency of the U.K. government. “This is a very exciting time for Magnox,” new […]
READ MORECongressional Outlook Bleak for Yucca Mountain Funding
Friday, September 6th, 2019
HENDERSON, Nev. — Congress appears set to again deny the Trump administration’s request to appropriate funding for licensing of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., one issue watcher said Tuesday. The White House for fiscal 2020 requested $116 million for Yucca Mountain and interim storage of radioactive waste, the large majority of that […]
READ MOREYucca Mountain Advocate Shimkus to Leave Congress
Friday, September 6th, 2019
Longtime Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), perhaps the loudest voice on Capitol Hill in favor of building a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, on Aug. 30 announced he would not seek re-election in 2020. Shimkus will until his retirement continue to press for a solution to the long impasse over permanent disposal of […]
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