NRC

As multiple advanced reactor vendors enter the licensing process to build first-of-a-kind demonstration projects, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA)—a nonprofit “think-and-do tank” that supports the nuclear power industry—has said issues with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) current user fee cost-recovery model could slow innovation. In a report released on May 19, the NIA identified how […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved 20-year subsequent renewed licenses (SRLs) for Dominion Energy Virginia’s Surry Power Station Units 1 and 2 near Newport News, Virginia, making them only the fifth and sixth reactors in the U.S. cleared to operate for 60 to 80 years. But the number of operating U.S. nuclear reactors fell […]

New Mexico has sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), challenging the legality of the agency’s proceedings involving separate proposals to build and operate two consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in New Mexico and Texas.  In a complaint filed on March 29 against the NRC and the U.S. government, New Mexico […]

Koji Okamoto, director general of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s (JAEA’s) Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS), can pinpoint the specific moment that cemented his

WASHINGTON, DC (February 10, 2021) — The non-profit organization Beyond Nuclear filed suit in federal court today to prevent the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from licensing a massive “consolidated interim storage facility” (CISF) for highly radioactive waste in Andrews County, west Texas. In its Petition for Review filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals […]

Christopher Hanson, a nuclear energy government and industry veteran, has taken the helm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The designation by President Joe Biden on Jan. 23 may provide a boost to the administration’s climate initiatives, experts told POWER.  Hanson, a Democrat, is expected to fill the role for remainder of his five-year term […]

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) has approved the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA), just two weeks after it was introduced. Among the bill’s major provisions are that it will seek to  strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain, help incentivize commercial deployment of new reactor designs, and create a credit […]

Joe Biden on Nov. 7 clinched the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, barring Donald Trump’s prospects for a second-term. Almost immediately, reactions from various parts of the power sector streamed in, highlighting possibilities and pitfalls of Biden’s wide-ranging energy and environment agenda.  Energy, and its implications on the environment, figured prominently as […]

At least eight cities have now dropped shares in the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), a 720-MWe NuScale Power small modular reactor (SMR) project proposed by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS). Despite the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oct.16–announced $1.4 billion, 10-year award to fund one-time costs for the first-of-a-kind project, four Utah cities withdrew […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 6 took the rare but drastic action of issuing an emergency order under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to authorize the maximum operation of three natural gas–fired facilities on the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) grid whose full capability had been stranded by federal air quality and […]