House committee clears nuclear tax credit extension Utility Dive June 19,
2017 The House Ways and Means Committee last week voted to extend extend a 2020 deadline for a nuclear energy tax credit that could be essential to two
facilities now under development..
Axios reports "the future of America's nuclear industry" is largely resting on the development of four reactors at two plants. But Westinghouse Electric, the engineer on both projects, has filed for bankruptcy protection, throwing
their completion into doubt.
The tax credit applies to nuclear reactors which come online before 2021, and could be worth as much as $2 billion according to The Washington Times. Extending the deadline could make the difference on whether the projects are completed.
>>Continue reading Bill to expedite Yucca Mountain licensing clears 1st hurdle Las Vegas Review Journal June 15, 2017 WASHINGTON — A bill to expedite the licensing and development of Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada was passed by a subcommittee Thursday, clearing the first hurdle for legislation expected to be taken up in the House this
year.
The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment approved the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act on a voice vote. The bill now goes to the full committee for
approval.
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., the subcommittee chairman and author of the bill, said the legislation reforms nuclear waste management policy to ensure the federal government meets its legal obligation to dispose of spent
nuclear fuel and high-level waste. >>Continue readingSenate committee approves Svinicki's NRC renomination, vote moves to full Senate ECA Staff June 19,
2017 Current Nuclear Regulatory
Commission Chairwoman Kristine Svinicki's nomination for a third term at the NRC was advanced by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The committee approved her re-nomination to the NRC by voice vote June
15th.
Her re-nomination now faces a race against the clock as it moves to the full Senate for a final vote. Svinicki's
current term expires June 30. If the Senate does not confirm Svinicki before then, she will be forced to temporarily step down, leaving the commission without a quorum until the Senate can schedule a vote after the July 4
recess.
Senator Tom Carper, Environment and Public Works' top Democrat has voiced his support for Svinicki's renomination and
has suggested that Democrats in the Senate are unlikely to demand a procedural vote on her confirmation.
President Trump has
also nominated Annie Caputo and David Wright to fill the two current vacancies at the NRC, and Senate committee is expected to vote on them later this month following a smooth nomination hearing last
week.
Return of Senate’s Comprehensive Energy Bill to Move Prior to July 4th Recess The National Law Review June 12, 2017 Last week, by unanimous consent, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced 11 bills governing energy infrastructure and efficiency. The bills address a range of issues including: skill preparation for energy-related jobs; improvement to
hydroelectric licensing; retrofits for schools; increasing energy and water efficiency for federal facilities and amending monetary thresholds for mergers of FERC-regulated facilities. Several of the issue areas that these bills address were included in the larger comprehensive energy bill that Congress had tried but failed to pass last
session. >>Continue reading DOE Releases Full Text of EM’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request DOE-EM June 15, 2017 WASHINGTON, D.C. – DOE released Wednesday the full text of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Congressional Budget Request of $6.5 billion for EM. Access the document here.
This marks EM’s largest budget request in a decade, and
provides the resources necessary to continue making safe, steady and significant progress in tackling the environmental legacy of decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy
research.
EM’s FY 2018 request provides the resources necessary to
achieve progress on the facilities and capabilities necessary to tackle longer-term cleanup challenges, including: - Continuing commissioning and startup of the Savannah
River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility;
- Continuing progress on
the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s Low Activity Waste Facility, Analytical Laboratory and Balance of Facilities;
- Continuing commissioning and startup of the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment
Unit;
- Ramping up activities to increase shipments of
transuranic waste from EM sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal; and
- Completing design and initiating construction of the Oak Ridge Mercury Treatment Facility.
The request also enables EM to continue moving forward with tackling aging and excess facilities across the DOE complex, such
as: - Continuing progress on deactivation and decommissioning
activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant;
- Completing
deactivation activities and initiating demolition of the large C-400 Cleaning Building at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; and
- Continuing demolition of the remaining facilities at the Oak Ridge East Tennessee Technology Park.
In addition, the request includes approximately $225 million in funding to allow EM to address specific high-risk excess contaminated facilities at two National Nuclear Security Administration sites — the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory. >>Continue reading Safety lapses undermine nuclear warhead work at Los Alamos The Washington Post June 18, 2017 This article was written by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization based in Washington,
DC.
An extended shutdown of the nation’s only scientific laboratory for producing and testing the plutonium cores for its nuclear weapons has taken a toll on America’s
arsenal, with key work postponed and delays looming in the production of components for new nuclear warheads, according to government documents and officials.
The unique research and production facility is located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, the birthplace of the U.S. atomic arsenal. The lab’s director ordered the shutdown in 2013 after the Washington official in charge of America’s warhead production expressed worries that the facility was ill-equipped to prevent an accident that would kill its workers and potentially others
nearby. >>Continue readingPlutonium pits at core of new SRS/LANL debates Aiken Standard June 14, 2017 Will production of plutonium pits used in nuclear
warheads shift from New Mexico to the Savannah River Site?
One nuclear watchdog group fears so, based on remarks made during a recent nuclear symposium in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
But other nuclear
observers say discussion of pit production shifting to Aiken County's SRS is premature.
"This study is just commencing and it is premature to make assumptions on the use of existing or other facilities at SRS for the nation’s plutonium
pit manufacturing needs," said Jim Marra, with Citizens for Nuclear Technology.
Plutonium pits also are at the core of a new debate concerning the Mixed Oxide, or MOX, fuel fabrication facility at
SRS. >>Continue reading |
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| June 2017 | | 20 | House Appropriations Committee Hearing on DOE FY18 Budget Request |
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| June 2017 | | 21 | EM SSAB Meeting,
Nevada |
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| June
2017 | | 21 | Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on DOE FY18 Budget
Request |
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| June 2017 | | 22 | Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Hearing on DOE FY18 Budget
Request |
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| June
2017 | | 22 | EM SSAB Meeting, Idaho National Laboratory |
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| August 2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
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| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
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| September 2017 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
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| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup
Workshop Alexandria,
VA |
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| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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