House panel votes to advance Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project The Hill June 28,
2017 A House committee voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to advance a bill meant to move along the stalled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in
Nevada.
The legislation would set a time limit for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve the project and makes a necessary land transfer for the
project.
It also allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to permit an interim nuclear waste storage site before Yucca has its licensing process
completed.
If the legislation becomes law, it would bring Yucca closer to reality, 30 years after Congress decided — over the objections of the state of Nevada — to designate the site as the nation’s repository for high-level nuclear waste. >>Continue
reading
Walden: Want to clean up Hanford? Finish Yucca Mountain East Oregonian June 26, 2017 Nuclear energy has played an integral role in generating electricity in the United States for decades. This reliable energy source is responsible for generating 20 percent of electricity across the country, providing low-cost power for consumers throughout the United States. In
2016, 30 states operated nuclear reactors for electricity and six of those states relied on nuclear power for the majority of their electricity
generation.
Importantly, nuclear energy produces zero greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, 553 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided by the nuclear industry throughout the United States – making it one of the cleanest forms of energy in the country. >>Continue
reading
House energy bill spends $3.6B more than Trump budget The Hill June 27, 2017 House appropriators on Tuesday introduced a spending bill for federal energy and water departments that spends $3.65
billion more in 2018 than President Trump requested for the agencies.
The bill, which funds the Department of Energy (DOE), nuclear weapons oversight, the Army Corps of Engineers and other departments, would spend $37.56 billion total in 2018, a $209 million cut from current funding
levels.
But the measure is a rejection of Trump’s budget proposal, which looked to deeply slash spending for the initiatives funded by the legislation. >>Continue
reading
Calcine retrieval continues at Idaho Site The Post Register June 26,
2017 Progress continues in the effort to retrieve a highly radioactive waste know as calcine from the U.S. Department of Energy’s desert
site.
About 4,400 cubic meters of the laundry detergent-like powdered waste must
be treated and “road ready” by 2035 for shipment out of Idaho, according to DOE’s 1995 Settlement Agreement with the state.
First, DOE and contractor Fluor Idaho will extract the calcine from stainless steel bins situated in concrete storage facilities at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, about 50 miles from Idaho Falls. >>Continue reading
Perry wants to 'make nuclear energy cool again' The Washington
Examiner June 27, 2017 Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday that one of his agency's goals is to push nuclear
energy.
"One of the things we want to do at [the Department of Energy] is to make nuclear energy cool again," Perry said during a lengthy news conference at the White House
Tuesday.
He said, "You remember when we were kids, well, sorry, you are nowhere near my age. But when I was younger in the '60s, and a lot of kids wanted to go into the nuclear
energy field."
But that isn't the case now, he said, "because this industry has been strangled all too often by government regulations." He wants the U.S. to begin again to "bring us to
that place where nuclear energy is part of a portfolio, and be able to sell it in great truthfulness and honesty about what it can add to America from an environmental standpoint and from a security standpoint." >>Continue reading |
|
| August 2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
|
| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
|
| September 2017 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
|
| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup
Workshop Alexandria,
VA |
|
| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
|
|
Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
|
