Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. For you Formula One fans out there, today is the first session of the Brazilian Grand Prix, one of your rad waste reporter’s favorites of the season. Before we tuck into the weekend, though, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space.
A South Carolina congressman this week outlined his vision for the government’s nuclear energy policy, which included restarting a moribund geologic repository for nuclear waste.
Rep. Jeff Duncan’s (R-S.C.) “Blueprint for Nuclear Innovation and Competitiveness,” published Friday, aims to “help chart the course for the nuclear energy agenda in the next Congress and facilitate policy discussions among both lawmakers and industry leaders,” according to a press release from the congressman. Among the actions prescribed in the document, Duncan suggested that the Department of Energy work to restart the licensing process for Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
“Congress and DOE should seek to identify potential compromises and long-term benefits that include fresh approaches to negotiate a pathway to make Yucca Mountain acceptable to Nevada stakeholders and a reality for the national interest,” Duncan said. The Nye County, Nev., site has been on ice since 2010, when the Barack Obama administration pulled its funding under pressure from the Silver State’s congressional delegation. The Joe Biden administration has said that the project is politically unworkable and has refused to fund it in the last two fiscal years.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week that it is investigating improper fuel use at the University of Texas at Austin’s research reactor.
According to an NRC press release dated Monday, the Austin, Texas, university notified the commission in October that it had mistakenly fueled its research reactor with two aluminum-clad fuel elements. The research reactor is only licensed to use fuel with a stainless steel cladding, NRC said.
The improper fuel “has been removed from the reactor and safely stored at the facility,” the agency said, and the research reactor remains safely operable. NRC inspectors will review the university’s response to the situation, as well as its “determination of the root cause of the event and the facility’s corrective actions,” the press release said.
Kimberly Cook-Nelson will take over as head of Entergy Corp.’s nuclear power fleet, the company announced last week.
Cook-Nelson, who most recently worked as senior vice president of Entergy’s nuclear corporate services, is the company’s new chief nuclear officer, replacing Chris Bakken, the company said in a press release dated Nov. 3. Bakken will become executive vice president of Entergy’s infrastructure segment, which also includes non-nuclear power generation.
Former Entergy chief operating officer Bill Maguire will take over Cook-Nelson’s old role in nuclear corporate services. Cook-Nelson joined Entergy in 1996 as the general manager of Louisiana’s Waterford 3 Steam Electric Station. She has worked in various positions at the company in its engineering, maintenance, operations, continuous improvement and nuclear safety divisions.
