President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order titled Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid, which aims to bolster electric grid reliability and address the national energy...more
The NRC’s Office of Investigations (OI) recently published its Annual Report for fiscal year 2023, summarizing its activities from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. According to the annual report, OI opened 82 new...more
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently published a memorandum from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) documenting planned changes to the NRR’s Safety Culture Inspection Program. The NRC expects to...more
The NRC published a draft interim staff guidance (ISG) on June 15, 2023, reemphasizing limitations on the use of funds previously reported to the NRC as providing radiological decommissioning funding assurance (DFA)....more
On September 22, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for funding to establish regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hub)...more
The NRC staff recently provided the Commission with their annual Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) Self-Assessment for Calendar Year 2021 (SECY-22-0029). These annual self-assessments have been part of the ROP since the ROP was...more
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced on April 19 that it is now accepting sealed bids from reactor owners and operators to receive initial credits under the Civil Nuclear Credit Program (CNCP). Concurrent with this...more
A group of four US senators introduced a bill on March 16 to ban imports of uranium products from the Russian Federation. If enacted, such a ban could complicate the refueling of existing commercial reactors in the United...more
In response to reports from the NRC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and a tasking order from the NRC's executive director of operations (EDO) directing a review of NRC oversight of “counterfeit, fraudulent, and suspect...more
The NRC recently revised its Enforcement Manual (Manual) to consolidate and expand its guidance on the process for resolving licensee challenges to certain enforcement actions. The biggest change to the Manual is the creation...more
The global impact of our planet’s changing climate garnered significant attention in 2021. The United States rejoined the Paris Agreement at the beginning of the year, and in November, during the United Nations Climate Change...more
The NRC staff recently issued findings from their review of the 2021 decommissioning funding status (DFS) reports submitted by power reactor licensees and licensees of power reactors in decommissioning. These reports are...more
Despite the global attention being paid to combatting climate change, nuclear energy is often ignored in the discussion about how to reduce carbon emissions, but as a reliable, low-carbon energy source, nuclear power is...more
President Joseph Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Act) on November 15, 2021, which allocates $550 billion in new spending over the next five years to improve US infrastructure,...more
11/16/2021
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The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved publication in the Federal Register of a proposed rule, “Regulatory Improvements for Production and Utilization Facilities Transitioning to Decommissioning” on November 3,...more
The NRC’s Commissioners approved an NRC Staff request on August 5 to withdraw two SECY memoranda related to improvements of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP). These SECY papers were...more
The NRC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) recently issued an enforcement guidance memorandum (EGM) to reinforce the NRC’s Enforcement Policy (Policy) and earlier guidance on identifying and documenting findings and associated...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered PJM Interconnection, LLC’s (PJM) on July 25 to suspend its 2019 Base Residual Auction (BRA), which provides for capacity payments to electric generators. FERC found that...more
NRC staff proposed to the Commission (see SECY-2019-067) certain changes to the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) on June 28. Overall, these changes, if approved by the Commission, will result in a net reduction in the amount...more
The Ohio House of Representatives approved HB 6 on July 23, providing up to $150 million in financial support for the two operating nuclear plants in the state. A version of the House bill was passed by the Ohio Senate last...more
The agency requests comments on policies regarding state support for zero-carbon-emitting power plants....more