Podcast - Hot Topics in Nuclear Waste
Hogan Lovells' Mary Anne Sullivan on the floor of Hogan Lovells Global Energy Summit
The US has a massive disparity between domestic uranium production and demand, highlighting a critical dependency on foreign sources, particularly as nuclear energy development is expected to increase. Recent federal public...more
In April 2023, Idaho National Laboratory (“INL”), a U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) National Laboratory, published a report entitled “Recommendations to Improve the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reactor Licensing and...more
First, the Commission voted to not conduct a formal rulemaking on the NRC’s current environmental review process under 10 CFR Part 51. Separately, the staff proposed alternative timelines for a rulemaking to revise the...more
The NRC staff recently released its long-awaited policy paper on Environmental Justice (EJ) reform at the agency (SECY-22-0025, “Systematic Review of How Agency Programs, Policies, and Activities Address Environmental...more
Several NRC Staff recommendations emphasize increased communication with stakeholders, including creating an NRC Federal Advisory Committee on Environmental Justice issues. However, it is unclear how this committee or other...more
The Commission recently approved the NRC Staff’s recommendation to pursue a 24-month schedule for updating the agency’s Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (LR GEIS). The Commission’s...more
On February 24, 2022, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued three unusual decisions pertaining to the agency’s review of subsequent license renewal (SLR) applications. The Commission orders reversed a previous...more
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
On September 27, the NRC held a public meeting where it invited speakers to present on their experience with environmental justice (EJ) issues and also to hear recommendations on the agency’s approach when reevaluating how to...more
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Staff has sought the Commission’s approval to initiate a rulemaking to update the agency’s environmental protection regulations for licensing activities....more
The NRC on April 30 published a notice of its intent to conduct scoping and gather information necessary to develop a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for small-scale advanced nuclear reactors (ANRs). ...more
The NRC has declared its intent to streamline the environmental review process for advanced nuclear reactors in an important step that will facilitate the construction and operation of these clean energy sources. The NRC...more
The Council on Environmental Quality is proposing major changes to its regulations concerning the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), that if implemented could have impacts on advanced reactor licensing. ...more
The White House released its long-awaited infrastructure plan outline last week. Leaving aside the funding proposals, the plan sets forth a number of potential revisions to the environmental permitting process for new...more