Podcast - Hot Topics in Nuclear Waste
Hogan Lovells' Mary Anne Sullivan on the floor of Hogan Lovells Global Energy Summit
On June 18, 2025 the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a Request for Application (“RFA”) for a Reactor Pilot Program to construct and operate advanced nuclear reactors outside of the National Laboratories. This program is...more
On Friday, May 23, 2025, President Trump signed four executive orders related to nuclear energy, three of which seek to expedite approval processes for permitting new nuclear reactors. The orders, which build upon...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 5, 2025, heard oral argument in two cases related to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) authority to license temporary spent fuel storage facilities that are not co-located with a...more
The NRC’s Office of Investigations (OI) recently published its Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2024, summarizing its activities from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024. According to the annual report, OI opened 82 new...more
The NRC recently issued Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2025-02, which asks reactor licensees to voluntarily provide information about their plans for power-uprate licensing submittals. The NRC will use this information to set...more
Complaint filed United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Case No. 6:24-cv-00507) - KEY TAKEAWAYS - The States of Texas and Utah, together with private developer Last Energy, have sued to exempt certain...more
The NRC released a draft white paper discussing options to streamline its regulatory licensing process for microreactors. Specifically, the NRC Staff is “considering strategies to streamline the license review process by...more
In a recently issued NRC adjudicatory decision, the Commission reaffirmed its regulatory interpretation allowing power reactor licensees applying for subsequent license renewal (SLR), and the NRC Staff reviewing these...more
Under the assumption that the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) will continue into 2021, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Staff hosted a public meeting via teleconference on October 15 to discuss...more
The NRC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) recently issued Attachment 3 to Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 20-002, providing guidance to NRC Staff to disposition violations of emergency preparedness (EP) regulations during...more
The NRC issued a letter to holders of licenses other than operating power reactor licenses (separate information regarding requests for temporary exemptions from certain security requirements at operating reactors has been...more
The NRC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) recently issued Attachment 2 to Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 20-002, providing guidance to NRC inspection staff for exercising enforcement discretion for certain byproduct...more
The NRC Staff released specific guidance to operating and decommissioning reactor licensees on requesting exemptions from fire protection requirements during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) on May 14....more
The NRC issued a draft letter to holders of licensees (other than operating power reactor licensees) to possess Category 1 or 2 quantities of radioactive material (RAM) as defined in Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 37....more
The NRC issued a letter to the National Organization of Test, Research, and Training Reactors on April 30 regarding the NRC’s expedited review of requests for regulatory relief from certain material control and accounting...more
The NRC Staff hosted a public meeting via teleconference on April 30 to discuss regulatory relief from emergency preparedness (EP) requirements during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE)....more
The director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Office of Enforcement (OE) issued Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 2020-001, “Enforcement Discretion Not to Cite Certain Violations of 10 CFR 73.56 Requirements”...more