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 U.S. Supreme Court, in NRC v. Texas, issued an opinion holding that the State of Texas did not have standing to challenge a license granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to a private entity,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 18, 2025, decided Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, 605 U.S. ___ (2025), which involved challenges to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC or Commission) decision to grant a...more
On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Nuclear Regulatory Commission, et al. v. Texas, et al., reinstated a license originally issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), permitting the storage of depleted...more
The Supreme Court’s decision in NRC v. Texas gives nuclear energy generators and storage facilities, as well as NRC, the latest win in the decades-long struggle over used-fuel storage....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 US Department of Energy’s failure to transport and store spent nuclear fuel (SNF) pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act has required the government to reimburse the industry for substantial storage costs, and future...more
In this episode of our "An Energized Exchange" podcast series by our Energy & Natural Resources Industry Sector Group, attorneys Andy Kriha and Liz Craddock sit down for a conversation about hot topics in nuclear waste. This...more
The House Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security held a hearing on April 10, 2024 to examine federal responsibility for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), along with opportunities for mitigating...more
From the “Not-my-circus-not-my-monkeys” department, after the 10th anniversary of the Fukishima disaster last March my curiosity ventured into the nuclear energy debate. ...more
Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new funding program issued by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). An impressive $40 million in funds are being set aside to support the new Optimizing...more
The NRC published a notice of a petition for rulemaking from the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC) in the Federal Register on April 9 asking the NRC to revise 10 CFR Part 37 to require that...more
EU’s in-house science body determines that nuclear energy is a sustainable technology under the EU’s green finance rules; ruling has positive impact for government and private sector support for nuclear technologies in the EU...more
A recent change in New York law requires local authorities to assess spent nuclear fuel storage facilities at permanently shutdown nuclear power plants as real property for ad valorem tax purposes. The legislation raises...more
The NRC Staff recently issued SECY-20-0098, which provides the Staff’s recommendation to consolidate two low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal rulemakings. Specifically, the Staff supports combining the draft final rule...more
Trade groups sue California to stop threatened species listing for Western Joshua Tree - Bullet Desert Sun – October 27 - Several trade groups and a high desert town sued in Fresno County Superior Court on October 21 over...more
DOE issued an interpretive rule asserting the power to unilaterally reclassify high-level radioactive waste from Cold War-era reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for nuclear weapons. DOE issued an interpretive rule...more
Potential impediments to post-Brexit retransfers of nuclear material and items between the UK and EURATOM countries - There is currently no U.S. advance consent in place for retransfers of nuclear material and items from...more
President Donald Trump on February 12, 2018, submitted his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. The President's full budget calls for approximately $4.4 trillion in total spending. Much of the budget seeks...more
In early July 2017, operators of German nuclear power plants initiated the next step in the process of decommissioning by transferring €24 billion to the new state-owned fund for nuclear power plant waste disposal. The...more
On Monday, April 24, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Energy & Process Corp. agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle False Claims Act allegations concerning the construction of a large nuclear waste treatment...more
On March 27, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that disposal fees paid by NextEra Energy Inc. and its subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Co. (NextEra or taxpayer) into the Nuclear Waste...more
Our March edition of Energy Technology Connections brings you recent industry highlights and features a list of upcoming energy industry events throughout the nation. If you enjoy learning about new technology as much as we...more
The D.C. Circuit last week denied the Department of Energy’s (DOE) petition for en banc review of the court’s November decision holding that the DOE could not continue to collect nuclear waste fees from utilities. The...more
In an opinion last week surprising only for the shortness of the shrift that the Court gave to DOE’s arguments, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that DOE may not continue to collect nuclear waste handling/disposal fees...more
On August 13, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit took the rare step of granting a Petition for Writ of Mandamus compelling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) to resume the licensing...more