The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted a request by CB&I Areva MOX Services (MOX Services) to terminate the construction authorisation for the partially built mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at Savannah River in South Carolina.
World Nuclear News 13th Feb 2019 read more »
The projected cost of remaining cleanup at the Hanford Site has dramatically increased over the last three years, according to a Department of Energy report made public on Feb. 1. The 2019 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost report estimates the remaining cost of environmental remediation of the former plutonium production complex in Washington state at $323.3 billion under a best-case scenario. The worst case would be $677 billion, the report found. The previous life-cycle report, released in early 2016, projected the remaining expense in a range of $103.5 billion to $107.7 billion. Costs in the future years in both the current and prior life-cycle reports have been adjusted to reflect inflation, and both documents include about 20 years of limited spending on surveillance after cleanup is completed.
Exchange Monitor 8th Feb 2019 read more »
Last week the Democratic party, backed by the new energy of a particularly young and leftist freshman class in the House of Representatives, finally unveiled the first official version of the Green New Deal, a resolution for a new energy policy a long time in the making. The Green New Deal is being championed by New York’s divisive newcomer Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. As is standard for complex congressional plans, a fact sheet was also released alongside the Green New Deal to explain the bill in layman’s terms. The fact sheet details how the United States could strategically lower its greenhouse gas emissions all the way to zero over the next ten years. There was one striking difference however, between the fact sheet and the Green New Deal bill itself, and it’s a big one: the key green-energy issue of nuclear power. While the fact sheet made public by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez states outright and in no uncertain terms that the Democrats’ Green New Deal “will not include investing in new nuclear power plants,” nuclear energy is not mentioned in the original bill at all. Instead, the language of the bill remains vague on exactly what energy sources it plans to utilize in order to reach their zero-emissions target. The Green New Deal merely outlines a plan to source 100 percent of the United States’ energy from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by the end of the decade without ever once explicitly mentioning nuclear power.
Oil Price 13th Feb 2019 read more »
National Nuclear Security Administration Chief of Staff William “Ike” White on Tuesday said refurbishing the “former” Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility for a plutonium pit production mission is a serious infrastructure undertaking with a pretty aggressive schedule to match.
Aiken Standard 12th Feb 2019 read more »