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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has voted to renew the license of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth for another 20 years. The agency announced Friday that it has authorized staff to renew the license before it expires on June 8. The NRC voted 3-1 for relicensing, with outgoing chairman Gregory Jaczko the only no vote. Gov. Deval Patrick called the NRC’s decision "extremely troubling." He and other officials sought to delay relicensing until pending safety and environmental concerns were resolved. The NRC says the plant is safe, and the 6 ½ year review of Pilgrim’s application was the lengthiest...

Gregory Jaczko has resigned his chairmanship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Harry Reid and Barack Obama team up to pick on a girlThe Obama administration announced two weeks ago that it would renominate Republican Commissioner Kristine L. Svinicki to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but it has yet to act. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, refuses to say whether he will bring up her nomination for a vote. Apparently, Ms. Svinicki’s membership is getting blackballed. By law, the minority party in the Senate picks two commissioners of the five-member NRC, while the White House chooses the other three, including the chairman. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, submitted...

About this video A leak discovered earlier this year in a steam generator pipe at the San Onofre nuclear plant has lead to two unanimous City Council decisions to send letters of concern to the NRC. Fairewind's Arnie Gundersen presented at both council meetings. In this video Gundersen talks with KPBS's Peggy Pico about the steam generator leak, the city council decisions and the licensing status of San Onofre.

Airborne troops from Russia and the Untied States would hold joint anti-terror drills in the U.S. state of Colorado between May 24 and 31, spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry Col. Alexander Kucherenko said on Thursday. According to the spokesman, it will be the first time that the Russian airborne forces have held exercises with the U.S. airborne forces on the U.S. territory. "According to the exercise scenario, soldiers of the two countries will hold a tactical airborne operation, including the reconnaissance of imaginary terrorists' camp and a raid," Kucherenko said. "After the operation, a helicopter will evacuate the soldiers,"...

According to reports, the U.S. and Russian military will be engaging in an anti-terrorism exercise that will involve Russian paratroopers using U.S. weapons to “take and hold” the main facilities of the CIA and Denver International Airport in Colorado and the National Security Agency in Utah. (Related: Learn about the hypothetical ‘war games’ the U.S. and China have been playing) The European Union Times has more on the report announcing this exercise from the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation: Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Alexander Kucherenko publically announced this 24-21 May “anti-terror drill” this Friday past noting that this...

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to approve licenses to build two new nuclear reactors Thursday, the first approvals in over 30 years. The reactors are being built in Georgia by a consortium of utilities led by Southern Co. They will be sited at the Vogtle nuclear power plant complex, about 170 miles east of Atlanta. The plant already houses two older reactors. Spokespeople for Southern Co. and the NRC were quiet on the matter Wednesday ahead of the vote set for Thursday at 12 PM ET. If approved, NRC staff would likely issue a construction and operating license...

Arrogant, abusive, volatile and arbitrary in his use of authority... The chairman of the NRC has been excoriated by scientists who have seen years of research, discarded as Jaczko... terminated the national nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. He has been castigated by congressmen who support a rational system for nuclear waste disposal -- as mandated by Congress and four previous administrations. The NRC inspector general concluded that Mr. Jaczko has manipulated policy by withholding information from his fellow commissioners.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it would suspend review of the non-foreign ownership requirements of the proposed new reactors at South Texas because Japanese multinational Toshiba effectively controls the project. ("Suspend review" = drop dead in place.)

Top nuke regulators tell White House of ‘grave concerns’ with NRC chairmanBy Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 12/09/11 07:58 PM ET Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have told the White House that NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is causing “serious damage” to the agency that could harm the body’s ability to protect health and safety. An Oct. 13 letter from Jaczko’s four NRC colleagues to White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley is a powerful, unified rebuke of the agency’s leader by his fellow commissioners, who cite “grave concerns” about his conduct and allege it’s increasingly “erratic.” “We believe...

Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Power Station has restored off-site power, eliminating the need to rely on its back-up generators. The station remains in an Alert, the second lowest of the four emergency classifications of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ... As designed, four diesel generators supplied power to the station while the off-site power was unavailable. One of the four generators was taken off-line to repair a generator coolant leak, but a fifth generator at the station was activated to replace it until the offsite power was restored. Repairs are complete to the diesel generator. The company also inspected...

Westinghouse Electric Co. said on Tuesday that regulators have affirmed the safety of its AP1000 nuclear reactor design, the last step toward receiving final approval, which the company expects by year-end. The Cranberry-based company said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will release its final safety evaluation report later this week, which indicates the shield building around the reactor vessel could withstand the impact of an aircraft crash. The structural-strength issue was raised about two years ago, leading Westinghouse to modify the design. The NRC granted initial certification for the design in 2006. "We're in the home stretch to receive final approval...

In the two years that Gregory Jaczko has led the nation's independent nuclear agency, his actions to delay, hide and kill work on a disputed dump for high-level radioactive waste have been called "bizarre," `'unorthodox" and "illegal..." An inspector general's report released last week exposed the internal strife under Jaczko. The internal watchdog said he intimidated staff members who disagreed with him and withheld information from members of the commission... The tactics disclosed in the investigative report are just the latest in a saga unfolding since President Barack Obama put the former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the...

WASHINGTON — In the two years that Gregory Jaczko has led the nation's independent nuclear agency, his actions to delay, hide and kill work on a disputed dump for high-level radioactive waste have been called "bizarre," `'unorthodox" and "illegal." These harsh critiques haven't come just from politicians who have strong views in favor of the Yucca Mountain waste site in Nevada. They've come from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's own scientists and a former agency chairman. An inspector general's report released last week exposed the internal strife under Jaczko. The internal watchdog said he intimidated staff members who disagreed with him...

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is using the weight of a Vatican report about the urgency of tackling global warming to urge Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans to hold another hearing on climate science. Waxman, the panel’s top Democrat, sent a letter Monday to the committee's GOP chairman asking for a hearing with authors of a Vatican report issued in May and a separate National Research Council (NRC) report from this month that also called for action to cut emissions. The letter could put committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in a politically sensitive spot if he does not agree that the...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Friday that it found additional technical issues with Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s new AP1000 nuclear power reactor design, prompting critics to call for a suspension of the agency's license review process. The commission raised questions regarding the shield building situated over the reactor in the AP1000 design, as well as the peak accident pressures expected within the containment unit. The agency said it would consider what impact the technical issues will have on scheduled AP1000-related application reviews after its staff examines Westinghouse's response. As far back as October 2009, the commission had raised concerns about...

Why is nobody talking about safe nuclear power? By Julian Cribb - posted Wednesday, 4 May 2011 Sign Up for free e-mail updates! In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the most extraordinary thing is the lack of public discussion and the disturbing policy silence – here and worldwide – over safe nuclear energy. Yes, it does exist. There is a type of nuclear reactor which cannot melt down or blow up, and does not produce intractable waste, or supply the nuclear weapons cycle. It's called a thorium reactor or sometimes, a molten salt reactor – and it is...

California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman was among the loudest proponents of whistleblower protections during the Bush years ̶ particularly when the subject was the Iraq war ̶ but GOP staffers say his attitude seems to have changed with the shift to a Democratic administration. Waxman spoke out loudly for protecting whistleblowers from “incompetent management” (Snip) Waxman chose to ignore a large stamp stating “NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE” on a series of emails between Dan Grazer, the data manager for the NRC’s Yucca Mountain licensing program, and Judge Roy Hawkins, the chief administrative judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board,

The hydrogen explosions that shattered the tops of two reactor buildings at the Fukushima 1 nuclear complex followed the venting of hydrogen and steam by plant operators desperate to prevent a far greater disaster: a high-pressure explosion of the primary reactor containment shell and radioactivity release, a former senior U.S. nuclear official concludes. [...] Bill Borchardt, NRC executive director for operations, was asked at an NRC meeting Monday whether the Fukushima Mark I units had hardened venting systems. "That we're not clear on. I'm not sure. I can't really answer that question." [...]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is calling for a comprehensive safety review at the 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S. in the wake of the Japanese disaster. The president is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to examine nuclear plants to ensure they can withstand earthquakes and other disasters. Obama said lessons can be learned from the unfolding nuclear disaster caused by last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In televised remarks Thursday, The president said U.S. officials do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the West Coast of the continental U.S., Hawaii or Alaska. He repeated the statement...