Several important events have recently occurred involving the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, and the interactions between the two.

Getting the NRC license is just the first step

This evening there will be a debate on a nuclear referendum that is on the town ballot in Plymouth, Mass. The referendum calls for a halt to relicensing the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, pending implementation of Fukushima lessons learned.

Digital control room simulator at US NRC

With all the justifiable excitement about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's granting licenses to Southern Company to build two 1,100-MW Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors, it also is worth noting the progress the utility is making to train operators to run the new plants.

Plymouth, Massachusetts, "America's Home Town," is the place where the pilgrims landed, and is also the home of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. On March 29, a forum was held in Plymouth to discuss a non-binding ballot question for the town election in May. The question is whether or not to freeze the plant's relicensing process until all the Fukushima fixes are completed.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on March 30 voted to clear the way for its Office of New Reactors to issue two licenses for two new AP1000 reactors at the V.C. Summer site in Parr, S.C. This marks the NRC's second approval of nuclear units to be built in the United States in two months. In February, the NRC approved a license for Atlanta-based Southern Company's Vogtle project, in Waynesboro, Ga. The NRC had not issued any new reactor licenses since 1978.

The plant dodges another bullet at least for now

A hearing titled "Lessons from Fukushima One Year Later: NRC's Implementation of Recommendations for Enhancing Nuclear Reactor Safety in the 21st Century" will be held in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, March 15, at 10:00 AM EDT. The hearing will be a joint session of the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.

Kundankulam nuclear project jammed in new controversies

Soon after declaring that it would end the Yucca Mountain repository project, the Obama administration created the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future to reevaluate the nation's nuclear waste program and policies. The commission was asked to recommend improvements to the waste program and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), and to make general recommendations on the path forward. The commission was specifically instructed to not address the Yucca Mountain project, or any specific project or site. The commission's final report was released this month.

The utility is assessing options to use it 

Federal District Court rules against efforts by the State of Vermont to assert regulatory authority over radiological safety issues

Jaczko

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko has voted in favor of the final certification rule for Westinghouse Electric Company's AP1000 pressurized water reactor design. His vote, dated December 6, was posted in the ADAMS document system on the NRC Web site, at 9:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 9; it can be downloaded from ADAMS with the accession number ML113430027.