Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: EnergySolutions

Showing posts with label EnergySolutions. Show all posts

Monday, November 15, 2010

Nuke waste panel in Texas votes to publish rules

MIDLAND, Texas — A commission overseeing low-level radioactive waste disposal in Texas voted Saturday to publish proposed rules that would guide the importation of nuclear waste from across the country for burial near the New Mexico line.
The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission voted 5-2 to publish the revised rules in the Texas Registry and allow for a 30-day comment period.
Bob Gregory, who voted against publishing the rules now, said he wanted a longer comment period and felt the commission was rushing.
"I am convinced that this is too much, too soon, too fast - if at all," Gregory said. "There are far too many questions remaining."
Commission Chairman Michael Ford disagreed, saying the panel has not moved too quickly and that the process has been thorough.
If the proposed rules are adopted, low-level radioactive waste from 36 other states will be dumped in a remote region of West Texas along with waste from Texas and Vermont, which make up the compact. Requests for importation would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/13/2628677/nuke-waste-panel-votes-to-publish.html#ixzz15N3B87ds

Monday, October 11, 2010

N-waste may end up in Nevada, rather than Utah

Report: Feds may opt to send depleted uranium to Nevada Test Site

The Department of Energy is reportedly evaluating a plan to store about 10,000 drums of depleted uranium at the Nevada Test Site. The drums, from the Savannah River site in South Carolina, had been slated for EnergySolutions' landfill in Clive, Utah. EnergySolutions would not object if the agency chooses to send the material to Nevada, a company spokesman said. The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Ohio Facility to Starts Operations with AREVA Technology

News out of Southern Ohio yesterday— AREVA announced the start-up of operations at a recently completed conversion facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. Constructed by Uranium Disposition Services LLC, a joint venture of AREVA, EnergySolutions and Burns and Roe, the facility will use a proprietary AREVA process to perform conversion. The UDS partnership is also working on a sister plant across the state border in Paducah, Ky., which should be ready in the coming months.
These two facilities will be used to perform an valuable function for the nuclear energy. They will convert depleted uranium hexafluoride, commonly known as DUF6, into uranium oxide. Expected operate until 2037; the Portsmouth facility will convert 13,500 metric tons of DUF6 per year.
The conversion process is detailed in this graphic from the UDS site below:

As a world leader in the design and operations of DUF6 conversion facilities, AREVA supplied proven process technology based on our nuclear fuel conversion facilities operating in Richland, Wash., and Lingen, Germany.
AREVA North America CEO Jacques Besnainou said that this is “an important recognition of AREVA’s expertise in the construction and operation of safe, efficient nuclear facilities.”
For more information on this new facility and its positive impact for the nuclear industry and economy for Southern Ohio, read the full press release http://us.areva.com/scripts/home/publigen/content/templates/Show.asp?P=913&L=EN.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Nuclear Plant's Tear-Down Is Template

Handover of Exelon nuclear plant may become industry model
Exelon's planned handover of its idled Zion nuclear power plant to nuclear-waste-services firm EnergySolutions may become a template for the industry in decommissioning nuclear plants. Dealing with used nuclear facilities has been a challenge for the industry. "It's much harder to take these plants apart than put them together," said Val Christensen, president and CEO of EnergySolutions. The Wall Street Journal