Browse by Tags

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The nuclear energy industry is “safer than it was before the Fukushima Daiichi accident” as nuclear energy facility operators around the world continue to upgrade their emergency preparedness and response capabilities, the...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards said last week it does not support an agency staff position that would require the 31 U.S. boiling water reactors with Mark I and II containments to install external containment...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. NRC staff last week outlined several options it is considering for creating a more integrated regulatory framework, as recommended by the agency’s post-Fukushima task force. The options, discussed at a Nov. 8 public meeting...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. NRC staff told the agency’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards last week it believes that installing external containment vent filters on some reactors could be beneficial. The industry, however, said that filtering...

The NRC has issued for public comment draft interim staff guidance for U.S. nuclear energy facility operators to perform certain flooding hazard assessments in response to a request for information the agency issued in March as part of its response to the Fukushima accident. The March request calls for...

Of the 34 nuclear energy facilities in the path of Hurricane Sandy, all responded well and safely to the powerful storm, demonstrating their resilience against severe natural forces. Careful planning and comprehensive preparations days in advance of the storm paid off at all the facilities, ensuring...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC’s latest analysis of faults near the Diablo Canyon nuclear energy facility in California confirms that the plant’s design could withstand earthquakes near the site, the agency said in a seismic. The NRC’s work is...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. An online poll across 24 countries shows nuclear energy has more than 50 percent support in the United States, China, India and Great Britain, but less than majority support in other countries, including Japan, Germany and...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. Discussion of the cumulative effects of regulation on NRC licensees dominated a panel at last week’s NEI Licensing Forum, with the views of the industry’s commercial nuclear energy and fuel cycle sectors well represented...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. NRC Commissioner William Ostendorff told attendees at NEI’s Licensing Forum this week that the nuclear energy industry needs to communicate how the FLEX strategy would work to bolster public safety. FLEX, the industry’s...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. NEI has reiterated its position that the key to minimizing radioactive releases during an accident is to avoid core damage. In a letter to the NRC, NEI is also urging the agency to consolidate several issues it is analyzing...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC has issued for public comment draft interim staff guidance for U.S. nuclear energy facility operators to evaluate their sites’ responses to reanalyzed flooding hazards that exceed levels the plants were designed...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. A new study by the Electric Power Research Institute that examines options for minimizing the release of radioactive materials in a severe nuclear accident says that a combination of strategies would be more effective than...

NRC staff has issued for public comment draft interim staff guidance for U.S. nuclear energy facility operators reassessing the ability of their plants to withstand earthquakes. The guidance describes the NRC’s “acceptable method” for licensees to conduct enhanced “seismic margin assessments,” or SMAs...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC commissioners told congressional leaders this week they are confident, despite acknowledging the schedule as “very aggressive,” that the highest-priority post-Fukushima safety enhancements will be completed...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC has released Interim Staff Guidance on three post-Fukushima orders the agency issued in March on safety enhancements at the nation’s nuclear energy facilities. “The NRC guidance issued last week meets the intent...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The United States and other participants in an international conference last week proposed a series of measures to enhance nuclear safety, including 15 “action-oriented objectives.” Attendees at the Convention on Nuclear...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. Hurricane Isaac had no impact on the three Gulf Coast nuclear energy facilities, but operator Entergy made extensive preparations, including shutting down Waterford 3 before the storm made landfall Wednesday morning. The...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. Member nations of the International Atomic Energy Agency have made “significant progress” in nuclear safety since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the organization’s director general said this week. Yukiya Amano cited...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The industry has submitted for NRC endorsement revised guidance for implementing the agency’s post-Fukushima order to install additional used fuel storage pool instrumentation. The revision clarifies several points based...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The use of nuclear energy will continue to increase globally, even though last year’s accident in Japan has curbed expansion, the International Atomic Energy Agency says. “The Fukushima Daiichi accident resulted in a slowing...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC’s regulatory framework and processes for considering off-site property damage from unintended releases of radioactive material are “sound” and provide enough flexibility to account for economic consequences in the...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC’s plan to require licensees to evaluate the potential loss of a nuclear energy facility’s ultimate heat sink, or long-term cooling source, as part of flooding hazard re-evaluations will extend the time needed to...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. The NRC has published a report describing actions taken and planned by the agency and the nuclear energy industry to enhance safety following the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The U.S. national report was prepared in conjunction...

The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview. NRC Commissioner George Apostolakis had questions about the nuclear energy industry’s FLEX strategy at a briefing on the progress made to implement the highest-priority recommendations of the agency’s post-Fukushima task...