On June 8, 2012, the US District Court of Appeals threw out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) so-called ‘waste confidence’ decision. The lawsuit, brought by the state of New York and four environmental groups (Natural Resources Defense Council, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Riverkeeper, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy) will fundamentally impact NRC licensing proceedings and environmental analysis as well as any future decisions on nuclear waste management. Read more »
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Apologies to all readers for the longish hiatus of this blog. Many things have occurred since we last posted: Read more »
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Today the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) will convene in Denver the first of its public meetings since releasing its draft report on US nuclear waste management. The BRC was created in the wake of the Obama Administration’s wise decision to shutter the Yucca Mountain project as a way to hopefully (finally?) figure out what to do with spent fuel in this country. In case you didn’t know, after 60 years of nuclear power, the U.S. still has no permanent storage for the over 65,000 tons of spent fuel sitting around at 70 sites all over the country. Read more »
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The Associated Press has done some more great work on the safety risks of nuclear reactors. According to its recent analysis of an 11,000 page record request from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear reactor is much greater than previously thought. Read more »

PSR is an organization that you couldn’t accuse of going soft on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Let’s face it: there are many reasons not to. Still, it’s heartening to see that NRC Chairman Jaczko understands that NRC is supposed actually regulate the nuclear industry. Yesterday, he made public his vote (and reasoning for said vote) on the recommendations of the NRC’s Fukushima Task Force, in which he endorses moving forward on the recommendations. Read more »

Sometimes, telling the truth brings applause. That was PSR's experience when we testified before the EPA about the serious dangers to health from coal ash. Read more »

The EPA is offering two versions of a proposed rule for regulating coal ash. One would require the states to adhere to strict new federal regulations. The other... well... Read more »
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Last week I led a small PSR delegation to meet with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to discuss the health hazards of coal ash. Read more »
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