Audit of DOE Nuclear Energy contract for NuScale shows mismanagement

This new Dept of Energy Inspector General's  report is useful for showing how DOE Nuclear Energy mismanaged the NuScale project, as well as other projects.  Our taxpayer money wasted again!

Audit of DOE Nuclear Energy contract for NuScale shows mismanagement.

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/DOE-OIG-26-25.pdf

Donna Gilmore

ISFSI liability protection gap

Hello:

The Price-Anderson Act provides compensation for offsite damages from a nuclear plant release of radioactivity. Kinda. Sorta.

When a nuclear plant is operating, up to nearly $16 billion is available for harm caused by radioactivity released from a reactor core, its spent fuel pool, or an onsite ISFSI.

This liability protection consists of private insurance (currently at $500 million) purchased by the plant owner supplemented, if necessary, by funds collected from the owners of other operating nuclear plants. 

When a nuclear plant permanently shuts down, the NRC approves exemptions from the Price-Anderson insurance coverages. In November 2023, the NRC approved an exemption for Indian Point reducing its private insurance level to $100 million and dropping the site from the supplemental pool.

The NRC's "logic" for the exemptions is that the risk of an accident at an ISFSI is very, very, very low. Perhaps. But is the risk of a terrorist act at an ISFSI of a permanently shut down plant equally low? The NRC's "analysis" did not consider terrorist acts. And the force-on-force tests of security at operating plants is terminated once a plant permanently shuts down.

To be fair, nuclear security is quite good. No nuclear plant or dry cask has ever been stolen (as far as we know). 

But a terrorist act at the Indian Point ISFSI were to cause more than $100 million in offsite damages, who would provide the compensation?  Who? And how?

Perhaps the Stafford Act would fill in for the AWOL Price-Anderson Act. All it would take is an act by the federal government (you know, the folks who have been shut down the past few weeks because of their inability to reach agreement on a budget) to invoke the act. 

The NRC's assumption that a terrorist attack on an ISFSI at a permanently shut down nuclear plant should be backed, at least, by their conducting force-on-force tests of the untested security they are relying so much on to protect Americans. 

In the force-on-force tests conducted at operating reactors, the mock bad guys "win" a small percentage of the time (about 4 to 5 percent.) That's good. It shows the tests don't ask simply questions like "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb" and accept "Dead people" as a correct answer. The losses allow security weaknesses to be remedied before real bad guys can exploit them. Force-on-force tests are essential in determining that security is sufficient and identifying gaps needing to be closed. 

Thanks,

Dave Lochbaum

20251107-ip-lochbaum-liability-protection-gap.pdf

SUN DAY Campaign: Quarterly Compilation of News Story Excerpts (1st Q. 2026)

SUN DAY CAMPAIGN

(a campaign for a sustainable energy future)

8606 Greenwood Avenue, #2; Takoma Park, MD 20912-6656

301-588-4741; sun-day-campaign@hotmail.com

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follow on BlueSky at: @sun-day-campaign.bsky.social

         

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April 9, 2026       

       

To:  Members, SUN DAY Campaign       

       

From: Ken Bossong       

       

Attached as a word document please find a compilation of news story "excerpts" issued by the SUN DAY Campaign between January 1 and March 31, 2026.       

       

These "excerpts" provide short reviews of new reports and studies on sustainable energy and climate change issues. If you are on the mailing list for SUN DAY’s bi-weekly compilation of news story excerpts, you may have received this information earlier.      

     

Approximately 250 news story "excerpts" are provided in the 63-page compilation.       

       

They are listed in chronological order within each of 10 different categories (e.g., solar, wind, climate change).       

       

You may find this information of use if you are preparing any reports, news releases, testimony, letters-to-the-editor, etc.       

       

NOTE: A similar set of news story “excerpts” for the second quarter of 2026 may be sent to you sometime in early July 2026. 

SUN.DAY_.News_.Headlines.1stQ'26.docx

E&E: California’s Diablo nuclear plant gets 20-year extension from federal regulators

https://www.eenews.net/articles/californias-nuclear-plant-gets-20-year-extension-from-federal-regulators/​​​​​​​

California’s nuclear plant gets 20-year extension from federal regulators

The decision extends the life of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, which has operated since 1985.

By: 

 | 04/03/2026 06:33 AM EDT

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant sits on California's Central Coast.Pacific Gas and Electric

ENERGYWIRE | Federal officials on Thursday approved a 20-year extension for California’s only nuclear power plant, capping a remarkable turnaround for a facility that was previously slated to retire and bolstering the ongoing resurgence of American nuclear energy.

What happened: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Acting Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Jeremy Groom signed off on Pacific Gas & Electric’s license renewal application to extend operations of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant through 2045. That opens the door to the plant staying open for another two decades, but to do so, it will also need permission from the state, which has so far only authorized operations through 2030.

“As California advances its clean energy and reliability goals, Diablo Canyon remains a stabilizing force on a dynamic grid,” Groom said during the signing ceremony. “It provides a steady source of carbon-free power during a period of rapid transition, supporting climate objectives while ensuring that the lights stay on in homes and businesses across the state.”

Why it matters: The NRC decision sets the stage for a major debate in the California Legislature over whether to extend the state's current permissions for the plant. The contours of that conversation, which have largely focused on grid reliability and energy affordability, illustrate how dramatically views of nuclear power have shifted in recent years.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has thus far refrained from taking a position on whether to keep the plant open beyond 2030, released a statement celebrating the decision.

“Today, I welcome the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval as we continue California's clean energy transition, creating good-paying jobs, fighting climate change and cementing the Golden State as a global powerhouse,” Newsom said.

PG&E leadership, meanwhile, was ecstatic about the signing.

“I am so excited my heart is just going to pop out of my chest,” PG&E Chief Nuclear Officer Paula Gerfen said at the event. “With all the distractions that we’ve had, the near closure of the station, then the turnaround in 2022, this team … stayed focused and ran the units safely, reliably and affordably through almost a decade of noise.”

Context: In 2016, PG&E signed an agreement with environmental and labor groups to retire Diablo Canyon by 2025, when its NRC license expired, and replace its electricity production with renewables and energy storage. At that time, global concern sparked by the 2011 leaks at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant loomed large over Diablo Canyon, as did California’s growing renewable energy generation requirements.

But in 2020, rolling blackouts exposed the vulnerabilities of the California grid, and a 2022 heat wave strained the system to the brink. That year, Newsom led a successful effort to extend Diablo Canyon to 2030 to shore up the electricity supply.

PG&E needed permission from the NRC to continue operating through 2030. But instead of applying for a five-year period, the company applied for a 20-year extension, the maximum that the NRC grants.

As the utility collected its state-level permits to extend operations during the past year, some lawmakers signaled an appetite to keep Diablo Canyon online beyond 2030. That included the influential chair of the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, who told POLITICO that the state will need Diablo Canyon to meet soaring electricity demands.

At the Thursday signing, John Grubb, interim president of the Bay Area Council, a business interest group, signaled that his organization will fight for an extension.

“The next step is securing long-term, durable support from the state of California, so that this facility can operate with certainty through 2045, and beyond,” Grubb said. “The Bay Area Council will be actively working with state leaders this year to ensure that Diablo Canyon remains part of California's energy future.”

But some legislative leaders have been hesitant to embrace an extension in light of concerns that the 2022 agreement turned out to be a bad deal for the state, especially given that taxpayers may end up footing a significant portion of the $1.4 billion loan California gave PG&E.

Multiple environmental groups are also working to stop Diablo Canyon’s march toward an extension by challenging its water permits.

Linda Seeley, vice president of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a nuclear-critical environmental group, said that she opposed the NRC extension due to the facility’s large price tag and safety concerns stemming from Diablo Canyon’s proximity to earthquake faults.

The NRC signoff Thursday “lands us right back with our state legislature to turn around the unwise, foolish, expensive, unneeded Diablo Canyon,” Seeley said.

Background: Meanwhile, a growing coalition of business leaders, public officials and some environmentalists across the nation are backing nuclear energy as a means to power the electricity-hungry artificial intelligence boom.

President Donald Trump has been reshaping the NRC with the goal of quadrupling nuclear power by 2050, but even some of his Democratic antagonists wish he was doing more to push the power source forward. The Diablo Canyon approval represents the 100th renewed operating license for nuclear power plants issued by the NRC, according to Groom.

What’s next: With the NRC permission in hand, PG&E now has the regulatory signoffs it needs to operate Diablo Canyon through 2030. The company’s CEO has called on the California Legislature to act this year if lawmakers want to extend its lifetime beyond then.

NH Bulletin recounts stubborn nuclear waste conundrum to new reactor expansion

https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2026/04/06/new-hampshire-and-nuclear-waste-have-a-fraught-history-the-path-ahead-is-still-unclear/?emci=8e7ae6a5-872f-f111-9a48-000d3a14b640&emdi=be06b4c2-a731-f111-9a48-000d3a14b640&ceid=151160&fbclid=IwY2xjawRAoGNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeck1jHG2vPQV6KvetWA2jMbFoKPBTZZlqRycnFH8IDXGs2ez_99VjIyuHdoA_aem_9yy-OeW_MVIm6_HQVvQwIA

The Trump Admin Is Doing Something Horrifying to Workers at Nuclear Facilities

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/trump-administration-doing-something-horrifying-202055435.html

The Trump Administration Is Doing Something Horrifying to Workers at Nuclear Facilities

Joe Wilkins, Wed, 1 April 2026

It isn’t just the guys handling plutonium who need to worry about radiation — every US nuclear worker, from the plumbers patching leaks to the janitors mopping floors, has a reason to be on guard.

New reporting by High Country News detailed the startling impact the Trump administration is having on the safety of nuclear energy workers.  As part of the administration’s “nuclear renaissance,” the US Department of Energy (DOE) has begun stripping back effective safety regulations that had previously limited workers’ exposure to deadly radiation.

“They’re pulling away from what’s kept us safe all these years,” Bradley Clawson, a former nuclear energy worker at Idaho National Laboratory, told HCN.  “In the long run it helped us as workers.  It was keeping us from getting a higher dose.”

Following four executive orders aimed at nuclear deregulation, both the DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have taken an increasingly lax view of safety at both federal nuclear projects like labs and cleanup sites, as well as commercial energy facilities.  Under Trump, these agencies no longer seem to operate on the long-held assumption that even a small amount of radiation exposure is bad for human health.  Instead, speed is the name of the game.

The language in one May 2025 executive order makes its deregulatory intent clear in no uncertain terms: “In particular, the NRC shall reconsider reliance on the linear no-threshold (LNT) model for radiation exposure and the ‘as low as reasonably achievable’ standard, which is predicated on LNT,” the order read.

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, for example, non-nuclear workers like plumbers and metalworkers are exposed to some amount of radiation, but as HCN notes, the Trump administration has forced the site to double its annual output of nuclear cores.

In a scathing letter to various government administrators, a group of organizations made up of doctors, environmental activists, and researchers called the safety rollbacks a “deliberate subversion of science and public health in favor of corporate interests.”

“Accepting weaker radiation protections amounts to accepting an ever-increasing level of avoidable human disease and suffering,” the letter continues.

The deregulations come as nuclear facilities across the US face a growing shortage of trained and experienced staff — an issue Trump admin energy department layoffs hasn’t exactly helped, and which is in direct contradiction with the White House’s stated goal of jumpstarting America’s nuclear energy capacity.

Facing lagging staff numbers but a rapidly changing nuclear energy landscape, many facilities have to turned to third-party contractors in order to keep up.  The result, critics say, is a breakdown in long-term safety culture as contractors move from site to site.  One prime example of this came in October, when a contractor at Michigan’s Palisade Power Plant fell into a reactor cavity.

Constellation Energy tops S&P 500 losers after no news on power deals for data centers

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4570904-constellation-energy-tops-sp-500-losers-after-no-news-on-power-deals-for-data-centers

Constellation's stock has fallen more than 10% since its quarterly investor call on Monday, on which CEO Joe D. announced exactly zero new deals with AI companies since leading investors to believe it would have contracts  to sell 'at least 1 GW of nuclear power to a tech company at "premium pricing (15+ year terms)."'

The stock price took an immediate dive on Tuesday, rallied a bit yesterday, but has continued to fall today. This isn't only a short-term trend. The stock price is down more than 30% over the last 5.5 months. It fell even lower by early February, then rose again on the news that AI power deals were coming. But that didn't come through before the investor call.

Tim Judson (he/him) 

Executive Director 

Nuclear Information and Resource Service  

unceded Nacotchtank and Piscataway territory