Budget & Policy

Supreme Court agrees to vacate ruling against Biden’s contractor vax mandate The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to vacate a national preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, after the Justice Department argued the issue became moot when pandemic emergency measures ended this spring. The court Monday granted a petition […]

President Joe Biden (D) was set to sign a fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes raises for nuclear weapons programs and flat spending for nuclear-weapons cleanup but no major changes for civilian nuclear energy policies. This week, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, both chambers of Congress approved the bill, a compromise version of separate […]

The Senate on Wednesday passed a compromise version of the 2024 National Defense Appropriations Act that sets policy and spending limits for nuclear weapons and all other defense programs. The Senate easily passed the bill, unveiled last week after closed-door negotiations with members of the House, by 87-13.  The House of Representatives was scheduled to […]

Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s (D) on Friday signed a law that partially repealed a 36-year ban on new nuclear reactors. The law, HB2473, also removed spent nuclear fuel and waste created by extracting uranium from spent fuel from the state’s list of high level nuclear waste materials.  Under the new law, introduced in November […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 12: Meeting. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Discussion of the Administration’s Short- and Long-term Domestic Uranium Fuel Strategy. NRC Headquarters, Commissioners’ Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. 10:00 a.m. Streaming online. 13: Meeting: A Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act contained few surprises for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, but final negotiations between the House and Senate this week did settle a few Capitol Hill disputes over more granular matters at the National Nuclear Security Administration. First, the final NDAA does not gate any travel funds […]

A unified 2024 National Defense Authorization Act unveiled this week provides about what President Joe Biden sought for cleanup of Department of Energy nuclear weapon sites, but won’t expand a compensation program for sick nuclear workers. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) report published Wednesday by a House-Senate conference committee, does not reauthorize the Radiation […]

Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.) on Friday urged Congress to pass her package of nuclear energy reforms, which were stripped this week from a must-pass defense bill as competing House reforms advanced. “If the United States wants to get serious about our long-term energy security and our environmental goals, nuclear energy is the clear answer. Passing […]

Members of the House and Senate this week stripped a measure to extend compensation for victims of nuclear radiation exposure from a must-pass defense bill. The amendment to the Senate’s version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would have extended the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for 19 years and provided health care […]

A House committee this week sent two nuclear energy bills to the floor, one with workplace reforms for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and another to encourage domestic production of uranium fuel. The first bill approved Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, rolls up a number of smaller legislative […]

By John Stang The former head of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio pleaded not guilty on Monday to bribery and embezzlement in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in a case related to two financially struggling nuclear power plants in that state, a court filing shows. A federal grand jury on Nov. 29 indicted […]

The agreed-upon conference report on the 2024 must-pass defense policy bill includes a requirement for the Defense Department and National Nuclear Security Administration to develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile.  As for funding levels, DOE nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons cleanup programs would be authorized for roughly the requested levels. Within three months of its […]

A House committee on Tuesday sent two nuclear energy bills to the floor, one with workplace reforms for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and another to encourage domestic production of uranium fuel. The first bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, rolls up a number of smaller legislative proposals […]

As part of the must-pass defense policy bill for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, Congress will consider this week a measure to extend benefits to victims of nuclear radiation exposure for nearly another two decades.  Congress last week took up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in conference between members of both houses. […]

The former head of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio pleaded not guilty on Monday to bribery and embezzlement in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in a case related to two financially struggling nuclear power plants in that state, a court filing shows. A federal grand jury on Nov. 29 indicted Sam Randazzo, 74, […]

When the House of Representatives voted Friday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has not been convicted of any crime, some prominent GOP members of the House representing Department of Energy weapons complex sites came down on opposite sides. The 311-to-114 vote to kick out Santos, the subject of a scathing House Ethic Committee […]

This week. Here is an event related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 05: Meeting: The Hanford Advisory Board holds a hybrid meeting starting at 9 a.m. Pacific Time from the Red Lion Pasco, Wash., 2525 N 20th Avenue, Pasco, WA 99301. To receive virtual access information contact the […]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) vowed to vote against the must-pass defense policy bill when it comes before the Senate unless it includes compensation for Missourians potentially exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons work dating back to the Manhattan Project. The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is now in conference between members of […]

Members of the House and Senate this week kicked off formal negotiations for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, but they will not consider a package of nuclear policy reforms along with the bill, media reported. A spokesperson for Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.), the author of the reforms, confirmed Friday that they will not be […]

Members of the House and Senate were set to formally kick off final negotiations for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee announced. The leaders of the two chambers’ Armed Services Committees were set to appear briefly in public in the Senate Dirksen Office Building on Wednesday before moving […]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) vowed to vote against the must-pass defense policy bill when it comes before the Senate unless it includes compensation for Missourians potentially exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons work dating back to the Manhattan Project. The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is set for Senate consideration in the […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week 27: Meeting. Massachusetts Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. Agenda and webcast link to be posted online at the panel’s website. 28: Meeting. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to meet with the Nuclear Energy […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not publish on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Thursday, Nov. 23 in observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Monday, Nov. 27.

This week Here is an event related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 21: Earnings Call: Jacobs will hold its fourth quarter earnings call starting at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week released Pacific Gas and Electric’s Corp.’s (PG&E) 2,915-page license renewal application for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach, Calif.  The utility had to apply for renewal before Dec. 31 for the commission to consider the application timely filed. In a press release Thursday, NRC said it is […]

The Senate on Wednesday voted 90-8 in favor of formally beginning final negotiations with the House to produce a unified version of an annual defense policy bill. Conferees from the two bodies must now hammer out a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), both of which would set spending limits for the […]

Nuclear policy reforms that hitched a ride on an annual must-past defense bill are in trouble in the House, the bill’s sponsor said this week at a meeting of nuclear professionals. “[W]e’ve really hit a stumbling block if not just a whole wall in the House,” Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.) said in a  Monday morning […]

The Department of Energy’s 2023 budget was extended through Jan. 19 by another short-term spending bill, which Congress passed this week before leaving Washington for their Thanksgiving recess. President Joe Biden (D) signed the House-authored bill on Thursday, the same day the Senate passed it 87-11. The House passed the bill Tuesday 336-95. This is […]

The Department of Energy’s 2023 budget was extended through Jan. 19 by another short-term spending bill, which Congress passed this week before leaving Washington for their Thanksgiving recess. President Joe Biden (D) signed the House-authored bill on Thursday, the same day the Senate passed it 87-11. The House passed the bill Tuesday 336-95. This is […]

Lawmakers who created an independent commission to study U.S. nuclear modernization efforts without estimating the cost, now want to see what replacing all three legs of the triad and rehabbing the National Nuclear Security Administration will cost.  During a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, several representatives — all Democrats — dinged […]