Budget & Policy

  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a Nevada congresswoman in a recent letter that it was still considering a motion from the Silver State aimed at killing the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. NRC has Nevada’s Sep. 20 request to reopen the agency’s licensing proceedings for the Yucca Mountain site “under advisement in its […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 24: Meeting: The Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant holds a public forum starting at 5:30 p.m. Central Time at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino in Santa Fe. The meeting will also be carried online.  […]

The U.S. Department of Justice is opening a U.S. Attorney’s Office branch in Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, Vanessa Waldref, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington said Oct. 14 in a press release. Federal prosecutors have handled an average of about 70 cases per year from the Tri-Cities area, […]

Congress should not authorize or fund a nuclear-tipped, lower-yield sea-launched cruise missile or save a megaton-class gravity bomb, the White House said again this week. The message was part of a statement of administration policy about the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which like the version of the […]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to declare a federal emergency after the Hazelwood, Mo., school board voted to stop using a local elementary school near which radioactive contamination has been found from a Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program cleanup site. The Hazelwood Board of Education acted Tuesday night to close […]

Congress should not authorize or fund a nuclear-tipped, lower-yield sea-launched cruise missile or save a megaton-class gravity bomb, the White House said again Tuesday. The message was part of a statement of administration policy about the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which like the version of the annual […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 19-20: Meeting: Hanford Advisory Board meets in a hybrid session starting at 1 p.m. Pacific Time on Oct. 19 and then at 9 a.m. on Oct. 20. The session originates from the Three Rivers Convention Center, Room […]

In an amendment to the Senate’s biggest defense bill of the year, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wants to force another debate about whether Congress should authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy to build a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile. Van Hollen’s amendment would bar development of the missile, citing the cost. President […]

The U.S. national security strategy released Wednesday did not contain the Joe Biden Administration’s unclassified nuclear posture review or call for extreme changes to the nation’s nuclear-weapons philosophy. “Nuclear deterrence remains a top priority for the Nation,” reads the 48-page, 23,000-word national security strategy, which devotes roughly 400 words to nuclear weapons. “The United States […]

An amendment to the Senate’s nearly $900 billion defense budget proposed for the 2023 fiscal year would, if made law, direct the Department of Energy to ensure that the U.S. civilian nuclear fleet can run on domestically-sourced fuel. Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.V.) proposed add to the Senate’s $847 billion version of the National Defense Authorization […]

An amendment to the Senate’s nearly $900 billion defense budget proposed for the 2023 fiscal year would, if made law, direct the Department of Energy to ensure that the U.S. civilian nuclear fleet can run on domestically-sourced fuel. Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.V.) proposed add to the Senate’s $847 billion version of the National Defense Authorization […]

The U.S. national security strategy released Wednesday did not contain the Joe Biden Administration’s unclassified nuclear posture review or call for extreme changes to the nation’s nuclear-weapons philosophy. “Nuclear deterrence remains a top priority for the Nation,” reads the 48-page, 23,000-word national security strategy, which devotes roughly 400 words to nuclear weapons. “The United States […]

Uranium fuel company Cameco and environmental investment firm Brookfield Renewable Partners on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership aimed at purchasing Westinghouse Electric Company, according to a press release. If the deal closes as planned, Cameco will own a 49% stake in Westinghouse and Brookfield Renewable will control 51% of the company, according to a Tuesday […]

In an amendment to the Senate’s biggest defense bill of the year, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wants to force another debate about whether Congress should authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy to build a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile. Van Hollen’s amendment would bar development of the missile, citing the cost. President […]

The nuclear-powered submarines Australia wants will likely include U.S.-built nuclear reactors and be preceded by a joint U.S.-Australian command of a Virginia-class attack submarine, a member of the House Armed Services Committee said in a recent virtual event. “I think the way to do that is to just say that BWXT will produce those reactors, […]

The Department of Energy and a Jacobs-led contractor have started tearing down shuttered support buildings at the Idaho National Laboratory used for a Naval reactor prototype for the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced in February it would oversee deactivation and demolition of the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse […]

Ahead of the midterm elections, plans for disposing of spent nuclear fuel currently stranded at a California nuclear power plant are among the issues at play in one battle to represent the Golden State in Congress. The issue of nuclear waste disposal is especially personal to the candidates for California’s 49th congressional district — incumbent […]

Here is an event related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week October 12: Meeting: The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board for Oak Ridge holds a hybrid meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The session will be held at the DOE Information Center, Office of Science and […]

KNOXVILLE, TENN. – The Department of Energy’s acting manager for nuclear cleanup at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee said here Wednesday that final state and federal authorization are in hand for design and construction of a long-sought onsite low-level hazardous waste landfill. “We had a major milestone on Friday,” when the state of Tennessee […]

The contest for a Nevada Senate seat up for grabs in the upcoming midterm elections is, according to one poll, too close to call with around a month remaining until Silver Staters cast their votes. Incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) trails her challenger, former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R), by just two percentage […]

The Senate will hold its next votes on Nov. 14, leadership announced Thursday, meaning the upper chamber won’t consider its version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act until after the midterm elections. However, debate will begin on the annual, must-pass defense-policy bill on on Oct. 11, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) […]

The Department of Energy could announce as soon as Thursday which nuclear power plant operators will receive the first round of payouts in the agency’s multi-billion dollar civil nuclear credits program. Thursday marks one month since the Sep. 6 application deadline for DOE’s roughly $6 billion bailout scheme. An agency spokesperson told Exchange Monitor in […]

The Senate will hold its next votes on Nov. 14, leadership announced Thursday, meaning the upper chamber won’t consider its version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act until after the midterm elections. However, debate will begin on the annual, must-pass defense-policy bill on on Oct. 11, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) […]

As it prepares a second round of funding under a program aimed at propping up the aging U.S. nuclear fleet, the Department of Energy said in draft guidelines Friday that the upcoming bailouts need not be limited to plants facing imminent closure. The second round of DOE’s civil nuclear credits program “does not restrict eligibility […]

October 03: Meeting: The Northern New Mexico Site Specific Advisory Board meets in hybrid session starting at 1 p.m. Mountain Time. In-person meeting at the Hotel Don Fernando de Taos, 1005 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur, Taos, New Mexico 87571. To attend send an email by Sept. 28 to Menice B. Santistevan, menice.santistevan@em.doe.gov. 03: Meeting: Oregon […]

The Government Accountability Office wants congress to clarify regulatory authority over a certain type of commercial low-level nuclear waste from shuttered reactors and old medical and industrial equipment, according to a report released Thursday. The Department of Energy has been studying disposal options of what is known as greater-than Class C (GTCC) waste and GTCC-like […]

The House approved this week a temporary budget bill for fiscal year 2023, setting up most Department of Energy nuclear waste programs to continue operating at their 2022 budgets through Dec. 16. For the first two-and-a-half months of fiscal year 2023, the stopgap bill would give DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), which runs civilian […]

The House on Friday passed a stopgap budget that would hold the National Nuclear Security Administration to its fiscal year 2022 budget through Dec. 19 and allow work to continue on pit production plants, the B83 gravity bomb and a nuclear, sea-launched cruise-missile warhead. The continuing resolution will put a crunch on the semiautonomous Department […]

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, including the portion being cleaned up by the Department of Energy, will have a new congressional representative in January 2023 thanks to redistricting. Following the 2020 Census, the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission redrew the state’s congressional districts, moving the 2,850-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif., to […]

The House of Representatives voted 230-201 Friday to approve a stopgap spending bill that keeps the federal government including the Department of Energy open through Dec. 16.  The stopgap measure keeps spending for the DOE Office of Environmental Management at the fiscal 2022 level of about $7.9 billion on a prorated basis. There are no […]