Budget & Policy

The White House on Monday officially nominated Kathryn Huff to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, sending her nomination to the Senate about a month after announcing its intention to do so. Next up for Huff, who the Joe Biden administration tapped Jan. 24 to become the deputy assistant secretary of nuclear […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. March 1 – Hearing, House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. Witnesses include Sasha Baker, deputy under secretary of defense for policy and Adm. Charles Richard, commander, United States Strategic Command. Rayburn House Office Building Room 2118 and streaming […]

The White House said Friday President Joe Biden intends to nominate Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, passing over J. Michelle Childs, who has presided over a number of cases involving Department of Energy nuclear-weapon programs. Biden was expected to formally introduce the 51-year-old Brown, currently serving on the […]

The White House said Friday President Joe Biden intends to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Biden was expected to formally introduce the 51-year-old Brown Jackson, currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as his choice during a White House ceremony […]

Total confirmed, active cases of COVID-19 across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s labs, plans and sites fell by more than 70% in February, according to the latest count shared by agency headquarters in Washington. There were 489 confirmed active cases, a spokesperson at headquarters wrote in an email on Thursday. That’s the lowest level since […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General could not substantiate allegations that the Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee fudged its safety and health records in order to look better for DOE. That is the crux of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report posted online Thursday. The office received […]

The Joe Biden administration’s nominee to head up the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office won’t be back in that job, which she held in an acting capacity, until the Senate confirms her appointment, an agency spokesperson said this week. “Dr. Huff was nominated by President [Joe] Biden to be our Assistant Secretary for Nuclear […]

Robert Raines, head of procurement for the National Nuclear Security Administration, will retire in June after more than a decade leading the semi-autonomous weapons agency’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, according to an internal memo. Raines has been the National Nuclear Security Security Administration’s (NNSA) acquisition chief since 2011, according to Thursday’s announcement from […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. February: 22 – BWX Technologies holds its financial conference call on quarterly annual results at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. 24 – The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Idaho Cleanup Project meets at 8 a.m. […]

A recent Government Accountability Office report confirms what most observers already assumed — the COVID-19 pandemic prompted much of the federal workforce at the Department of Energy and elsewhere to abandon their cubicles in favor of telecommuting, although the practice has its own hassles. The DOE found there were limits to its work-from-home efforts especially […]

In social media posts Thursday, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) says he has returned to Washington, D.C., where he is “back at work and will return to the Senate floor soon,” following his January stroke.  “Through the love and support from my family, medical team, and New Mexicans, I’m getting stronger each day in […]

The Department of Energy is required to “fully cooperate” with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and will restrict access in only limited cases such as when a representative of the safety watchdog lacks “an appropriate security clearance,” according to a deal reached this week. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two parties have […]

Following the lead of the House of Representatives earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-27 Thursday evening to approve a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open through March 11. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the latest continuing resolution (CR) in order to prevent a government shutdown today while Democrats […]

Following the lead of the House of Representatives earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-27 Thursday evening to approve a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open through March 11. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the latest continuing resolution (CR) in order to prevent a government shutdown today while Democrats […]

The Department of Energy is required to “fully cooperate” with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and will restrict access in only limited cases such as when a representative of the safety watchdog lacks “an appropriate security clearance,” according to a deal reached this week. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two parties have […]

Following the lead of the House of Representatives earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-27 Thursday evening to approve a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open through March 11. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the latest continuing resolution (CR) in order to prevent a government shutdown today while Democrats […]

By now, even nuclear-industry professionals who shun the Washington, D.C., beltway may know the name Sam Brinton.  In January, senior agency leadership selected Brinton — a 2013 MIT graduate whose master’s thesis was dedicated to used nuclear fuel storage — to be the Department of Energy’s next deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste […]

A recent Government Accountability Office report confirms what most observers already assumed — the COVID-19 pandemic prompted much of the federal workforce at the Department of Energy and elsewhere to abandon their cubicles in favor of telecommuting, although the practice has its own hassles. The DOE found there were limits to its work-from-home efforts especially […]

In the state Senate’s latest plan to split the baby, counties surrounding the Savannah River Site would get about 65% of the mega-settlement South Carolina struck with the Department of Energy in 2020 over plutonium storage. State senators on Tuesday unanimously approved sending some $341 million of the settlement to Allendale, Barnwell and Aiken, the […]

There were “substantial irregularities” in the Department of Energy’s hiring process for a senior nuclear waste management position, an unidentified DOE employee alleged in a recent letter to the inspector general of the federal government’s personnel agency. In a Feb. 2 letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Deputy Inspector General Norbert Vint, the DOE […]

In the state Senate’s latest plan to split the baby, counties surrounding the Savannah River Site would get about 65% of the mega-settlement South Carolina struck with the Department of Energy in 2020 over plutonium storage. State senators on Tuesday unanimously approved sending some $341 million of the settlement to Allendale, Barnwell and Aiken, the […]

The interested public has until mid-March to submit comments to the Department of Energy on its multi-billion dollar bailout program for struggling nuclear power plants, the agency said in a notice Tuesday. March 17 is the latest date that stakeholders can register their input on DOE’s civil nuclear credit program — a date made final […]

People reportedly appointed to new senior leadership roles in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, including one person who was supposed to lead the office, had yet to officially start their new jobs as of Monday, nearly a month after the personnel announcements hit. In mid-January, the White House announced that President Joe […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: 16: The Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board meets virtually via Webex starting at 1 p.m. Mountain Time. 16: Nevada’s Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board meets at  4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Building, 15th Floor […]

A recent Government Accountability Office report confirms what most observers already assumed — the COVID-19 pandemic prompted much of the federal workforce at the Department of Energy and elsewhere to abandon their cubicles in favor of telecommuting, although the practice has its own hassles. The DOE found there were limits to its work-from-home efforts especially […]

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said in a video released Sunday via Twitter “I’m on the road to recovery” from a recent stroke and should resume Senate votes in Washington, D.C., “in just a few short weeks.” First Luján, flanked by two members of his University of New Mexico medical team, said he will enter […]

The Department of Energy announced this week that it was seeking stakeholder input on an auction process for doling out several billion dollars in federal tax credits for financially-troubled nuclear power plants, according to a press release. DOE on Friday unveiled its request for information (RFI) on its civil nuclear credits program, a $6 billion […]

Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk met privately with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Jan. 27, a board spokesperson confirmed Monday. Members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) leadership of DOE and its $7.5-billion Office of Environmental Management “try to meet periodically to discuss updates,” in closed sessions, DNFSB associate director for […]

The Department of Energy this week appointed nearly a half dozen nuclear scientists, engineers, policy experts and industry leaders to a federal council tasked with advising the agency on its current and future nuclear energy programs, according to a press release. Bill Magwood, director-general of the intergovernmental Nuclear Energy Agency, will chair the 11-person Nuclear […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday approved a three-week stopgap funding plan to keep the federal government open through March 11 after the current continuing resolution expires on Feb. 18. The full House voted Tuesday evening  272-to-162 to approve the short-term extension while appropriators continue to work on a spending plan to carry the government […]