Budget & Policy

The Senate on Monday confirmed a former Department of Energy lawyer with private sector experience to serve as the agency’s new general counsel. Samuel Walsh, who served at DOE under the Barack Obama administration, was confirmed to his new position as agency general counsel by voice vote in the Senate Monday evening. Walsh was nominated […]

A $1-trillion infrastructure bill with tax credits for financially-struggling nuclear power plants passed the Senate on a widely bipartisan vote Tuesday.  The infrastructure package cleared the Senate in 69-30 and now heads to the House, whose members were scheduled to return to Washington on Aug. 23 to vote on the measure. If the bill becomes […]

On Monday, not long after senior nuclear-weapons managers gathered outside of Washington and lamented programmatic gear-grinding caused by what they called premature attempts to pin down costs, the House Armed Services chair asked the president to consider shrinking the arsenal, in part over concerns about its affordability.   The Biden administration’s forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review should […]

The Senate on Monday confirmed a former Department of Energy lawyer with private sector experience to serve as the agency’s new general counsel. Samuel Walsh, who served at DOE under the Barack Obama administration, was confirmed to his new position as agency general counsel by voice vote in the Senate Monday evening. Walsh was nominated […]

Here are some events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. August: 07: Start of the second special session of the Texas legislature, to include debate of radioactive waste handling in the state. The legislature was set to gavel back in on Monday, Aug. 09. 09: Final […]

A Republican bid to add the better part of $4 billion for construction of plutonium pit factories to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget failed in the Senate on Sunday.  The funding was proposed as an amendment to the bipartisan infrastructure bill that at deadline Monday appeared headed for a final vote in the Senate […]

ALEXANDRIA — Congress should not relax legal deadlines to produce plutonium pits this decade, even though the National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged it won’t meet at least one of them,nuclear-weapons managers here said this week. “I would say no,” Michael Thompson, said here Wednesday when asked whether Congress should change the law so that […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration would essentially receive its 2022 budget request under a spending bill the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up Wednesday, matching the funding the full House approved last week. Unlike the House, however, Senate Appropriators approved the $72 million the Joe Biden administration sought for the planned W93 submarine launched ballistic missile […]

The Joe Biden administration said this week it will nominate former National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation hand Corey Hinderstein, currently at the non-government Nuclear Threat Institute, as the agency’s deputy administrator for defense non-proliferation.  “An accomplished leader and well-known expert on #nuclear #security matters, Corey has the knowledge and skills to lead the #NNSA nonproliferation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to fire its next salvo this month in an ongoing legal battle over one of two proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a court filing this week. NRC will file its next brief in the case over Holtec International’s proposed storage facility in New Mexico […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved all of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s funding request for the upcoming fiscal year at a markup this week. In a 25-5 vote Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the annual Energy and Water Development budget, which included every dime of NRC’s roughly $874 million request for fiscal […]

The Department of Energy will establish a process to auction off tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, according to the Senate-side version of a bipartisan infrastructure bill that may see a vote in the coming days. Senate majority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) filed for cloture Thursday on the proposed measure that would allocate […]

After a Tuesday hearing to vet a nominee for a senior Department of Energy job, New Mexico’s senior senator pounded the table about making sure proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel do not turn into permanent repositories. “The concern, really, is that the department does not have a plan to ensure that any […]

Senate appropriators proposed about the same funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy programs, including for a proposed interim storage inquiry, during a markup this week. If the Senate’s energy and water budget recommendation becomes law, it will green-light around $27.5 million in federal funds for nuclear waste disposal. The vast majority of that […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved 25-to-five on Wednesday a fiscal year 2022 spending bill for the Department of Energy and other agencies with roughly $7.7-billion for Department of Energy nuclear weapons cleanup. The committee’s plan for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) office, which oversees cleanup of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, […]

Earnings rose at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the second quarter, which the government services contractor attributed to a healthy business portfolio. Operating income for the second quarter ended July 2 was $269 million with earnings per share of $1.18, up from $249 million or $1.06 per share in the year-ago quarter, according to the Tuesday […]

ALEXANDRIA — Congress should not relax legal deadlines to produce plutonium pits this decade, even though the National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged it won’t meet at least one of them, nuclear-weapons managers here said Wednesday. “I would say no,” Michael Thompson, said here Wednesday when asked whether Congress should change the law so that […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration would essentially receive its 2022 budget request under a spending bill the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up Wednesday, matching the funding the full House approved last week. Unlike the House, however, Senate Appropriators approved the $72 million the Joe Biden administration sought for the planned W93 submarine launched ballistic missile […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved all of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s funding request for the upcoming fiscal year at a Wednesday markup. In a 25-5 vote Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the annual Energy and Water Development budget, which included every dime of NRC’s roughly $874 million request for fiscal 2022.  […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved 25-to-five on Wednesday a fiscal year 2022 spending bill for the Department of Energy and other agencies with roughly $7.7-billion for Department of Energy nuclear weapons cleanup. The committee’s plan for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) office, which oversees cleanup of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, […]

Senate appropriators proposed about the same funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy programs, including for a proposed interim storage inquiry, during a Wednesday markup. If the Senate’s energy and water budget recommendation becomes law, it will green-light around $27.5 million in federal funds for nuclear waste disposal. The vast majority of that money, […]

More details became public this week on FirstEnergy Corp.’s  payments to Sam Randazzo, a lobbyist for the corporation who became chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, to nurture the company’s alleged scheming to get state subsidies for two struggling reactors.   Almost two weeks ago, FirstEnergy agreed to pay a $230 million fine […]

After a Tuesday hearing to vet a nominee for a senior Department of Energy job, New Mexico’s senior senator pounded the table about making sure proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel do not turn into permanent repositories. “The concern, really, is that the department does not have a plan to ensure that any […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Judgements varied here Tuesday between two senior civilian nuclear-weapons leaders as to whether the National Nuclear Security Administration would meet some legally binding deadlines to produce new nuclear weapon cores this decade. Questioned about the deadlines by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing during the Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, the head of […]

The Department of Energy needs to consolidate its agency-sponsored research on high-burnup spent nuclear fuel storage, the federal government’s nuclear waste panel said in a new report published Monday. Although DOE funds “a variety of organizations” and their research on the viability of storing and transporting high-burnup fuel (HBF), there’s not currently a single compendium […]

The story “Citing New Evidence, Enviros Ask NRC to Reconsider Decision on TMI Water Use Allegations” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, August 2, 2021) should have said that projected decommissioning water use at Three Mile Island Unit 2 was 100,000 gallons per day.

Here are some events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. 02: BWX Technologies releases its second quarter earnings after the market closes and hosts an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. 03-05: Exchange Monitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit. The Westin Alexandria, Alexandria, Va. IN PERSON. 03: Leidos holds its […]

The Department of Energy will establish a process to auction off tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, according to the Senate-side version of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. If the roughly $6 billion in allocated credits proposed in the bill became law, DOE would “establish a process for evaluating bids” and “select certified nuclear reactors” […]

The Exchange Monitor will host its annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Tuesday through Thursday this week in Alexandria, Va. Programming was scheduled to begin Tuesday morning with a pre-conference workshop, followed by an afternoon keynote address from Charles Verdon, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense programs.  Bob Raines, NNSA’s associate administrator for […]

A House Armed Services panel this week called for a briefing about delays to a bomb and warhead refurb at the National Nuclear Security Administration and a new report on planned subcritical testing facilities. The strategic forces subcommittee wrote the requirements into a report appended to its portion of the fiscal year 2022 National Defense […]