Budget & Policy

BWX Technologies is among the companies in the hunt for high-dollar Department of Energy contracts, president and CEO Rex Geveden said in a conference call this week with financial analysts. “We now have four large DOE proposals submitted and anticipate three of those contracts to be announced sometime later this year,” Geveden told Wall Street […]

The 16th secretary of energy is scheduled to face the Department of Energy’s congressional appropriators in an open hearing for the first time today, with the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee set to hear testimony on DOE’s so-far incomplete 2022 budget request at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The Joe Biden administration has yet […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), whose district includes the Savannah River Site, on Monday asked the House Appropriations Committee to provide a total of $695 million in fiscal year 2022 for plutonium pit production at the Aiken, S.C. site: some $255 million more than the 2021 pit budget. The increase would entirely go toward construction of […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: May 03: The Brookings Institution hosts a webcast on President Biden’s first 100 days at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. 03: BWX Technologies releases its quarterly earnings report after the stock market closers at 4 p.m. Eastern […]

Although spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste can be safely stored in the interim, progress on a long-term geologic repository is “still a matter of urgency,” an independent review board said Friday. If the federal government followed the recommendations provided by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) in its Friday report, the result […]

In another flurry of nominations, the Joe Biden administration announced this week plans to nominate Michael Connor as the second-in-command of the army’s civil works division. Connor, who is currently a partner at the D.C. law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, will need a Senate greenlight before he takes over as Assistant […]

A bipartisan coalition of senators reintroduced last week a bill that would provide financial assistance to communities affected by stranded spent nuclear fuel at decommissioned power plants. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Angus King (I-Maine), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) all co-sponsored the measure introduced April 21, called […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shouldn’t have tossed a coalition of watchdog groups’ request for a public hearing on a license extension for a nuclear power plant in Virginia, according to an appeal filed with the agency last week. NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board erred when it ruled that concerns about the safety of a […]

Department of Energy contractors and other groups seeking a more diverse workforce might consider starting with a self-examination, speakers told the Oak Ridge Small Business Diversity Summit Wednesday. Many organizations seem to be looking for “quick fixes” to promote hiring of racial and ethnic minorities, Claudia Caballero, president and CEO of Centro Hispano de East […]

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced plans to nominate Geraldine Richmond as undersecretary for science at the Department of Energy. Richmond is currently a presidential chair in science and professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, according to the White House press release. Richmond’s research focuses on the molecular characteristics of water surfaces, which […]

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve the nomination of Colin Kahl’s nomination for the Pentagon’s top policy job on a party-line vote of 49-to-45. President Joe Biden’s pick to be undersecretary of defense for policy, Kahl failed to win a single Republican vote, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top GOP member on the Senate […]

President Joe Biden this week formally sent to the Senate Frank Rose’s nomination to be principal deputy administrator for the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Last week  Biden announced his intention to nominate Rose to the No. 2 slot at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons […]

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he has forwarded the nomination of Frank Kendall III to be secretary of the Air Force to the Senate. The nomination has been referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The White House announced Tuesday that Kendall, a former acquisition official at the Pentagon, is the administration’s pick as the […]

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday he will nominate Frank Kendall, a former top acquisition official at the Pentagon, as the next secretary of the Air Force and Heidi Shyu, the Army’s former lead acquisition executive, to be the next undersecretary of defense for Research and Engineering. Kendall, an Army veteran, last served in the Pentagon […]

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve the nomination of Colin Kahl’s nomination for the Pentagon’s top policy job on a party-line vote of 49-to-45. President Joe Biden’s pick to be undersecretary of defense for policy, Kahl failed to win a single Republican vote, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top GOP member on the Senate […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shouldn’t have tossed a coalition of watchdog groups’ request for a public hearing on a license extension for a nuclear power plant in Virginia, according to an appeal filed with the agency Friday. NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board erred when it ruled that concerns about the safety of a 20-year […]

President Joe Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate Deborah Rosenblum to be assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense at the Department of Defense. The nuclear, chemical, and biological defense program, currently led on an acting basis by Brandi Vann, is charged with detecting, defending against and responding to threats posed by […]

For the second time in two years, many groups associated with the Energy Communities Alliance — as well as a labor union at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state — are pushing for more than $7-billion in additional cleanup spending around the weapons complex. “As the federal government looks to stimulate the […]

The changeover in presidential administrations has slowed appointments to Site Specific Advisory Boards for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a federal executive said this week. Appointments to the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board have “ground to a halt,” Gregg Murray, a member of that panel, told an online meeting of Environmental […]

A National Academies panel said Monday that monitoring, detection and verification of nuclear weapons and fissile material should be a higher national security priority and that more government coordination is needed on the issue. That is the crux of an interim report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, published Monday. The report, […]

In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday […]

President Joe Biden has formally sent Jill Hruby’s nomination to be undersecretary for nuclear security at the Department of Energy to the Senate for consideration, the White House announced Thursday. Also Thursday Biden announced his intent to nominate Frank Rose as the principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Rose is currently […]

In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday […]

A Nevada Democrat sponsoring a bill that would ban funding for a federal nuclear waste repository without stakeholder consent said this week that the Joe Biden administration and the Department of Energy are in the Silver State’s corner. “With President Biden and Secretary Granholm, I believe we have partners who will help advance these ideas […]

By John Stang While its first-quarter financial numbers were up, Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. said Thursday it is discussing a potential deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office over its role in a $60 million bribery investigation involving the former Ohio Speaker of the House. To date, neither FirstEnergy nor its current or former top officers […]

Preserving the country’s civilian nuclear power fleet is “critical” to meeting federal clean energy goals, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee told the Joe Biden administration this week. “As a zero-emissions baseload fuel source, I believe that maintaining our fleet and preventing closures of existing nuclear plants is critical to achieving […]

Preserving the country’s civilian nuclear power fleet is “critical” to meeting federal clean energy goals, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee told the Joe Biden administration Tuesday. “As a zero-emissions baseload fuel source, I believe that maintaining our fleet and preventing closures of existing nuclear plants is critical to achieving emission […]

People in Nevada don’t want to see the U.S. government resume underground explosive-nuclear weapons testing in their state, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.   “Nevadans do not want to return to a time when there was explosive nuclear testing in our state,” Rosen told Admiral Charles Richard, commander […]

A Nevada Democrat sponsoring a bill that would ban funding for a federal nuclear waste repository without stakeholder consent said Monday the Joe Biden administration and the Department of Energy are in the Silver State’s corner. “With President Biden and Secretary Granholm, I believe we have partners who will help advance these ideas and move […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: April 19: The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine holds a virtual seminar on its new Nuclear Proliferation and Arms Control report at 2 p.m. Eastern time. 20: The Nuclear Threat Initiative holds a […]