Budget & Policy

The chair of the House Armed Services Committee quoted chapter-and-verse from his bible of nuclear weapon policies this week in a chat with the D.C.-based Reagan Institute, during which he advocated for trimming the defense budget by preventing particular crises rather than gearing up to win an all-out war. “I think that we can have […]

The chair of the House Armed Services Committee quoted chapter-and-verse from his bible of nuclear weapon policies in a Tuesday chat with the D.C.-based Reagan Institute, during which he advocated for trimming the defense budget by preventing particular crises rather than gearing up to win an all-out war. “I think that we can have a […]

President Joe Biden on Friday said he will nominate former Federation of American Scientists and Al Franken Senate staffer Ali Nouri as the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs. Nouri has been with the agency since January as the deputy assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, a post which did […]

Congress is in session. Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: April 12 – Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Virtual workshop with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) on spent fuel performance margins. Continued discussion on NEI’s 2019 white paper on spent fuel storage. Register […]

The airport servicing the greater Las Vegas area may soon bear the name of the man who killed Yucca Mountain. In a unanimous vote back in February, the Clark County Commission agreed to a proposal that would rename McCarran International airport after retired Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), according to meeting minutes. The airport’s current namesake […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said Thursday spent nuclear fuel policy meetings are happening inside the Department of Energy but it is too early to spell out what the administration of President Joe Biden will pursue with Nevada’s stalled Yucca Mountain project off the table. Granholm’s remarks came in response to a reporter’s question at […]

By John Stang FirstEnergy Corp, is among 55 major American corporations that legally did not pay income taxes in 2020, according to an April report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.  “The tax-avoiding companies represent various industries and collectively enjoyed almost $40.5 billion in U.S. pretax income in 2020, according to their annual […]

The Joe Biden administration said Friday its 2022 federal budget will support ongoing nuclear modernization programs, including infrastructure at the National Nuclear Security Administration, while the White House continues its nuclear posture review. The Biden administration did not include a top-line figure for the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons steward in its so-called skinny […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said Thursday spent nuclear fuel policy meetings are happening inside the Department of Energy but it is too early to spell out what the administration of President Joe Biden will pursue with Nevada’s stalled Yucca Mountain project off the table. Granholm’s remarks came in response to a reporter’s question at […]

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district includes the Hanford Site, wants Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to continue a controversial policy change from the Donald Trump administration that declared certain radioactive waste now categorized as high-level may not need to go to a deep underground disposal site. In a March 30 letter to Granholm, […]

James Biggins, who was already serving as acting general manager of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, now has the job on a permanent basis, according to a recent press release from the agency. Joel Spangenberg, the executive director of operations for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), said in the release Biggins was […]

For the second year in a row, the Department of Energy plans to dip into an alternate source of revenue to shore up the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund used to remediate old gaseous diffusion plants. This is one of the highlights of a skinny version of the Joe Biden administration’s fiscal 2022 budget […]

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district includes the Hanford Site, wants Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to continue a controversial policy change from the Donald Trump administration that declared certain radioactive waste now categorized as high-level may not need to go to a deep underground disposal site. In a March 30 letter to Granholm, […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week: April 05 – April 09 – The Biden administration’s skinny budget did not show up last week as hoped, but it may appear this week, media reported. The federal spending proposal for fiscal year 2022 will […]

In an online forum this week, Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.) vowed to use his appropriations gavel to keep the Air Force’s next-generation nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile “on track,” while a former senior pentagon official said congressional support for the program was broad but not deep. Tester delivered recorded remarks to an audience of just under […]

A special congressional election is set for June 1 in New Mexico to fill the vacancy in the district that includes the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories facilities in Albuquerque. The open seat was created March 16 when then-Rep. Debra Haaland (D) resigned to become President Joe Biden’s secretary of interior after being confirmed in a […]

By John Stang Reversing an earlier stance, FirstEnergy Corp. announced this week it would refund $26 million to ratepayers that it collected this year through a controversial 2019 law.  Last week, FirstEnergy Corp. told the Ohio state government that the company should not have to refund $30 million collected from Ohio ratepayers under scandal-tainted legislation […]

Two key Congressional Democrats from Washington state, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Adam Smith, are proposing to make it easier for cleanup workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site and elsewhere to claim medical benefits after being exposed to toxic substances. The lawmakers last week proposed the Toxic Exposure Safety Act of 2021. Murray, […]

The story “DOE Plans to Extend Incumbent DUF6 Contractor” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, March 30, 2021) should have said that Atkins is the lead partner on Mid-America Conversion Services. 

A special congressional election is set for June 1 in New Mexico to fill the vacancy in the district that includes the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories facilities in Albuquerque. The open seat was created March 16 when then-Rep. Debra Haaland (D) resigned to become President Joe Biden’s secretary of interior after being confirmed […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week: March 29 – April 2 – Media reported that the Biden administration will release its so-called “skinny budget” proposal for fiscal year 2022 this week. The slimmed down version of the annual federal budget ask will include […]

A California Democrat is taking another shot at legislation that would create the framework for a federal interim storage program for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel inventory. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Ca.) reintroduced the Storage and Transportation of Residual and Excess (STORE) Nuclear Fuel Act this week, according to a Tuesday press release . The measure […]

The energy market “doesn’t value” nuclear power plants which results in their premature decommissioning, industry executives told a Senate panel this week. Utility companies don’t “recognize the full value” of nuclear power as a long term source of energy, Jeffery Lyash, president of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources […]

A bill to ban storage of high-level nuclear waste in Texas passed in a state House committee Wednesday, setting it up for a floor vote. The measure, proposed by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), passed in the Texas House Environmental Regulation Committee on a 6-2 vote. Landgraf chairs the committee. The panel reported the bill […]

By John Stang The Ohio General Assembly unanimously voted this week to repeal the $1.1 billion subsidy it approved almost two years ago for the financially struggling Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear reactors. The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 128 33-0 on Wednesday, and the House passed it 89-0 on Thursday. The bill, sponsored by Republican […]

David Turk was sworn in this week as the deputy secretary of energy after clearing the Senate with only two Republicans in opposition. Turk took the oath, administered by his boss, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, on Thursday. The full Senate approved his nomination Wednesday 98-2, with only Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rand Paul […]

Weeks after Republican nuke hawks panned his performance at a nomination hearing, the Senate Armed Services Committee this week voted 13-13, along party lines, to advance Colin Kahl’s nomination for the Pentagon’s top policy job. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will now have to make a motion to discharge Kahl’s nomination to bring a […]

A former director of the Sandia National Laboratories has floated toward the top of the Joe Biden administration’s list of candidates to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration and its roughly $20-billion-a-year civilian nuclear weapons program, according to a source familiar with the administration’s thinking. Jill Hruby led Sandia for about two years in the […]

Nuclear weapons are one of a trilogy of high-spend programs likely to affect defense budgeting decisions for years, the chair of a House Appropriations panel said this week in an online hearing. “Cyber security, nuclear modernization and overseas contingency operations funding sound like they’re three unrelated topics,” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chair of the House […]

After a former lobbyist accused him of sexual harassment, Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), whose 23rd congressional district includes the West Valley Demonstration Project, will retire from the House of Representatives rather than run for re-election, the lawmaker announced via Twitter on Sunday. Reed further said he will not seek any political office in 2022. The […]