Budget & Policy

By John Stang FirstEnergy Corp.’s acting chief executive officer Steve Strah is now the permanent CEO, the corporation announced this week.  Strah had been acting CEO since October and president, a position he retains, since May 2020. He has replaced Chuck Jones, who was fired last October in the wake of a $60 million bribery […]

During a brief appearance at an online conference Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm simultaneously praised and challenged the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup community. “This industry is made up of some of the nation’s best engineers and scientists,” Granholm told the Waste Management Symposia conference, which in non-pandemic years happens in Phoenix. At the same […]

President Joe Biden’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Department of Energy is scheduled for his first make-or-break vote this week in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the panel announced Monday. At deadline, the committee was scheduled to vote on Turk’s nomination at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The former […]

Plutonium pits and command and control are the top nuclear priorities for Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) in the next federal budget cycle, the head of the House Armed Services Committee said Friday. The Joe Biden administration has yet to roll out its fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, blaming the hold-up on an allegedly intractable Donald […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has improved oversight of contracts and operations since last year, but the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency could stand to do more, the Government Accountability Office said this week in its annual update on high-dollar, “high-risk” issues. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “has continued to show leadership […]

Progressive lawmakers Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) this week urged  President Joe Biden to scale back nuclear modernization efforts, including pausing development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program and canceling new and planned low-yield weapons. In a letter sent Tuesday to Biden, Markey and Khanna raised concerns on the “unsustainable rate of […]

Karen Skelton has been named a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, DOE announced this week in a press release. Skelton comes to the Joe Biden administration from California, where she spent the last decade as the CEO and founder of Skelton Strategies, a policy and political consulting firm working on energy, climate, technology  […]

Due to a shortfall in the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, the Department of Energy is drawing upon other money in fiscal 2021 to help pay for cleanup of the government’s shuttered uranium enrichment plants. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund was budgeted by Congress during the current fiscal year at $841 […]

President Joe Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of energy, David Turk, pledged Thursday to work with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), over concerns a new DOE approach toward subcontractors might hurt small businesses around the Hanford Site in Washington state. “I know it is a priority for you, it will be a priority for me if […]

Karen Skelton has been named a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, DOE announced this week in a press release. Skelton comes to the Joe Biden administration from California, where she spent the last decade as the CEO and founder of Skelton Strategies, a policy and political consulting firm working on energy, climate, technology  […]

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a proposed climate bill this week that would classify nuclear energy as a “clean energy project.” The CLEAN Energy Act, introduced by committee chairman Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) alongside Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), considers nuclear to be a zero-emissions energy source. As […]

A state lawmaker this week filed a bill to ban storage of spent nuclear fuel in Texas even as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission works toward licensing an interim storage site in the Lone Star state. H.B. 2692, introduced by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R) Wednesday, bars the storage of high-level radioactive waste within Texas borders. […]

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation plan to reintroduce a bill that would put an end to the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository, they said this week. The new legislation would be more or less the same as bills introduced last Congress that sought to bar federal spending on the authorized repository in Nye County, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management still has much work to do on oversight of contracts and operations, the Government Accountability Office said this week in its annual update on high-dollar, “high-risk” issues. The DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, which seemed to get a more generous review, “has continued to show leadership […]

President Joe Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of energy, David Turk, pledged Thursday to work with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), over concerns a new DOE approach toward subcontractors might hurt small businesses around the Hanford Site in Washington state. “I know it is a priority for you, it will be a priority for me if […]

Progressive lawmakers Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) urged  President Joe Biden to scale back nuclear modernization efforts, including pausing development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program and canceling new and planned low-yield weapons. In a letter sent Tuesday to Biden, Markey and Khanna raised concerns on the “unsustainable rate of […]

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation plan to reintroduce a bill that would put an end to the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository, they said this week. The new legislation would be more or less the same as bills introduced last Congress that sought to bar federal spending on the authorized repository in Nye County, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management still has much work to do on oversight of contracts and operations, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday in its annual update on high-dollar, “high-risk” issues. The DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, which seemed to get a more generous review, “has continued to show leadership commitment […]

Karen Skelton has been named a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, DOE announced Wednesday in a press release. Skelton comes to the Joe Biden administration from California, where she spent the last decade as the CEO and founder of Skelton Strategies, a policy and political consulting firm working on energy, climate, technology  and […]

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a proposed climate bill Tuesday that would classify nuclear energy as a “clean energy project.” The CLEAN Energy Act, introduced by committee chairman Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) alongside Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), considers nuclear to be a zero-emissions energy source. As a […]

The story “Nuclear Fuel Services Gets $57M NNSA Contract to Prep for Weapons Uranium Work in Tennessee” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, March 2, 2021) should have said that Y-12’s Building 9212 will purify uranium until 2023 and possibly convert uranium oxides to uranium metal around 2030. The correction in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing (March 1, […]

The story “NNSA Contract Award to Nuclear Fuel Services Imminent, City of Oak Ridge Says” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, March 1, 2021) should have said that Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will handle highly enriched uranium conversion and purification work until 2023, after which purification work at Y-12 […]

Due to a shortfall in the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, the Department of Energy is drawing upon other money in fiscal 2021 to help pay for cleanup of the government’s shuttered uranium enrichment plants. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund was budgeted by Congress during the current fiscal year at $841 […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. 2021 March 2 – Bipartisan Policy Center. Webinar: “Advancing the Energy Transition with Innovation and a Clean Energy Standard.” Reps. David McKinley (R-W.V.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) speaking. Registry for remote access here. 10:00 A.M. Eastern time. 3 […]

U.S. nuclear modernization is nothing like Russian or Chinese nuclear modernization, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), chair of the subcommittee that writes the first draft of the annual military policy bill for defense-nuclear programs, said Tuesday in a hearing. “When we use the term ‘modernization’ for our nuclear weapons, that leads to the possibility of false […]

Jennifer Granholm was sworn in Thursday as secretary of energy after the Senate confirmed her by a wide, bipartisan margin to lead the Department of Energy and the almost $30-billion-a-year worth of nuclear weapons and waste programs that make up more than half the agency’s budget. “DOE’s core missions — promoting scientific discovery, maintaining the […]

The chairwoman of the House Appropriations panel responsible for nuclear energy and waste suggested in a hearing this week that the committee create a task force to deal with radioactive waste disposal and storage. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, proposed the idea during a Thursday hearing […]

Exelon Corp., Chicago, plans to split into a pair of companies by early 2022, separating its power generation businesses — including nuclear — from its electric and gas sales and distribution businesses, the company announced this week. Exelon operates 15 nuclear plants across the country, though it plans to shutter the Byron and Dresden plants […]

Jennifer Granholm was sworn in Thursday as secretary of energy after the Senate confirmed her by a wide, bipartisan margin to lead the Department of Energy and the almost $30-billion-a-year worth of nuclear weapons and waste programs that make up more than half the agency’s budget. “DOE’s core missions — promoting scientific discovery, maintaining the […]

The Joe Biden administration’s nominee for energy secretary, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, should be voted upon by the full Senate Thursday after two-thirds of the chamber voted Wednesday to end debate. The vote to end debate was 67-to-32. With a Granholm vote imminent, a confirmation hearing for Biden’s deputy secretary of energy nominee, David […]