Vol. 7, No. 31 NNSA, DOD, ‘sorting out’ plutonium pit needs; new pits ‘a hedge,’ NNSA says
-
Budget & Policy
NNSA budget request includes requirements of Biden nuclear posture review, Secretary of Energy says
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget request includes everything permitted by the Joe Biden administration’s as-yet unpublished nuclear posture review, the Secretary of Energy said Wednesday in written testimony prepared for her first scheduled congressional budget hearing of the season. The nuclear-weapons steward’s 2023 request of $21.4 billion is around 3.5% higher […]
-
Vitrification & Grout
Researchers tell National Academies panel grout offers benefits of flexibility, speed
Should the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state decide to grout much of its supplemental low-activity waste at an existing off-site facility, the process could start as early as 2027, a Savannah River National Laboratory official told a National Academies of Sciences panel Tuesday in Richland, Wash. Dan McCabe, senior scientist from the […]
-
Decommissioning
Entergy pours ice water on Palisades bailout; posts big loss in nuclear biz
Without fuel to keep it going, it will be difficult to keep the Palisades Power Plant open this summer as Michigan governor’s appeals to the federal government for a bailout, plant operator Entergy’s CEO said Wednesday. “The plant will have to stop operating in May, because we’ll be out of fuel,” Entergy CEO Leo Denault […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Swift & Staley too big for new Paducah biz due to ‘negative control’ of Portsmouth contract, judge finds
In a just-unsealed public version of a decision last month, a Federal Claims Court judge agrees Swift & Staley is too big to qualify for a new Department of Energy Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky because of its “negative control” of a joint venture doing similar work at the time […]
-
Decommissioning
Renewables outpaced nuclear in 2021, EIA says
U.S. electricity generation from nuclear power plants fell behind output from renewable energy sources last year, the government’s independent energy auditor said Tuesday. Renewable energy sources, which include wind, hydropower, solar, biomass, and geothermal power, generated around 800 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in 2021, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report published […]