Vol. 6, No. 58

Budget & Policy

Federal Funding Extension Unveiled to Avert Shut Down on Friday

A compromise stopgap budget bill to avert a government shutdown would keep Department of Energy nuclear weapons and waste budgets at 2021 levels past Valentine’s Day and preserve a funding safety valve for uranium-enrichment cleanup. “Agreement has been reached on a Continuing Resolution,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) wrote in a statement […]
  • Contracts & Procurement

    Fluor Announces Subcontractors for New Pantex, Y-12 Prime

    After senior and junior partners Fluor and Amentum, the new prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main weapons production sites also includes Criterion Systems, General Atomics, and SOC, Fluor said Tuesday. Fluor, which has a 60% stake in new prime Nuclear Production One (NPOne), announced some more of the details of its winning […]

  • Decommissioning

    NRC Chair Defends Decommissioning Oversight at Senate Hearing

    As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission navigates some internal controversy surrounding a recently-approved decommissioning rule, its oversight of plant dismantlement came under fire Wednesday at a hearing in the Senate. “[W]ith its recent approval of the proposed decommissioning rule, I fear the NRC now stands for not recognizing [public] concerns,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at […]

  • Contracts & Procurement

    SRNS Forced Out 2 Vaccine Refusers Ahead of Vax Deadline, Employees Say in Anti-Mandate Lawsuit

    In a revised complaint that they hope will convince a federal judge to block expected firings arising from a COVID vaccine mandate at the Savannah River Site, employees who have not taken a vaccine argued that the site’s operations contractor effectively pressured two employees into resigning before the official deadline for getting the vaccine. The […]

  • Cleanup & Remediation

    Nuclear Credits Should Promote ‘Rapid Turnaround’ at Troubled Nuclear Plants NE-1 Says

    The Department of Energy is hoping to give economically-troubled nuclear power plant operators a little certainty by speeding delivery of subsidies recently signed into law as part of this year’s bipartisan infrastructure plan, a DOE official said Wednesday at an industry conference. “[I]t can take a little while for tax credits to kick in, [so] […]

  • Decommissioning

    To Cut Carbon, California Could Save Diablo Canyon Nuke Plant, Granholm Says

    If California wants to talk about keeping its sole surviving nuclear power plant online, the Department of Energy would listen, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday. During an interview with Reuters Tuesday, Granholm said that keeping the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach, Calif., open “may be something that [California] decide[s] to take […]

  • Cleanup & Remediation

    Deep Isolation Acquires Richland, Wash., Consulting Firm 

    A Hanford-focused consulting firm was acquired by Deep Isolation, a California company developing a new method of spent nuclear fuel disposal.  Deep Isolation bought privately-owned, 23 year-old Freestone Environmental Services of Richland, Wash., the Berkeley, Calif., firm announced Tuesday. Deep Isolation declined to reveal the price. Freestone has 25 employees.  Deep Isolation plans to take […]

  • Cleanup & Remediation

    Retirement Pace Picking Up at Hanford, Reports Show

    The monthly pace of retirement notices among prime contractor employees during 2021 at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is up sharply compared with last year, especially in recent months, according to the two most recent monthly reports by the site’s services contractor. “The Retirement Program has had a significant increase in […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Enviros Push Senate Finance Committee to Kill Nuke Subsidies in Build Back Better Act

    A coalition of environmental and citizens’ watchdog groups urged the Senate Finance Committee to drop millions of dollars in subsidies for nuclear energy from the budget reconciliation bill containing President Joe Biden’s signature domestic spending programs, according to a letter mailed this week. The roughly $35 billion in nuclear production tax credits proposed in the […]

  • Budget & Policy

    CORRECTION

    The story “NRC Chair Torches Colleague’s Categorization of Decom Rule as ‘Laissez Faire’ Regulation” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, November 30, 2021) should have said that Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensees must submit a post-shutdown decommissioning activities report within two years after their reactors cease operations.

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