Vol. 11, No. 19 NNSA shifting to a “culture of urgency” and “production mindset”
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Contracts & Procurement
NNSA issues draft RFP for Savannah River Site ops
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Tuesday issued the much-anticipated draft solution for management and operation of the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The draft request for proposals (RFP) said bidders will be encouraged to offer updated technical approaches to making plutonium pits at the complex. According to a Jan. 27 procurement document, […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
NNSA No. 2 committed to a “two-site solution” for pits, needs SRS support
ARLINGTON, VA – Scott Pappano, Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said Tuesday that Savannah River can still play a “supporting role” in pit production between now and the completion of its pit production facility. Pappano gave a keynote on the second day of Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit. NNSA must […]
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Contracts & Procurement
NNSA should approach contracting differently, Pappano says
ARLINGTON, VA – The second-highest person at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Tuesday he is “absolutely considering contracting differently.” Scott Pappano, NNSA’s principal deputy administrator, gave a keynote on the second day of Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit. “The world I came from, you know, in shipbuilding, advanced procurement was very much a […]
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Non-Proliferation
Doomsday Clock ticks to 85 seconds to midnight, 4 seconds closer to catastrophe
The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic device the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists uses to signify closeness to “global catastrophe” set another record closeness to midnight as of Tuesday. “A year ago, we warned that the world was perilously close to global disaster and that any delay in reversing course increased the probability of catastrophe,” the Manhattan […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
LEU, not HALEU, drives current enrichment market
ARLINGTON, VA – Centrus Energy has signed contracts worth $2.3 billion to provide low-enriched uranium to electric utilities and virtually all of it involves traditional LEU Amir Vexler said here Tuesday. “The existing market is LEU,” Vexler told Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit, “There is no existing market for HALEU.” While HALEU is considered the […]
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Advanced Nuclear & SMRs
DOE approves safety analysis for Antares pilot reactor
The Department of Energy has approved Antares Nuclear’s Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for its demonstration reactor under DOE’s reactor pilot program. Under the program, DOE has set out a goal of at least three reactors reaching criticality by July 4. Antares, founded in 2023, was one of the 10 companies selected for the program. The […]
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Data Centers & Energy Demand
EIA reports fewer nuclear plant outages to start out the year
Nuclear power plants in the United States experienced fewer outages in the first three weeks of this year compared to 2025, according to a Monday report from the Energy Information Administration. From Jan. 1 to Jan. 21, nuclear power outages averaged two gigawatts or 2,000 megawatts, which is 20% less than the same period in […]