Vol. 6, No. 25 Senate Confirms Turk to be DOE DepSec, 98-2
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Biden Admin Looks at Ex-Sandia Director for Top NNSA Post
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 […]
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Defense & Military
Biden’s Nomination for Pentagon Policy Chief Barely Survives Polarized Committee Vote
Weeks after Republican nuke hawks panned his performance at a nomination hearing, the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday 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 […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Texas HLW Storage Ban Passes Committee; State House Vote Up Next
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 […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
‘Close Contact Work’ Remains on Hold at West Valley Due to COVID
Certain indoor close quarters work at the West Valley Demonstration Project remains on hold until infection rates in Western New York drop, a manager with the Jacobs-led contractor said Wednesday during an online meeting of the Citizen Task Force for the cleanup site. The area of Western New York where the state-owned West Valley Demonstration […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
California Dem Reintroduces Interim Storage Bill
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 […]
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Budget & Policy
Energy DepSec Will Likely Decide EM’s Place in the Flow Chart
Deciding where nuclear cleanup fits in the pecking order within President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy will likely be determined by the just-confirmed deputy secretary David Turk, the acting boss at the Office of Environmental Management said Wednesday. The assessment was offered by William (Ike) White, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management […]
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International
Blinken Says Effective Nuclear Deterrence, Military Readiness Part Of Improving Alliances
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday said that the U.S. and its allies must strengthen their militaries, improve readiness and maintain an effective nuclear deterrent as part of efforts to modernize alliances and respond to changing threats, China and Russia. U.S. nuclear forces, Blinken told an audience at NATO headquarters in Belgium, must be […]