Publications: Exchange Monitor

ARLINGTON, Va. – Legislation modifying the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), could remove a roadblock to the full implementation of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, a DOE official said. During Wednesday’s session at the National Cleanup Workshop, several panels discussed the early progress of the nuclear  campuses. Marla Morales, DOE’s acting deputy […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – The anticipated expansion of missions and private-sector projects around Savannah River Site could require the surrounding region to build as many as 17,000 homes over the next five years, according to a local official here Tuesday. Chuck Smith, a former city councilman in Aiken, S.C. where Savannah River Site (SRS) is located, […]

The Exchange Monitor planned to hold its second annual Nuclear Energy Security Summit this week in Washington on June 26-27. The event focuses on domestic and international deployment of U.S. nuclear technology, including power plants and fuel. There is no virtual attendance. Among the scheduled speakers were Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Appropriations […]

Weapons Complex Monitor, RadWaste Monitor and Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not publish on Nov. 26 in observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

A major leak of radioactive waste from the inner shell of Hanford Site double-shell Tank AY-102 into the space between the shells was detected this weekend as sludge was being retrieved from the tank. An alarm for a level detector in the space between the shells, called the annulus, sounded early Sunday morning. Retrieval work […]

While the Obama administration has halted the nuclear waste deep geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., there are still lessons to be learned from the unfinished Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application process. Speakers from the state and federal level will discuss the knowledge gained during development of the Yucca Mountain facility and how that can […]

Roughly 200 nuclear power plants around the world are set to be decommissioned in the coming two decades, so regulators, utilities, and companies need to begin preparing now. A panel of U.S. and international experts will discuss issues including decommissioning costs and challenges, dealing with waste, and remediation. The session, “International Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning: […]

Department of Energy officials and contractors for the DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office will discuss progress in the ongoing cleanup of the former gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky. The panel, “U.S. DOE Featured Site: Lexington, KY, Office (Portsmouth & Paducah Sites),” is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. to noon, in Room 102BC. The scheduled speakers […]

The Energy Department plans to release a draft solicitation for Savannah River liquid cleanup work worth between $1 billion and $3 billion by March 31, a senior DOE procurement official said Wednesday at the 2016 Waste Management Conference. By the end of the month, “I think you’ll have a draft on your hands,” Jack Surash, […]

Heavy equipment left over from a successful liquid-waste disposal operation at the West Valley Demonstration Project should be entombed in concrete in Texas by October, a DOE contractor said Wednesday at the 2016 Waste Management Conference. Some 600,000 gallons of high-level liquid waste leftover from West Valley, the only U.S. site ever to reprocess spent […]

The operator of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina intends by the end of March to fully resume normal operations following a September 2015 incident that led to the suspension of all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear work by the contractor. As work resumed in November, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions facilities were […]

The Energy Department has almost finished tweaking an $11.4-billion contract with Bechtel National that will officially clear the San Francisco-based company to modify the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to begin treating low-level nuclear waste by 2022. Conceived more than 15 years ago to turn some 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste […]

The cancellation of a planned nuclear waste storage test borehole project in Pierce County, N.D., demonstrates the need to secure community backing for future waste facilities, a senior Department of Energy official said Tuesday. In the face of strong opposition from local residents and the county commission, DOE last week said it would not move […]

Two panels today will address the ongoing remediation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the wake of the March 2011 meltdown. The first session, “Cleanup of Fukushima NPP – D&D and Waste Management – is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to noon in Room 102BC. It will focus on the decommissioning plan for Fukushima […]

The Department of Energy and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, DOE’s management contractor for the Savannah River Site, will offer perspective and lessons learned on the two-month safety pause of all nonessential operations initiated in September 2015 when a small amount of plutonium was stored in a container not designated for transport. The session, “Lessons Learned […]

Major cleanup contractors working across the Energy Department’s weapons complex bemoaned contracting trends at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management that, they say, have made it harder to justify bidding on cleanup work. “I think there’s still a strong case, but I can tell you, it’s getting more and more difficult every day,” Kenneth Camplin, vice president and […]

In a Wednesday afternoon panel discussion, government and industry representatives will discuss high-level waste cleanup at the Savannah River and Hanford sites: projects anointed as top priorities across the Energy Department’s weapons complex in the White House’s fiscal 2017 budget request. The jumping-off point of the discussion, scheduled for 1:30 p.m to 3:10 p.m. in […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., will be able to store about five shipments of transuranic waste a month after it reopens to new shipments later this year, but the prime contractor at the underground Energy Department facility said here that number could quickly double. “We hope to get it up to […]

The Department of Energy supports the construction and operation of more than one consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage site, a senior DOE official said Monday. “From our perspective, having more than one interim storage facility can help build a more robust, a more flexible, system that will enable us to be more responsive in […]

Senior U.S. and U.K. government nuclear cleanup officials and contractors Tuesday morning will compare and contrast the two nations’ approaches to this work, for which the U.S. Department of Energy and U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority each spends $5 billion to $6 billion annually. The speakers will offer insight into the successes and challenges in this sector, along […]

With consent-based siting now the official policy of the U.S. Department of Energy when it comes to finding storage places for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, attendees to a Tuesday morning session, “Consent Based Siting — Opportunities and Challenges for Siting Disposal Facilities,” will hear from experts in the public and private sector on […]

After a morning plenary session in which the United Kingdom’s top nuclear decommissioning official extolled the virtues of transitioning nuclear cleanup partnerships with industry away from cost-reimbursable contracts, the head procurement official in the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) said such contracts will remain the cornerstone of legacy waste cleanup in the United […]

The first of a four-part, deep-dive progress report on the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) under construction at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site kicks off at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and features a panel of senior government officials and industry executives. The panel, titled “DOE Hanford – Direct Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) Update – Part 1 […]

The Department of Energy in December 2015 formally initiated the siting process for its consent-based program for nuclear waste storage, and two companies – Waste Control Specialists and Holtec International – are preparing to in coming months submit license applications with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate consolidated interim spent fuel storage facilities in, […]

The United Kingdom will take center stage as the featured country at the 2016 Waste Management Conference. The conference-opening plenary panel on Monday morning will feature John Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, along with Clive White, President of Clean Energy Europe, Amec Foster Wheeler (United Kingdom), and Dr. Monica Regalbuto, U.S. […]