Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

On Tuesday, more than two-dozen advocacy groups with an anti-nuclear bent called on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund a federal nuclear watchdog agency at the $47.2 million level sought by President Joe Biden for fiscal 2025. In a letter to the Senate Appropriations panel, the 28 public interest organizations urged ample funding of the […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday started market research for high-profile, public demonstrations of the many severe kinds of abuse transport systems for spent nuclear fuel are designed to withstand. The agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy on Wednesday released a request for information about a wide range of things it might need to conduct what […]

The Department of Energy and its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant prime expect to file a draft plan with New Mexico regulators in November seeking to define “legacy” transuranic waste, managers said during a public meeting Tuesday. The draft will be filed Nov. 3 with the New Mexico Environment Department as required by the new 10-year […]

WASHINGTON — Modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons and delivery systems is moving too slowly and the Pentagon has heard about it, Nebraska’s senior U.S. senator said here Tuesday at a think tank. “When we’re in classified briefings and I hear from the military and the department, they give me dates on when things are going […]

Knoxville-based Management Solutions LLC was awarded a $1.25 million contract for business and administrative support at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The contract between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and Management Solutions was announced in a Monday procurement notice on the online System for Award Management. The duration of the agreement […]

The Leidos-led landlord contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is shopping for a subcontractor to provide office and warehouse space at the former plutonium production site. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) on Tuesday put out a request for proposals on an Information Management Field Support Services Replacement Facility at the […]

An amended record of decision published Tuesday clears an environmental hurdle for sending contaminated soil to the Nevada National Security Site from the Department of Energy’s section of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The Nevada Nuclear Security Site (NNSS) expects to receive between 3-million and 4-million cubic feet of soil potentially contaminated with […]

A bill introduced in the House Tuesday would charge companies for emitting greenhouse gasses and reserve some of the proceeds for states and tribes hosting permanent nuclear-waste disposal sites. Filed in the second half of a contentious presidential election year in which control of Congress teeters on eight seats in the House and only one […]

The Department of Energy and Stellar Renewable Power started lease negotiations last month for a solar project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal advisory board heard Monday. The agency hopes to wrap up negotiations by mid-August, Edwin Deshong, deputy manager for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at Savannah River, told the […]

An Australian government agency signed a deal this month to store nuclear waste from AUKUS submarines on a naval base in the country, despite community concerns. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) issued a license to the Australian Submarine Agency to prepare what the agency calls a “Controlled Industrial Facility” on naval […]

Bids on the Department of Energy cleanup office’s Consolidated Technical Support Services contract, originally due this Thursday, Aug. 1, is being pushed back until Monday, Aug. 5, DOE said Monday. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced the extra deadline time for the potential 5-year, $90-million small business contract in a Monday notice in the online […]

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) last week signed a bill that includes $150 million more in state funding to help restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant.  The new tranche of funding, passed as part of a supplement to the state’s 2024 budget, brings Michigan’s total aid package for the plant to $300 million. Lansing approved another […]

Here are some events related to civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. July 29: Hybrid meeting:  The Citizens Advisory Board for the Savannah River Site kicks off a two-day hybrid meeting starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time from the North Augusta Municipal Building, 100 Georgia Avenue, North Augusta, South Carolina […]

A State Department spokesperson said in a press briefing last week that Iran must comply with International Atomic Energy Agency rules again to re-enter nuclear talks with the U.S. The spokesperson was responding to a reporter’s question July 23 about comments on entering nuclear talks with Iran’s newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian, a self-identified “reformist” […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration released a report last week that said the U.S. nuclear stockpile had 3,748 warheads as of September 2023. Information on the nuclear weapons stockpile was last released and updated in October 2021, when the stockpile had 3,713 warheads. The number of nuclear warheads is down 88% from its peak in […]

Two vice presidents at a Leidos-led joint venture in charge of overseeing workaday operations at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site are retiring. In a post last week on LinkedIn, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) said two executives, each with more than 35 years of experience at the former plutonium production site, are retiring.  Darci […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology plans to start taking public comment later this summer on a research and development permit application for a technology to reduce hazardous tank waste vapors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. On Friday the state agency emailed out a 30-day notice of public comment on a Phase 3 […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday planned to vote on its version of the Department of Energy’s fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill, the committee announced. The bill, which funds other agencies, is one of five pieces of legislation scheduled for debate and a vote in a marathon session that was to begin at 9:30 a.m. […]

After hours of debate on more than 60 amendments this week, the House of Representatives canceled a planned vote on several 2025 appropriations bills, including the one that funds the Department of Energy. Media reported Wednesday that a fractious, razor-thin Republican majority could not wrangle enough votes in their own party to pass the bills […]

Workers at the Savannah River Site in June removed the last pieces of plutonium recycling equipment from a building that will house the site’s pit plant, the site’s management contract said Wednesday. Over 18 months, workers removed over 2,500 gross tons of material from the area, according to the press release from Savannah River Nuclear […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting comments between now and Sept. 16 on the Department of Energy’s plans for two new disposal panels at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The new panels will help the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) replace disposal capacity lost due to the February 2014 underground radiological […]

A federal safety watchdog will hear testimony from government agencies next month on best practices for taking care of aging nuclear infrastructure, some of which is a half-century old. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set a public hearing Aug.14 at its Washington, headquarters to hear testimony from representatives of the Government Accountability […]

President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday announced his intent to nominate Senate staffer Matthew Marzano to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and fill the agency’s last vacancy.  Marzano is an Idaho National Laboratory detailee on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where he advises lawmakers about clean air, climate and energy, […]

Two amendments dealing with the National Nuclear Security Administration were agreed to and two anti-nuclear amendments failed during a 2025 appropriations debate Tuesday on the House floor. The 2025 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 8997, reached the House floor Tuesday, but lawmakers ended their day without a vote on the […]

PanTeXas Deterrence announced four key personnel who will lead management of the Pantex Plant alongside Kelly Beierschmitt, president of the BWX Technologies-led venture, the parent announced Tuesday. The four other senior managers leading PanTeXas Deterrence are: Carl Beard, production operations director. Beard has five years of experience at the Pantex Plant and experience in pit […]