Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

After nearly a year of bicameral debate and dealing, the Senate on Tuesday passed a bill designed to ease exports of U.S. nuclear technology and reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, opposed only by two of the voting senators. The heavily amended Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, which […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 51 shipments of transuranic waste during May, according to the facility’s public website. The majority, 36, of the May shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) came from the Idaho National Laboratory.  Eight originated from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, […]

ARLINGTON, VA – The Department of Energy could soon announce a developer for a carbon-free electricity project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the new head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said here Tuesday. New DOE Office of Environmental Management senior adviser Candice Robertson alluded to the award during her address to […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Candice Robertson, the new senior adviser in charge of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, said here Tuesday she first became acquainted with nuclear cleanup issues by growing up around Nye County, Nev., the home of DOE’s Nevada National Security Site. Robertson would subsequently win a “landslide” election by […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Contractor and federal managers from across the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex are using technology to help predict issues from workplace accidents to infrastructure failure, these people said at a meeting here Tuesday. Using technology to help school new hires on potential hazards in a nuclear workplace is important amid the […]

Here are some events related to civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. June 17-18: Meeting: The Energy Facilities Contractors Group two-day annual meeting is set for the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. The general session starts at 8 a.m. on the second day. 18: Senate vote: S.870 – Fire Grants […]

Senators planned to vote Tuesday evening on a bill to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, create new federal waste-reporting requirements and ease adoption of U.S. nuclear power technology. The heavily amended Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, which includes a compromise version of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) […]

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge held a closed-door hearing Friday but had yet to issue a decision in a legal fight over a potential $45-billion Department of Energy contract for emptying liquid waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Washington, D.C. courtroom, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian […]

Candice Robertson, the new acting head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, lauded both her predecessor, William (Ike) White, and the employees of the $8-billion nuclear cleanup office in a Monday email to staff. “I am deeply honored and privileged to lead the DOE Office of Environmental Management as we mark our […]

Global spending on nuclear weapons increased by 13% in 2023, according to the latest annual report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons group, reaching $91.4 billion that year with a world-leading $51.5 billion spent in the U.S.  This 2023 total is $10.7 billion higher than the previous year, with all nine nuclear-armed states […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has awarded an $8.3 million contract to California-based Innovative Claim Solutions to run the workers compensation processing program at the nuclear cleanup site. DOE procurement managers at Hanford said in a Monday press release that Innovative Claims has won a potential five-year contract to be the […]

Jessica Kunkle, a longtime hand around the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, started her new assignment overseeing the Los Alamos National Laboratory field office in New Mexico for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Kunkle, a 15-year-veteran of DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), officially started as Environmental Management field boss in Los Alamos on Monday, […]

The Department of Energy nuclear cleanup office placed orders for 219 zero-emissions vehicles in fiscal 2024, which accounts for 89% of the total throughout the department, the Office of Environmental Management at the agency said last week. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has to date also installed a total of 120 charging ports, the department […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-3 Friday to advance the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to the Senate floor with provisions that would authorize $25 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration and $150 million to the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy activities. The Senate committee’s version of the national defense policy bill would […]

After spending five years as acting boss of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White has passed the keys to another longtime fed, Candice Robertson. The previously-announced transition is officially reflected in a new organizational chart posted Friday by DOE’s nuclear cleanup office. The chart shows Robertson as senior adviser […]

Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California developed an algorithm to simulate nuclear reaction rates, which are tough to make in a lab, to collect data to maintain the nuclear weapons stockpile, according to a press release. The hybrid computing scheme “successfully” simulated the scattering of two neutrons, which can […]

The House Rules Committee voted Wednesday to consider a version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that includes a provision to restore nuclear capabilities to the B-52 bomber, but not an amendment restoring the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), on behalf of Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), proposed an amendment to […]

Jack Anderson and Sandra Fairchild, two experienced hands around the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, have joined the advisory board for Las Vegas-based contractor Longenecker & Associates, the company said this week. Anderson logged more than 30 years with DOE and its national laboratories, including tours with Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the […]

Shalanda Baker, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Justice and Equity, will leave DOE at the end of June, a DOE spokesperson said Wednesday. Baker joined DOE in January 2021, first as the deputy director of Energy Justice and adviser to the secretary on equity, the DOE spokesperson said in an email […]

The Idaho National Laboratory has accounted for about 71% of shipments to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., over three years, the manager of DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project told an advisory board Wednesday. Under Idaho’s updated spent fuel settlement agreement with DOE and the U.S. Navy, the lab is supposed […]

The Department of Energy and its Nevada National Security Administration Wednesday announced the selection of a solar developer to pursue a carbon-free electric project at the Nevada National Security Site. Under the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have selected Estuary Power LLC & NV Energy as the […]

Paul Murray, the Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and high-level waste, will address a community panel on the decommissioning of a retired Southern California Edison nuclear plant on Thursday, according to the electric utility. Murray will discuss the federal spent fuel management program during a quarterly meeting of the San Onofre […]

Environmental crews at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have discovered three broken ceramic filter elements are to blame for stalling operations at a plant built to solidify liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste. In March, DOE and its Jacobs-led contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition, decided to suspend restart of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU). While […]

Lawmakers will debate a version of the National Defense Authorization Act that allocates $25 billion in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration as both the House and the Senate look at the bill this week in closed markups. The House Rules Committee debated H.R. 8070, the House version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization […]

President Joe Biden’s administration objected Tuesday to a provision in the  House Committee on Armed Services version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that would ban Chinese or Russian nationals entry into nuclear weapons facilities and national security laboratories. The statement cites Section 3111 of the H.R. 8070 version of the National Defense […]