Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The National Nuclear Security Administration allocated $161.3 million to support nuclear and radiological security efforts in Ukraine, according to a Government Accountability Office report on supplemental U.S. funding for the battle-torn country. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Congress has appropriated upwards of $174 billion under five Ukraine supplemental appropriations acts. The […]

California-based Deep Isolation has appointed Rod Baltzer as its new chief executive officer effective June 1, the company said Friday. Baltzer has been chief operating officer of Deep Isolation since 2018, the company said in a press release. Baltzer was previously president and CEO of Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas. Baltzer helped steer the […]

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration on Wednesday hosted what it called a White House Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment and announced it would create a federal working group to promote domestic nuclear technology. The closed-door summit included attendees from government and industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted a photo from the summit on the website […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to address Government Accountability Office recommendations about recruiting and retaining new contract and federal workers by the end of the year, the agency told the office. In two reports released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) attempt to streamline the process it […]

The State of New York wants a federal court to affirm and recognize the state’s claim that it can regulate discharge of irradiated wastewater into the Hudson River. Attorneys for the Empire State made the request last week in a response to a lawsuit filed in April by Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., which is decommissioning […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group said Tuesday it appointed Paul Adams president of its North Wind Services company. Adams, who started his role as president on Tuesday, will lead business development and strategic initiatives, North Wind said in a Tuesday press release. Adams is a Marine Corps veteran with more than 25 years of commercial and […]

The U.S. should declare nuclear “revitalization” in and outside of the National Nuclear Security Administration a national priority, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday. The call by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was part of a 52-page proposal for “a generational investment in the U.S. military,” in which Wicker detailed plans […]

Louisiana-based Bernhard Capital Partners is adding another government contractor to its portfolio, announcing Tuesday it has purchased technology solutions provider Apogee Engineering for an undisclosed price. In a Tuesday press release, Bernhard said Apogee has a 20-year record of providing program management, cybersecurity and other technology needs to the U.S. government. “As the government seeks […]

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration signed a memorandum of understanding that seeks to solidify the nuclear security and relationship between the two countries. The memorandum was signed during the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Conference on Nuclear Security in Vienna last week, according to a […]

After multiple incidents and two recordable injuries this spring, the prime contractor has tried a “safety stand-down” for both surface and underground work at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a safety board report. Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, made up of Bechtel and subcontractor Los Alamos Technical Associates, […]

The Department of Energy is turning to longtime federal hand Candice Robertson to oversee the Office of Environmental Management after President Joe Biden announced plans to nominate William (Ike) White to a federal nuclear safety board. The personnel move was announced Tuesday morning in a “colleagues” email to stakeholders from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. […]

In a shift, Sam Brown, who seeks the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), on Saturday said he opposed storing radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain “should not, and will not, be revived as a nuclear waste repository,” reads a post dated May 25 on Brown’s account at the website X. […]

When pressed during a Senate hearing to say when the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state might be cleaned up, William (Ike) White, longtime DOE Environmental Management acting boss, said a “best-case” might be 2060. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who chairs the Senate Armed Forces Committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee, appeared surprised by White’s […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Radiological Security and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs spoke at last week’s International Conference on Nuclear Security on securing radioactive sources, according to a joint press release. The joint statement between the two powers highlighted the need to prevent the use of radioactive […]

A bi-partisan, bi-cameral package of nuclear policy reforms that sailed through the House in May has stalled in the Senate, where at least one lawmaker has not consented to pass the bill without a roll call vote. As of Tuesday, no senator had publicly declared opposition to the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for […]

Here are some events related to civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. May: 29-30: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Expert Panel Review of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation of  Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Energy Science Center – 1005 Platinum  Room 3340 Stevens Drive, Richland, Wash. Agenda online. […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to keep legally binding  pit-production dates that the National Nuclear Security Administration does not believe it will meet. It was one of the few debates about nuclear weapons during Wednesday’s 12-hour markup of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which the committee passed by 57-1 at about […]

The Battelle-led prime of the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is shopping for a subcontractor to collect and ship sand contaminated with mercury to a Veolia waste facility in Gum Springs, Ark., from the Upton, N.Y., lab, according to a solicitation posted online Tuesday. Questions about the work are due by June 5 and […]

Early Wednesday, lawmakers approved an amendment to study use of a Nunn-McCurdy-type oversight process for the National Nuclear Security Administration.  In an uncontroversial en bloc amendment package to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Rep. John Garamendi (R-Ca.) proposed that the Nunn-McCurdy Act requirement to keep Congress appraised of major spikes in project costs […]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who has used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to support funding for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has again won the GOP nomination to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional district. Simpson received over half the votes cast in Tuesday’s Republican primary, defeating two GOP challengers, the Idaho […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants the Department of Energy to brief it by mid-July on the new underground ventilation system being installed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery requested a briefing on the continuous air monitoring system for the Safety Significant […]

Final cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should occur by fiscal 2065, an agency representative told the Citizens Advisory Board for the 310-square mile Tuesday. The 2065 timeline for final remediation, which matches the date listed in the fiscal 2025 budget justification for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, differs […]

Parsons Government Services has won a round before a federal contract board in a case alleging the Department of Energy owes it a $6 million incentive fee after deployment of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals on May 10 dismissed DOE’s contention […]

Nuclear Waste Services recently put out the equivalent of a request for information for companies interested in building a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste in the United Kingdom. The repository, which Nuclear Waste Services calls a Geologic Disposal Facility, could be built under a future contract worth up to $1.6 billion over 10 or […]

A group of plaintiffs who claim they were wrongly fired by the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee after seeking religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination, are trying mediation to settle their lawsuit. The sides should know this week whether a settlement is in the cards, court papers show. […]