Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) last week posted strong second quarter results driven by sales gains across its shipbuilding segments and operating earnings related to work on aircraft carriers and joint ventures in the nuclear and environmental markets. Net income soared 37% to $208 million, $5.27 earnings per share (EPS), from $152 million (3.86 EPS) a […]

After being out of service about two months to fix problems with underground hoists, the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) resumed taking shipments of defense-related transuranic waste in July, according to publicly-available data. According to DOE’s public shipment website for WIPP, a couple of waste shipments from the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The federal government has concluded certain tank farm waste in the 200 West Area of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., can be treated as low-level radioactive waste. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Friday press release that a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) determination has been made for treated waste […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is hosting a webinar Aug. 10 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss a recent rulemaking that touches on changes to its radiation protection standards. The webinar will be held via Microsoft Teams and will have a question and answer session within it, according to NRC’s July 28 […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  August: 02: Conference: The Women in Nuclear Conference kicks off in Seattle, Wash.  03: Earnings Call: BWX Technologies will discuss its quarterly financial results starting in a 5 p.m. Eastern Time earnings call with analysts.  04: Tennessee Valley Authority: Discusses quarterly financial […]

Fusion technology developer Fuse signed a five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with prime contractor Mission Support and Test Services at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), expanding its collaboration across the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) enterprise. A CRADA deal establishes a framework for research on next-generation fusion technologies, tritium capabilities, higher neutron […]

The 2026 United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Deterrence Symposium will take place Aug. 5-6 in Omaha, Neb. at the CHI Health Center. The theme this year is “Peace through strength: turning defense strategy into decisive deterrence action,” according to the website. Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will speak on Thursday. […]

Targets in the End State Contract Model the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office started using in fiscal 2020 are often ill-defined and the program needs better record-keeping and oversight, a congressional watchdog said this week. Those are among the takeaways from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report publicly released Wednesday on the DOE Office […]

Legislation introduced this week in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee would direct the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) nuclear evaluation program. The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) and is cosponsored by Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.). The Advanced Artificial Intelligence Nuclear Evaluation Program […]

Constellation Energy, Blue Energy and NANO Nuclear have formally expressed interest in building new nuclear energy in Illinois. The three nuclear entities responded to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) notice of inquiry that was conducted by the Illinois Commerce Commission through a February executive order. That gubernatorial action set out a target goal of adding […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office in Richland, Wash., plans to award a no-bid contract to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Academy to hold a four-day process safety “boot camp,” according to a recent online procurement notice. In the notice, the Academy is called “the only responsible source that can provide the management […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed changes to its transportation regulations in preparation for the development of microreactor technologies. The proposed rulemaking, announced on July 22, would make changes to Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 – or 10 CFR Part 71 – and would update package approval requirements suitable for microreactors and new […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) hosted Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy at its Newport News Shipbuilding Charleston Operations facility in Goose Creek, S.C. July 27, with aims to underscore cooperation under the AUKUS security partnership. Under the tripartite AUKUS agreement, the U.S. government plans to sell three to five nuclear-powered attack submarines, or SSNs, […]

For the second time in two weeks, the Department of Energy unveiled plans for a new data center at one of its nuclear installations, this one at the Paducah Site in Western Kentucky. In a Wednesday morning news release, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said DOE is teaming up with several energy organizations to help […]

A joint venture between Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and BWX Technologies said Tuesday it is meeting its goals for moving legacy transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. “This fiscal year has been N3B’s most productive year in reducing legacy transuranic […]

DAYTON, Ohio – The Air Force is modifying a B-52H bomber to resume testing the Radar Modernization Program (RMP), which will feature an active electronically scanned array radar system based on RTX’s APG-79 to replace the bomber’s Northrop Grumman APQ-166. The dual-capable B-52 bomber delivers the Long Range Standoff cruise missile, which carries the W80-4 […]

The White House on July 22 announced plans to invest $5 billion into its new Genesis Mission initiative to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for science-related efforts.  “America has no shortage of bold ideas or talented scientists, and the response to the Genesis Mission proves that,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the White House statement, […]

With a flammable gas analysis complete, the Department of Energy said Tuesday the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C., could soon be ready to resume shipments of the more radioactive type of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. SRS can soon resume shipping drums of remote-handled transuranic waste […]

Washington state’s open primary Aug.4 will decide what two candidates will be on the November ballot to succeed Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) to represent the 4th congressional district, which includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. There are 11 candidates running for the office that Newhouse is vacating in January, according to the Spokesman-Review newspaper. […]

The Department of Energy formally selected Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah as potential host states for its Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative. Last week, Exchange Monitor reported that Utah, Oklahoma and Tennessee were among the top of the list of potential states to be selected for the program. According to DOE’s Tuesday press release, […]

The Donald Trump White House has drafted a memo to Congress, pushing for legislation to remove Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the sole site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The 1987 amendments of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established Yucca Mountain as the sole repository for high-level waste. However, plans for Yucca were […]

Rian Bahran, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, left DOE last Friday and joined microreactor developer Antares Nuclear. Bahran, who was with DOE since January 2025, will now serve as the chief nuclear officer at Antares, beginning this week. In his new role, he will lead the […]

In pursuing a pathway to waste disposal through the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, the Department of Energy will still likely need one to two deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) said.  The NWTRB, established through the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987, penned a July 24 letter […]

South Carolina would consider deep borehole disposal of radioactive spent nuclear fuel as part of a federal nuclear lifecycle hub program; the state Department of Commerce told the Department of Energy earlier this year. That is according to a news release last week from the Savannah River Site Watch nuclear watchdog group, following a response […]

While the Department of Energy announced a nuclear agreement was reached and signed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump said on social media the agreement “will be approved” but hasn’t yet. DOE said July 22 that U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman […]

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has received a $156 million contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to provide mobile counter-unmanned aircraft systems for the Office of Secure Transportation’s Project Solar Shield. The sole-source, single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will support the NNSA Office of Secure Transportation (OST), Kratos announced July 21. OST is responsible for […]