Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory officially closed out its remediation of a stretch of public road, previously thought to be clean, where contamination was discovered in 2020, the contractor said Monday. In February, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) said the investigation and cleanup of contaminated soil […]

In a Monday memo, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission effectively killed a proposed licensing path for advanced nuclear reactors that industry and some lawmakers said was too burdensome. The decision was a step in the commission’s Part 53 rulemaking that will create a new method for licensing a technically diverse group of reactor designs legally classified […]

Defense and civilian nuclear programs at the Department of Energy would all get raises for the 2024 fiscal year under a compromise appropriators package, released Sunday, that congressional leaders and the White House have said they support.  DOE and other federal agencies are still operating under a short-term continuing resolution that holds spending to 2023 […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: March  06: Meeting: A hybrid meeting on cleanup priorities at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time at the Gallery Room of the Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate […]

The Department of Energy’s decision to re-award a potential $45-billion contract for liquid radioactive waste management at the Hanford Site in Washington state to a BWX Technologies-led group could put the company at the helm of two major nuclear-weapons cleanups. DOE announced Friday the re-award of the Integrated Tank Disposition contract to Hanford Tank Waste […]

The Department of Energy officially said Friday it is seeking competitive bids from qualified parties to help develop carbon-free electric power projects of at least 200 megawatts at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Proposals are due April 15, tax day, in response to the request for qualifications  published March 1 in the system for […]

Bidders on a Department of Energy contract, potentially worth $3 billion, for Phase 1B remediation work at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, now have until March 11 to submit proposals. The prior deadline was today, March 4. Jacobs-led CH2M Hill-BWXT West Valley is the incumbent. Its contract, valued at less than […]

All shifts were scheduled to report normally to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, on Thursday, despite several wildfires still raging north of the site.  The plant’s website shows normal scheduling for the day, swing and graveyard shifts on Thursday. Workers were recalled Wednesday after operations at the National Nuclear Security […]

On Wednesday, almost halfway through the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, congressional appropriators announced they would pass a final 2024 budget for the Department of Energy and other agencies next week. In the meantime, to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday, when funding for DOE and other agencies was set to expire, appropriators […]

Despite his relatively easy re-election in 2022, a couple of Republicans are set to challenge Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee and vocal supporter of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. A couple of Democrats also plan to run in their party’s 2nd congressional district primary, which like […]

The Defense Nuclear Safety Board staff says some seismic monitoring equipment at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is out of service and DOE’s prime contractor plans to replace the gear later this year.  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) seismic equipment  on the surface “has failed and is unable to perform its […]

Friends and foes of Holtec International’s proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel were to meet in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 5 for oral arguments. The three-judge panel scheduled to hear the arguments, in order of seniority on the court, are: Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, […]

The House on Wednesday easily passed a bipartisan nuclear-policy bill that serves as the lower chamber’s response to a similar bill the full Senate approved late last year. The Atomic Energy Advancement Act sailed through 365-36, with 29 representatives not voting and one representative voting “present.” That handily eclipsed the two-thirds majority the bill needed […]

Nuclear Naval reactor maker BWX Technologies is out of the submarine missile tube building business after completing its contracted work for the U.S. Navy and allied fleets in 2023, the company’s chief executive said on Feb. 27.  BWXT makes Common Missile Compartment tubes at its factory in Mount Vernon, Ind. The tubes are designed to […]

The Department of Energy is starting to shop for developers of carbon-free electricity projects on land at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the agency announced Tuesday. The request for information notice was published online in the federal government’s System for Award Management (SAM.gov). The targeted projects should be capable of generating at […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., for 2023, which the maker of nuclear naval reactors and manager of nuclear weapons sites attributed Tuesday mostly to favorable adjustments on government contracts. For the year, net earnings were $246.3 million, or $2.68 per share, up about 7.7% from $238.6 million, or $2.60 a share in 2023. […]

As signaled, the Department of Energy’s final solicitation for a new Technical Support Services contract at the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office was published Tuesday. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management procurement office  said in mid-February that the final request for proposals (RFP) for technical support at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the Paducah Site in Kentucky and […]

Indiana in April planned to start the process of taking over regulation of some radioactive materials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to a letter the commission posted online Tuesday. The state planned to submit a draft application around April 1, NRC’s Adelaide Giantelli wrote in a Feb. 23 letter to Courtney Eckstein, radiation control […]

In about a month, a New Jersey court will decide whether to force Holtec International to turn over additional information sought by a former finance chief who has sued the company for wrongful termination. Lawyers for Kevin O’Rourke, the ex-chief financial officer who sued in June, filed a motion with the Superior Court of New […]

Stormwater discharges from legacy nuclear work at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the subject of litigation in recent years, will be the focus of a virtual meeting on Wednesday. The DOE Office of Environmental Management and its Los Alamos cleanup prime, Newport News Nuclear-BWXT Los Alamos (N3B), said in […]

The Department of Energy cannot make utilities pay for storage of spent nuclear fuel with interest from their own decommissioning trust funds, a federal judge ruled this month. DOE had argued in the Court of Federal Claims that it should not have to pay $149 million in damages to three former power plant operators in […]

The Los Alamos County Council in New Mexico plans to honor retiring County Manager Steve Lynne during its regular Tuesday night meeting. Lynne will retire the following day, March 1, after working for Los Alamos County over 28 years according to a notice on the municipal board’s website. Lynne was deputy county manager in July […]

A South Dakota legislative committee on Thursday approved a bill that would clear the way for the state to sign an agreement to take over inspection and licensing responsibilities for nuclear material from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The bill, introduced in January by State Rep. Mike Weisgram (R), is cruising through the state legislature. The […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 27-29: United Kingdom Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Academic and Industry Research Forum. Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield, U.K. Register online. 27: Earnings: BWX Technologies will host an earnings call starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss quarterly and […]

The U.S. Department of Energy is studying vitrification technologies as options for treating 1.2 million gallons of calcine, a high-level radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, a DOE advisory board heard Thursday. DOE is looking at options from three prospective suppliers: an Atkins-Catholic University joint venture, Orano and Veolia, said Valerie Kimbro, a nuclear […]