Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah has awarded Lockheed Martin a $996 million, 16-year contract for the Mark 21A reentry vehicle, which will carry nuclear weapons on the planned LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. The contract “provides for conducting engineering, manufacturing, and design to provide a low technical […]

Having been skipped the first time around, the Government Accountability Office was asked to consider a challenge by an Atkins-led team over a $45-billion Department of Energy contract for liquid waste management. The bid protest, dated Friday, arrived after DOE called upon losing bidder Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance and the winning bidder, BWX-Technologies-led Hanford Tank […]

Oral arguments are scheduled, but not inevitable, in January for a high-profile legal challenge by environmental groups who want to shut down California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant this decade. Arguments are on the slate for Jan. 10 in Pasadena, Calif., in the lawsuit brought by San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and others against the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Radiological Security and Jordan’s Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission have eliminated the Middle Eastern nation’s reliance on radioactive materials for human blood research and testing.  With the NNSA’s help, Jordan has now replaced all high-activity cesium-137 irradiators with X-ray technology, the agency said in an Oct. 30 statement. […]

When the House last week passed its version of the Department of Energy’s 2024 budget, members crossed the aisle to defeat an amendment to cut the Secretary of Energy’s salary to $1.  Most of the “no” votes on the amendment from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) were from Democrats and most of the “aye” votes were […]

The Department of Energy started site preparation this summer for expansion of a low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Idaho National Laboratory and the prep work should continue into July 2024, an agency official told an advisory panel last week. Construction of the third cell for the landfill should be done around September 2025 with […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday wrapped up a three-day inspection of wastewater discharges from the shuttered Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, the U.N. group announced. The four-day mission began Oct. 24 and concluded Oct. 27. The task force included experts from 11 countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wrote in […]

The U.S. military will develop a new, higher-yield variant of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb designed for delivery by modern aircraft, the Pentagon announced on Oct. 27. Designated the B61-13, the new bomb will be suited for use against hardened and large-area military targets, the Defense Department said in a statement. Congressional approval and funding […]

Three years after Bechtel and a fellow contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state paid about $58 million to settle fraud claims, DOE’s Office of Inspector General still lacks confidence in Bechtel’s cost estimates, according to a new report. In an audit report out last week, DOE’s  Office of Inspector General […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. October 31: Webinar, Energy Communities Alliance. “Cleanup to Clean Energy: How to Develop a Project on Federal Land.” Executives with the Washington-based group, representing the interests of localities near Department of Energy nuclear-weapon cleanup sites, will discuss […]

Navy officials on Wednesday told a House panel that several legislative proposals are needed to prevent delays in the tripartite AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between the U.S., U.K. and Australia.  In a joint statement, Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven, Commander of Naval Submarine Forces Vice Adm. William Houston, and Program Executive Officer for […]

Another nuclear power plant in Ukraine is now at risk because of nearby combat, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.  Explosions blew out window glass and shook the foundations of the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) in western Ukraine overnight on Oct. 24, shattering windows at the site and temporarily cutting power to some off-site […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy hopes the agency can select its first clean power project at the Idaho National Laboratory within a year. “A year from today” is the target, Kathryn Huff, DOE’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, told reporters on the sidelines of the Idaho lab’s Cleanup to […]

The U.S. government and Interim Storage Partners this week asked an entire appeals court to overturn a decision by three of the court’s judges that effectively killed commercial interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Two other courts have ruled that the “plain text” of federal law allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve the temporary […]

A first-of-its kind facility to convert sodium-bearing waste at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory into a solid form, is likely to stay offline for maintenance at least a few more weeks, an advisory board heard Wednesday. The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) is using a maintenance outage that began in September to replace […]

The South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council meets Thursday to discuss, among many things, the transition of the Savannah River Site from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to the National Nuclear Security Administration. Leading off the presentations is a landlord transition update from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Executive Vice President and NNSA […]

The long-planned new air-intake shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has been excavated to its final depth of 2,275 feet, the agency said Tuesday. Completion of the 26-feet-wide shaft is a 2023 priority for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) 26 miles […]

Inés Triay, a former Department of Energy assistant secretary for environmental management, was appointed interim dean of Florida International University’s College of Engineering and Computing and the executive director of the university’s Applied Research Center. The university announced Triay’s appointment in a Tuesday press release. She has been at Florida International and a top manager […]

A House subcommittee on Wednesday was poised to approve several bipartisan bills with nuclear policy reforms, including at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. The mark up was set to resume at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy, climate and grid security subcommittee began considering the bills […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the small agency created to provide independent safety advice to the Department of Energy, no longer has a quorum following retirement of longtime member Jessie Hill Roberson, Congress was officially told last week. Federal standards allow Chair Joyce Connery, with an assist from Vice Chair Thomas Summers, to keep […]

The Department of Energy’s contention that the state of Washington lacks authority to order installation of decontamination showers at a waste disposal site won’t block a larger permit modification for the facility, state and federal agencies agreed last week. “Due to the critical need for the timely execution of Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste at Hanford,” […]

Shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from Idaho National Laboratory could decline in 2024, according to a recent federal safety board update. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad receives waste drums from the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), as […]

The race to build 80 nuclear weapon cores per year is stretching the U.S. supply of gloveboxes used to keep engineers radiation-free while manipulating plutonium and other hazardous materials.  The equipment is becoming difficult to source, Michael Robinson, vice president of project management for Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) earlier this month said at the Energy […]

BWX Technologies on Tuesday took home another $300 million contract from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to manufacture nuclear reactor fuel for the Navy’s nuclear-powers submarines and aircraft carriers.  Under the new deal, BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin, Tenn., will manufacture and deliver fuel for the Naval Reactors Program, which supplies propulsion […]

Kathryn Huff, the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, will headline the Cleanup to Clean Energy industry day Wednesday at the agency’s Idaho National Laboratory. Others speakers will include Lance Lacroix, who heads DOE’s Idaho operations office, Idaho National Laboratory director John Wagner, DOE Deputy Director of the Office of Management Ingrid Kolb, […]