Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

ARLINGTON, VA —Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) Tuesday prodded hundreds of people here for the National Cleanup Workshop to urge their congressional representatives to avoid a federal government shutdown but stopped short of predicting a stopgap agreement before fiscal 2023 ends Sept. 30. “Reach out to your member of congress,” said Fleischmann, who chairs the House […]

ARLINGTON, VA — A planned test to solidify 2,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site into a concrete-like grout could pave the way for a second method of treating waste at the former plutonium production complex near Richland, Wash., the Department of Energy’s top nuclear-cleanup official said here Tuesday. During the […]

The U.S. and Philippine governments are in the home stretch of signing a 123 agreement to boost cooperation on both civil energy projects and nuclear non-proliferation efforts.  Quoting Philippine Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the Manila Bulletin — that nation’s largest English language newspaper — said the two countries are on the brink of signing the […]

The Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy and Grid Deployment offices got new chiefs of staff, the agency announced Tuesday. Emily Doran, a former campaign staffer for President Joe Biden (D), will be the staff chief at the Grid Deployment Office while Rory Stanley, most recently a staffer on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, […]

Two electric cooperatives would purchase electricity generated by the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan if the plant restarts, plant owner Holtec International said Tuesday in a statement. If Palisades restarts, something Holtec has said could happen in August 2025, if everything goes according to the company’s unprecedented plan, Wolverine Power Cooperative will purchase two […]

The U.S.-Japan Nuclear Security Working Group convened for its 12th meeting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee earlier this month for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear non-proliferation issues.  Corey Hinderstein, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, and Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, deputy director general of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign […]

No major safety or operational issues were found during a recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, clearing the way for the facility to produce high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials completed an inspection of the American Centrifuge Plant on Aug. 16. In a Sept. 7 […]

A Department of Energy spokesperson confirmed Monday the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico sent a problematic shipment of transuranic waste back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The shipment, which sat for nearly a year in a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) parking lot and required special permission by the U.S. […]

ARLINGTON, VA — William “Ike” White, the acting boss of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup program, was set to kick off the main program for 2023 National Cleanup Workshop here Tuesday morning with an overview of priorities for the $8-billion-plus Office of Environmental Management. With the clock ticking toward the Sept. 30 end of […]

California waded into a lawsuit filed by environmental groups opposed to a life-extension for the state’s last nuclear power plant, writing in a legal filing last week that the plan “presents no undue risk” to the public. In a friend-of-the court brief uploaded Friday and dated Sept. 5, California asked the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court […]

A Veolia Nuclear Solutions subsidiary has hired Bob Miklos, a retired nuclear waste manager at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory as VNS Federal Services’ executive vice president of program assurance, the company announced last week. Miklos will help Veolia Nuclear Solutions (VNS) target opportunities for its GeoMelt and similar technology across DOE’s nuclear […]

Two decades after planning began, the fire department for the Y-12 National Security Complex has moved into its brand-new station, site officials said in a recent statement.  Construction began in the spring of 2021 after 20 years of discussion and planning, according to a post on the site’s blog. When visiting the new Y-12 Fire […]

A series of explosions was heard near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in recent days, a team of International Atomic Energy Agency officials based at the facility have reported.  The blasts point to a possible escalation of military activity in the area surrounding the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 11: Conference: The two-day National Cleanup Workshop hosted by the Energy Communities Alliance kicks off at 8 a.m. Eastern Time at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.  11: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, all-hands public meeting. NRC […]

As a safeguard against wildfires, crews for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico started to thin out the forest in certain areas of Rendija Canyon, lab officials announced last week. The Rendija Canyon Wildland Fire Fuels Reduction and Defensible Space Project, which should be finished in November, will create a […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans an Oct. 19 hearing on a proposal by Kairos Power to build a demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on land once used for a Department of Energy gaseous diffusion plant. The hearing at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Md., marks the final phase of the agency’s review […]

An unsealed status report filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by the Department of Justice says the Department of Energy might seek updated proposals for the legally embattled liquid waste contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state, potentially worth $45-billion. This time around, a DOE contract officer would have discretion to treat […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said Tuesday it is looking for construction contractors to split a multiple award task order contract at the Pantex Plant in Texas that could be worth up to $600 million over 10 years. The contract includes a five-year base period worth $300 million and five one-year options worth $60 million each, according […]

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command and the U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Launch Delta Guardians launched an unarmed Boeing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with three test re-entry vehicles on Sept. 6 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. “The ICBM’s reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands,” […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

Current and former nuclear weapons workers in the Greater Denver area are invited by the Department of Labor to show up at a Sept. 12 information session on federal occupational illness benefits. Labor Department representatives will be on hand at the Arvada, Colo., session to help attendees with filing new claims or assisting with existing […]

Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., said Wednesday it will begin enriching energy-dense uranium fuel at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio, in October. Centrus is in the prove-it phase of a contract, awarded in 2022 and worth up to $1 billion over 10 years, to operate a cascade of 16 AC100M centrifuges […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio last week made its first rail shipment of depleted uranium oxide containers to the Waste Control Specialists disposal site in West Texas, DOE announced Tuesday. The shipment of 120 storage cylinders from the Mid-America Conversion Services depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plant at the former gaseous diffusion […]

Teams vying to take over the Pantex Plant from its Bechtel-led incumbent will get another two weeks to turn in their final bids, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. The agency extended the deadline for bids on the potentially 20-year contract by two weeks to Sept. 28, according to a procurement notice posted online.  […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Boston Government Services, has hired Doug Freund in the newly-created post of chief operating officer, the Department of Energy contractor said Tuesday. Freund was most recently senior vice president for Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, where he was responsible for markets and strategy, Boston Government Services said in a press release. In addition, Freund […]

A small fire ignited but did not last long last month at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The small blaze occurred at an area associated with heating up melter No. 1 at the Waste Treatment Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel, […]