Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Stephen Streiffer, who is currently the interim director of a national laboratory in California, will become the new director of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee in October, Battelle announced last week. Streiffer is currently the interim head of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, formerly known as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

A three-person military bomb squad blew up a segment of an anti-aircraft shell after midnight Tuesday at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a U.S. Army spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The artillery fuse did appear to pose an explosion risk, but was blown up as a precautionary move in keeping with standard procedures […]

News of a Department of Energy plan to use weapons complex land to host carbon-free electricity projects is being met with a mix of excitement, skepticism and curiosity about how the process might work. A smattering of stakeholders contacted by Exchange Monitor Tuesday said they have many questions about the initiative announced last Friday in […]

Workers have completed construction of a new emergency operations center at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, the agency said Tuesday. Built with steel-reinforced concrete walls, the new 3,500-square-foot emergency building should withstand tornado-scale winds, according to a press release from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. It replaces the old center located inside […]

Shine Technologies, Janesville, Wis., plans to start talking to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission soon about building a used nuclear-fuel recycling facility, the company said in a recent regulatory filing. “SHINE intends to begin regulatory engagement with the NRC in the 4th Quarter 2023,” reads a letter to the commission from Jim Costedio, the company’s vice […]

The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, has a new Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board resident inspector as of Monday. Austin Holloway, a former explosives engineer at the Naval Air Warfare (NAVAIR) Center Weapons Division in China Lake, Calif., took over the position with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on July 31.  As a […]

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Monday signed into law a state budget that would conditionally provide $150 million to restart the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert county. The funding, about half of what plant owner Holtec International says it needs from the state, is contingent on the federal Department of Energy providing a […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is seeking contractors to undertake a sweeping utilities upgrade at the site. For the Utility Upgrades and Equipment Project (UUEP), Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) wants a contractor to perform site demolition and preparation and installation of new utilities. CNS wants a […]

While the Department of Energy and the occupational medical services provider for the Hanford Site in Washington state are at odds over how much data should be shared during an audit, DOE’s refusal to mediate the dispute is no sign of bad faith, a federal contracting board ruled. A DOE contracting officer told HPM Corp. […]

After acting as the lone deputy manager for 17 months at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Brian Stickney is now officially the agency’s sitewide second-in-command, DOE said Monday. In 2019, DOE made Brian Vance the sole site manager for the former plutonium production complex, overseeing both Hanford’s Richland Operations Office and […]

The Massachusetts legislature stripped a proposal to create a radioactive wastewater commission from the final version of the state budget sent to the governor on Monday.  Lawmakers sent a compromise version of the state’s $56-billion budget proposal to Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Monday after a six-person conference committee of the state’s bicameral legislature hammered […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which already has two vacant seats on the five-member panel, said recently it is happy the White House this month formally nominated Patricia Lee to serve. Lee is currently a manager at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory.  “Her expertise with defense nuclear facilities will be a […]

The Fluor-led operations contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina promoted Dennis Carr to CEO following Stuart MacVean’s retirement on Thursday, a company spokesperson said via email Friday. Carr becomes president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions after serving as an executive vice president and chief operating officer for […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. August 01: Earnings call: FirstEnergy will report on second quarter financial results in an earnings call set for 10 a.m. Eastern Time 03: Earnings Call: BWX Technologies plans to discuss quarterly financial results with Wall Street […]

The story “NNSA will acquire SRNS, Centerra contracts” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, July 26, 2023] should have reported that the National Nuclear Security Administration will take over the Savannah River Site Oct. 1, 2024.

The Department of Energy wants to sign cooperative agreements with companies that can help establish a domestic supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium. U.S. companies with mature technologies to achieve commercial-scale production of molybdenum-99 in U.S. facilities can apply, according to a notice DOE posted to the federal government’s procurement […]

Hanford’s liquid waste contractor successfully appealed a U.S. Department of Energy order to pay the federal government $6 million for alleged overpayments to temporary workers, according to documents posted online recently. The U.S.  Civilian Board of Contract Appeals ruled in Washington River Protection Solutions’  (WRPS) favor on June 28, but made the decision public on […]

Delays in producing new plutonium pits at two National Nuclear Security Administration sites are “very disturbing,” given the need to modernize nearly every element of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in coming decades, a former NNSA policy director said Wednesday. “During the Cold War, the U.S. produced up to 2,000 warhead pits per year at the […]

During June, Department of Energy contractor North Wind Portage relocated 89,656 tons of uranium tailings and mill debris from the Moab, Utah site near the Colorado River to a disposal site about 30 miles away, according to a report to the Grand County, Utah Commission. As a result, 13.6 million tons of the 16 million […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council last week held video interviews with a half-dozen candidates to be city manager for the municipality, population 31,000, which borders the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site. Zoom interviews with candidates to succeed City Manager Mark Watson, who retired on May 5, occurred July 17-18, according to a post on […]

On Oct. 1, 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration will become the landlord, rather than a tenant, at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and shoulder responsibility for operation and security of the site, a federal advisory panel heard Tuesday. When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) takes over from DOE’s […]

The Defense Department and National Nuclear Security Administration would have just three months to begin development of a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile when the Senate passes its 2024 defense policy bill.  Still under consideration by the Senate as of Wednesday, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would require that within 90 days of passage the […]

The story “Bechtel contract at Hanford faces deadline; Centerra starts anew at Savannah River” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, July 25, 2023] should have reported that DOE has now issued a change order extending Bechtel’s Waste Treatment Plant contract into September 2024.

A public hearing is set Aug. 8 on the environmental assessment for an Oak Ridge City airport on land conveyed to the locality by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The hearing under the National Environmental Policy Act is scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern Time at the DoubleTree Hotel located at 215 […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should treat 4.75 million gallons of salt waste in fiscal 2023, continuing to lag behind its 9-million-gallon annual target, a manager for the site’s cleanup contractor said Tuesday. But implementation of the next generation solvent in fiscal 2024, should […]