Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wants an oversight hearing on “misleading” statements Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm made to the panel in April about her stock ownership. “During the hearing, Secretary Granholm claimed she did not own any personal financial stocks, when in fact, she held […]

A leading Ohio politician faces sentencing Thursday afternoon in Columbus following a March conviction on a $60 million bribery scheme involving two financially struggling nuclear power plants. Larry Householder, 64, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Mathew Borges, 50, face sentences of up to 20 years […]

The Department of Energy has extended the deadline until Oct. 9 for companies interested in recycling about 6,400 tons of radiologically surface-contaminated nickel from the gaseous diffusion plant at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the new deadline in a June 22 notice on a federal procurement website. DOE […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to expand its supplier base for the highly engineered glove boxes needed to speed up production of new plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.  The airtight, pressurized containers, are in high demand at NNSA facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is gearing up to produce at least 30 […]

Stakeholders have agreed to a deal for a new 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste near Carlsbad, N.M., the New Mexico Environment Department said late Tuesday  Various stakeholders had requested a hearing on the new Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) permit, but the deal announced Tuesday […]

The Department of Energy’s solicitation for completion of deactivation and demolition work at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state should hit the streets by the end of December, the agency said Tuesday. But the West Valley Demonstration Project Phase 1B cleanup is the only major request for proposals expected from the DOE […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel should decide this summer whether to force Pacific Gas and Electric to formally defend its request to relicense the Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s spent fuel storage facility. The environmental group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace has mounted a multipronged legal attack on Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) effort to […]

The Department of Energy intends to award a sole-source contract to a firm with experience working with both college swim teams as well as businesses, to provide “coaching” services to managers at the agency’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office. The DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said in an online procurement notice, it intends to […]

Workers at a commercially-owned waste disposal facility in West Texas and the Department of Energy’s disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste near Carlsbad, N.M., should be mindful of dangerous heat wave warnings issued by the National Weather Service today in their localities. In Andrews County, Texas where Waste Control Specialists (WCS) is located, the forecast […]

The Department of Energy resumed heating the first melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a process on hold since fall, the agency said Monday. Resumption of the heatup was signaled last month by the acting head of the DOE Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White […]

The story “With Los Alamos contract extension, N3B management team overhauled, Lebak returns to HII” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, June 21, 2023] should have said Jerry O’Leary’s new role as senior technical adviser planning Technical Area-21 cleanup includes characterization and remediation of legacy waste. 

There should be no shortage of naval nuclear reactors when the U.S. shipbuilding industry begins churning out historic numbers of submarines before the end of the decade, the Navy’s senior submarine procurement official said Monday. Rear Adm. Scott Pappano, the Navy’s program executive officer for strategic submarines, said there are no signs that reactor demand […]

Steven Birchfield will replace Greg Wood as the chief financial officer of EnergySolutions in June, the Salt Lake City-based radioactive waste disposal company announced Monday. Wood was to retire in June, EnergySolutions wrote in a press release announcing the personnel change in the C-suite.  Birchfield was most recently executive vice president and chief financial officer […]

Effective this month, William (Ike) White has been the acting chief of the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar nuclear cleanup branch for four years, placing him among the longest-serving leaders of the office. In mid-June 2019, White became a senior adviser and highest- ranking executive at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. A career fed who has […]

Anyone who wants to argue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should unconditionally allow power plants to use their decommissioning funds to replace major equipment has until August to refute the agency’s new draft guidance that says otherwise. “The disposal of the MRC [major radioactive components] when performed during the operational phase of the reactor facility […]

The Senate Armed Service Committee’s version of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill includes $24.1 billion for nuclear defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration, almost exactly in line with a House committee’s version of the bill.  The Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday said its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) […]

Despite occasional glitches, a $1.4-billion plant to solidify liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory has processed 21,000 gallons during its first two-and-a-half months of regular operations, the Department of Energy said Friday. Since starting radiological operations April 11, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) has had “intermittent pauses to perform various pre-planned […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could be down to four commissioners come Friday, when Commissioner Jeffrey Baran’s term will expire and the Senate out of town until July 10. Baran’s nomination remained on the Senate’s executive calendar as of Monday, but lawmakers returned home Thursday for their annual July 4 recess and were not scheduled to […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 28: Meeting: The Department of Energy Environmental Management Citizens Advisory Board for Northern New Mexico and its Citizens Advisory Board’s Consent Order subcommittee will hold a virtual meeting starting at 12 p.m. Mountain Time. To obtain […]

Randall Hendrickson, a former senior executive with the U.S. federal government, is now a vice president for Atkins Nuclear Secured in Canada, an Atkins spokesperson confirmed by email. Hendrickson joined Atkins in late April and is at the Chalk River location of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories as a vice president for business management, the Atkins spokesperson […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved its version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes allowing the Department of Energy to spend up to $7.5 billion on Defense Environmental cleanup. The committee approved the bill early Thursday after a long markup and debate that began on Wednesday. Defense Environmental is the […]

Early Thursday, a House committee approved a bill to cap National Nuclear Security Administration spending in 2024 at about $23.8 billion and blocked a plan to repeal legal deadlines to make new nuclear weapon cores. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would also approve $70 million to fund development of a sea-launched variant of […]

New York’s governor had yet to decide whether she would sign a bill, passed Monday by the state legislature, that would punish anyone who discharges irradiated water into the Hudson River. The bill, S06893, passed the General Assembly 101-44 on the first day of a special session of the bicameral legislature’s lower chamber, where Democrats […]

Brad Smith has replaced Kim Lebak as president and general manager of the legacy waste cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Lebak is heading back to Huntington Ingalls Industries, the corporate parent of the team’s lead partner. Lebak shared the news herself in letters on June 5 and June […]

The House Armed Services Committee was set Wednesday to begin its annual marathon markup of the bill that sets spending ceilings and defense policies for the coming fiscal year. Committee debate of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Capitol Hill in Washington in room 2118 […]