Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Los Alamos National Laboratory management has been put on notice after a series of safety violations two years ago sent red flags all the way up to National Nuclear Security Administration leadership. Triad National Security, led by Battelle Memorial Institute, The Texas A&M University System and the University of California, violated Department of Energy safety […]

A company seeking to build a small modular demonstration reactor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site has received a qualified endorsement from a Nuclear Regulatory Commission advisory panel. Kairos Power said Thursday via Twitter the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards has recommended issuance of the construction permit for the […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. May: 31: Business meeting, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington. The committee will consider: whether to recommend Jeffrey Baran for another five years as a commission on […]

It is time for the Department of Energy to arrange an outside review of its potential alternatives for treating the most highly-radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Thursday. “DOE has not committed to obtaining an independent review to validate the portions of the […]

Mark Menezes, who was deputy secretary of energy under President Donald Trump, will become the United States Energy Association’s new president and chief executive officer, the organization said Friday. Menezes will become the top boss at the U.S. Energy Association (USEA) June 15, replacing acting executive director Sheila Hollis, who has led the group since […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security recently laid the final roof beam of what will become the new High Explosives Science and Engineering facility at the Pantex Plant in Panhandle, Texas.  During the topping out of the facility, the construction crew placed the final steel beam on the Technology Development and Deployment Lab last week, the Pantex site […]

Senators from four states have joined forces to form a caucus dedicated to advocating for U.S. national laboratories, including those overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), James Risch (R-Idaho.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced the creation of a new Senate National Labs Caucus on May 25. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban imports of Russian uranium by 2028, sending the measure to the House floor.  Most Democrats on the committee opposed H.R. 1042, which passed by a vote of 29-21. In testimony to the committee this month, Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy, […]

Crews at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state are doing electrical testing, setting the stage to again start heating up the first melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, the agency’s acting nuclear cleanup boss said Monday. “At Hanford we resumed our electrical testing for the vitrification plant,” William (Ike) White, […]

Production of tritium and plutonium pits could prove a significant limiting factor in the introduction of a new nuclear weapons delivery method like a sea-launched cruise missile and other attempts by the U.S. to beef up its nuclear arsenal to counter Russia and China, according to an official at the National Strategic Research Institute.  Christopher […]

In the Justice Department’s first significant filing to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on a challenge to a $45-billion Department of Energy contract award, the agency said the winner’s failure to ensure continuous registration in a procurement tracking system is significant. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian Horn ordered the government and the […]

Holtec International will know by June or July whether it will get the funds it wants to restart the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Calvert, Mich., executives told Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff Wednesday. It was the most specific public timetable Holtec has set yet for the full-court fundraising press the company initiated to restart […]

A land developer will not soon be building what amounts to a small city in the buffer zone around the Diablo Canyon Power Plant after a California court ruled Monday that the developer does not have a valid lease on the land. The Local San Luis Obispo Tribune first reported the proposed ruling in the […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory added SambaNova Systems’ spatial data flow accelerator to the lab’s Livermore Computing Center as part of an effort to see if artificial intelligence can aid the nuclear-weapons program. Livermore will integrate the new hardware to further investigate cognitive simulation approaches combining artificial intelligence (AI) with high-performance computing to learn if deep […]

Butte County, Idaho has already tried and failed to convince federal courts the locality is entitled to “impact payments” because of ongoing storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, according to Justice Department legal papers filed Monday. “Plaintiff already tested—and lost—its theory that it was entitled to impact assistance […]

Holtec International and Pacific Gas and Electric were scheduled to speak to Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on Wednesday about novel regulatory efforts to extend the lives of two nuclear power plants. Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., was scheduled to go first, with their 10:00 a.m. Eastern presentation to commission staff about the regulatory pathway to restart […]

Jessie Hill Roberson, a fixture in the public and private sectors of the nuclear field for more than 30 years, plans to exit the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this October when her latest term expires, a board spokesperson said Monday. The exit of the longtime nuclear hand could, temporarily at least, leave only two […]

The House Appropriations Committee postponed markups of several fiscal year 2024 spending bills with no rain-check date given, the panel’s chairwoman said Monday.  Citing ongoing negotiations between the administration and House Republican leadership, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who chairs the appropriations committee, said all markups scheduled for the week are now postponed. “Given recent developments […]

With the head of field operations at the Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear remediation branch recently announcing departure plans, more of the Cold War and Manhattan Project cleanup sites will start reporting directly to the No. 2 boss at headquarters in Washington, D.C., officials said Monday. “We are making a change in a couple of […]

A Sunday fire near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has been extinguished but not before it burned 1,300 acres, according to a Hanford announcement on Facebook. “Wind gusts fanned the flames, but the Hanford Fire Department, managed by Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, got it under control within a few hours with […]

A long-awaited report released Monday from the National Academies finds a “strong technical case” for using concrete-like grout to augment operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lauded a study by DOE’s Savannah […]

A $1.4-billion facility to convert sodium-bearing waste into a solid granular form at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is now running with 100% radioactive waste, the head of the $8-billion nuclear cleanup office said Monday. The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Lab is now “at 100% waste feed,” William […]

The Illinois legislature on Friday exempted advanced nuclear reactors from a state ban on new nuclear power plants. On the last day of the state’s legislative session, the state House approved a bill lifting the ban by 84-22 and the state Senate voted 36-14 to go along with their House colleagues. The second House-amended version […]

A federal judge in Idaho will allow the U.S. government to file up to 30 pages  in a motion to dismiss a March lawsuit by Butte County, which claims the Department of Energy has avoided adequate economic payments to the locality while using Idaho National Laboratory as a “default repository” for nuclear waste. “Plaintiff may […]

The BWX Technologies-led group won a $45-billion liquid-waste cleanup contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state will file court papers early this week defending its eligibility for the award. In an order dated Saturday, May 20, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian Horn gave the winning bidder, Hanford Tank Waste […]