Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 22: Meeting: The Environmental Management Advisory Board holds a hybrid meeting starting at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.  24: Observation Meeting, Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “ Meeting with Holtec Decommissioning International” to discuss with the NRC staff their […]

Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, the site of the first of the only two nuclear weapons deployed in wartime, leaders of the Group of Seven nations reaffirmed a commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  Along with the city of Nagasaki, Hiroshima “offers a reminder of the unprecedented devastation and immense human suffering the people […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this morning it found no significant environmental impact from allowing Waste Control Specialists to move containers of long-stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to another location within the company’s Andrews County, Texas property. The move, sought by Waste Control Specialists (WCS) 11 months ago, would allow relocation of 74 containers […]

NAC International’s contract to transport irradiated rods containing tritium from the Tennessee Valley Authority to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina was renewed without competition in September, even though the National Nuclear Security Administration identified four companies that the agency believes could do the work.  The new five-year follow-on contract is being awarded on […]

The Department of Energy’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center is in the market for small companies to support upcoming procurements in the weapons complex. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) on Tuesday published a combined sources sought and request for information for small businesses designated as an Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Corporation […]

A Senate committee unanimously voted Wednesday to ban imports of Russian uranium and to require a report from the Department of Energy about the cost of a federal bailout for struggling nuclear power plants. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the ban and the report as part of S. 452, the Nuclear Fuel […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff plan to submit a proposed rulemaking about near-surface disposal of Greater Than Class C waste to the commission in November, officials told the public Wednesday. The proposed rule, years in the making, combines a 2015 inquiry into a rules change for Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) waste with changes to low-level waste disposal governed […]

The Department of Energy and Canadian nonprofit Nuclear Waste Management Organization signed an agreeement to cooperate on used nuclear fuel management, the Canadian organization announced Tuesday. “The agreement reflects the U.S. and Canada’s shared commitment to safely managing used nuclear fuel, including that from small modular reactors,” the Nuclear Waste Management Organization wrote in a […]

The White House has ended remaining COVID-19 federal jobsite vaccination rules triggered by two 2021 executive orders but attorneys for 315 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site say the legal fight should go on. The administration of President Joe Biden (D) and other defendants in David Donovan versus Brian Vance “have not relinquished […]

Legislation to encourage domestic production of nuclear fuel are on the move this week in Congress, and the movement began Tuesday in House subcommittee, which easily passed a bill to prohibit imports of Russian uranium by Jan. 1, 2028. Summing up Republican sentiment H.R. 1042, the “Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act,” Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could issue a Federal Register notice this week of a draft environmental review to allow Waste Control Specialists to move stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to a different location within the company’s 1,300-acre property in preparation for its ultimate removal from Texas, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday. The public notice, […]

Another power-generation cycle is underway at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1, one of two reactors in which rods that help the National Nuclear Security Administration top off the tritium reservoirs of U.S. nuclear weapons are irradiated. The plant returned to operation on May 12 after a scheduled shutdown for maintenance […]

The Department of Energy aims to use an advanced new solvent by the end of fiscal 2025 to improve the numbers at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a cleanup contractor boss told a federal advisory board Tuesday. Other glitches at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) should […]

The Department of Energy wants to hear by June 16 from entities doing research and development on technology to transmute nuclear waste into other things, the agency wrote Monday in a request for information. DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) seeks “novel and disruptive technologies that are early in the R&D cycle” and […]

The U.S. State Department released aggregate numbers of strategic offensive nuclear weapons on Monday, its obligation under the New START treaty, despite Russia’s refusal to participate further in the bilateral deal.  “As a lawful countermeasure in response to the Russian Federation’s violation of its New START Treaty obligations, the United States did not provide its […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission planned to hold a meeting Wednesday about a long-awaited proposed rulemaking that will cover both low-level waste and Greater Than Class C waste. The NRC last week published a few of the slides it planned to brief at Wednesday’s scheduled meeting, on the slate for 1:00 p.m. Eastern time and officially […]

State officials signed off last week on a Department of Energy request to delay installation of what’s known as Next Generation Solvent at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal advisory board heard Monday. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on May 8 approved […]

NorthStar Group Services said last week it plans to acquire the Vallecitos Nuclear Center, in Sunol, Calif., from General Electric Hitachi, adding four reactors to the privately held company’s decommissioning fleet. As of Monday, privately held NorthStar, New York, had not filed for a license transfer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Neither NorthStar nor General […]

The Department of Energy will not begin transition to a new BWX Technologies-led contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state until a legal challenge of the $45-billion liquid-waste contract is resolved in court, according to a Friday court filing. The Department of Justice confirmed May 8 that DOE would stay performance of the potentially […]

Ground was broken last week on a new 13,000-square-foot operational command center at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada National Security Site to consolidate emergency services into a single building. NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Frank Rose cut the ribbon for the Mercury 2 building on May 11. The new facility is among those to be […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week 15: Meeting: The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board meetings in public session starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time in a session being held at Crowne Plaza Charleston Airport 4831 Tanger Outlet Blvd | North Charleston, […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council is expected to discuss its ongoing search for a new city manager during a regular meeting Tuesday following the May 5 retirement of Mark Watson, 68. Watson is retiring after holding the Oak Ridge post for more than a dozen years. Watson has served as a city manager in four […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico appears headed for its busiest calendar year since the disposal site reopened in 2017.  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received 47 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of April, based upon a search of DOE’s public website for the facility on […]

Some of the heaviest hitters in New Mexico politics united this week to oppose construction of the interim spent fuel storage facility the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed Holtec International to operate in the state. Holtec has not said when it might begin building the facility, which under an NRC license granted Tuesday may operate for […]

Washington state, the Department of Energy and the public interest group Heart of America Northwest, have reached a settlement on how the government agencies should respond to leaks of underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The formal settlement agreement was filed with the Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Wednesday, the parties announced. This […]