Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The long-anticipated startup of radiological operations is underway at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Initially, the Integrated Waste Treatment United (IWTU) will treat a mix of 90% simulant and 10% sodium-bearing liquid waste from tanks at the laboratory’s Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, […]

Holtec Decommissioning International wants the state of Michigan to provide $300 million to restart the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, a state lawmaker confirmed Tuesday. State Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R), first reported as one of two sources of the information by the local Herald-Palladium, confirmed the figure in an email Tuesday to the Exchange Monitor. […]

Chad Stott, who joined the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday, has been named resident inspector at the Pantex Plant in Panhandle, Texas. As a resident inspector at Pantex, Stott will advise the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on overall safety conditions at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s central nuclear-weapons maintenance facility and […]

At the Department of Energy’s request, bidders on a major nuclear cleanup contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio have agreed to keep their bids on the table for 60 days longer than planned, industry sources said this week. Within the past week, DOE procurement officials asked teams to keep their contract offers for the […]

The Department of Energy’s “fast-track, design-build approach” at the multibillion-dollar Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state resulted in cost increases and schedule delays, according to an Office of Inspector General probe of whistleblower allegations. The report by DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson was drafted back in August 2020 but […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday awarded Nuclear Fuel Services, a subsidiary of naval nuclear reactor manufacturer BWX Technologies, a five-year, $428-million contract to provide purification and conversion services for highly enriched uranium .  Located in Erwin, Tenn., Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) is one of only two category I nuclear facilities licensed by the […]

The Department of Energy is seeking new members to join its federal advisory board for the Office of Environmental Management, according to a Monday Federal Register notice. The deadline for nominations to the Environmental Management Advisory Board is May 15. Customarily DOE draws the advisory board members for the $8-billion-plus Office of Environmental Management from […]

Due to vacancies, the Savannah River operations office for DOE nuclear cleanup is not doing safety system oversight assessments as often as specified in agency guidance, according to a report out this month from the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments. It has become a common refrain across the weapons complex, and now, staffing holes are […]

U.S. Strategic Command will kick off its annual nuclear command and control training and readiness exercise, Global Thunder, on Tuesday. As in previous years, Global Thunder 23 (GT23) will include an increase in bomber aircraft flights throughout the exercise, centered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska but involving all three legs of the U.S. […]

The Department of Energy on Friday released a roughly four-year contract that will fund the agency’s evaluation of financially struggling nuclear reactors that could qualify for billions of dollars in bailouts Congress made available last year. The contract, administered by the DOE Idaho operations office, will begin on May 6, 2023 and run through Dec. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has established the Advisory Committee for Nuclear Security to advise senior agency leaders. Formerly known as the Defense Programs Advisory Committee, the new Advisory Committee for Nuclear Security (ACNS) enlists experts with knowledge that spans the full range of the NNSA missions to provide independent advice and recommendations to NNSA […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it is providing $6.3 million worth of financial help to students pursuing nuclear energy-related degrees at 39 colleges and universities. The funding supports 124 scholarships and fellowships through DOE’s University Nuclear Leadership Program, the agency said in a news release. DOE called the move important to the next generation […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 12: Meeting: The South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council meets in public session at 11 a.m. Eastern Time in Charleston, S.C. 13: Virtual meeting: “Nuclear Regulatory Commission Virtual Public Meeting on Using Decommissioning Trust Funds for […]

A half-dozen employees suing the Department of Energy’s operations contractor for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are making headway in settling their case involving mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for most workers, according to a court filing Friday. “Since the March 3, 2023 Joint Status Report, the parties have continued to exchange offers and counter-offers,” […]

Holtec will delay decommissioning work at the shuttered Oyster Creek Generating Station in Ocean Township, N.J., citing financial and operational factors, the company told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently. In an annual decommissioning funding report, posted online Wednesday by NRC and dated March 31, Holtec, Jupiter, Fla., said it would delay cutting up the shuttered […]

The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has resumed running simulant as the contractor awaits final federal approval to start mixing in liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste, a DOE spokesperson said Wednesday. The federal agency and its cleanup contractor at the site, Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition, hope to be operating  […]

HPM Corp., the Kennewick, Wash.,-based company with a $152-million Department of Energy contract to provide employee medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state is being sold to California-based WorkCare, the parties confirmed Wednesday. The Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Tuesday HPM Corp., longtime holder of the Hanford Occupational Medical Contract, is being sold to […]

Though the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to dramatically ramp up plutonium pit production around the time a key arms control treaty expires in 2026, there are no plans to test fire any weapons, agency Administrator Jill Hruby said Monday in New Mexico. Hruby sat through two hours of questioning – and occasional haranguing – […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is renewing its financial assistance, worth about $3.9-million, to the Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance through April 11, 2028. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the reupping of the non-competitive financial assistance cooperative agreement with the community advocacy organization in a Tuesday press release. As recipient of […]

Holtec on Friday filed a permit modification request with the Environmental Protection Agency aimed at assuaging the agency’s reservations about whether the company is allowed to discharge irradiated wastewater into Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted Holtec’s permit modification request, and some supporting documents, online this week. The agency in […]

The federal government will respond in fewer than two weeks to New Mexico’s request for major changes to the Department of Energy’s long-term transuranic waste disposal program in the state, a senior agency official said at a forum Tuesday night. The New Mexico Environment Department is considering a new 10-year hazardous waste permit for the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is hiring for senior acquisition and construction management professionals with imminent application deadlines.  Through Monday, the NNSA is accepting applications for a deputy associate administrator for partnership and acquisition services in Washington. Applications for this and other NNSA positions can be submitted through the federal government’s job site, USAjobs.gov. Last […]

Randall Hendrickson, acting head of regulatory and policy affairs for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office, is leaving the government to take a job in private industry, the agency said Tuesday. Hendrickson’s departure was announced in an email to DOE Office of Environmental Management staff by Jeff Avery, DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for […]

A bipartisan group of 10 senators, led by Sen. Shelley Capito (R-WVa.), on Monday published the text of a nuclear policy bill that among other things would extend a cap on industry liability for catastrophic nuclear accidents. The bill would extend the $13-billion liability cap known as the Price-Anderson Act by 20 years to 2045, […]

The Department of Energy is extending Swift & Staley as site services contractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky through July 2024, the agency said in a procurement notice Monday. The move is meant to buy the DOE Office of Environmental Management time to recompete a contract agreement for the landlord services award made in […]