Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., continues to study fire safety and other potential hazards that might arise from use of electric vehicles powered by big lithium-ion batteries, a federal safety panel said this month. “These hazards include fire, smoke, and combustion products, including hydrogen fluoride associated with the large […]

Pro2Serve, a national security engineering and information contractor active at Department of Energy nuclear sites, has added Lloyd Caldwell, a retired military programs director for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to the Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s board of directors. As the top civilian leader for the Army Corps’ defense and interagency programs, Caldwell was […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said Tuesday Russia will “suspend” its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty but adhere to the treaty’s limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons. Media widely reported Putin’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Putin announced the suspension during an address to Russian lawmakers in Moscow. According […]

Two Illinois nuclear power plants — one of which recently avoided a premature shutdown — are getting a multi-million cash injection thanks to a federal nuclear production tax credit, owner Constellation Energy announced Tuesday. The roughly $800 million infusion, which Constellation unveiled in a Tuesday press release, will be used to increase the generation output […]

A nearly two year-old federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the National Nuclear Security Administration’s planned plutonium-pit plant in South Carolina should enter its final stages this summer, recent court filings show. In a scheduling order filed Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Aiken ordered the environmentalists to […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered New York nuclear power plant has finished packing spent fuel from one of the facility’s three reactors into storage canisters, a senior official said last week. Holtec International wrapped up fuel loading operations at Indian Point Energy Center’s Unit 2 reactor Feb. 1, site vice president Rich […]

Earnings improved at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the fourth quarter, which the engineering and construction contractor for the Department of Energy attributed Tuesday to improved efficiency and certain financial adjustments. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $9 million, or a loss of $0.01 a share, up from a net loss of […]

21: Earnings call: Fluor will hold its fourth quarter earnings call starting at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Recording will be available. 23: Earnings call: BWX Technologies will hold its regular quarterly earnings call starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.  27: Meeting: The technical program for the 2023 Waste Management Symposia kicks off at 10 a.m. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan to dispose of radioactive waste from the site of a 1979 mine spill in New Mexico, the agency announced Thursday. NRC Wednesday greenlit a license amendment for the shuttered United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock site, allowing a General Electric-led cleanup crew to transfer nearly a million tons of […]

Today is expected to be another cold, wintry one around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico with a high temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit, but with a wind chill factor below zero, according to the National Weather Service. The laboratory suspended most on-site normal operations Wednesday due to snowy conditions, […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Upgrades to a nuclear-weapon test facility in Nevada are falling further behind schedule, government officials and weapon-site managers said here Wednesday. Officially called Enhanced Capability for Subcritical Experiments (ECSE), the upgrades involve expanding the Nevada National Security Site’s U1a underground complex and installing a sophisticated new x-ray camera to measure explosive plutonium […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was set to fire the first test in its Nimble series of subcritical experiments in the late summer, a senior lab official said here Wednesday. “The first one [called Nob Hill] is scheduled for August of this year, the next one [Twin Peaks] will be hopefully a […]

The joint venture building the delayed Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee was extended into May and could still be extended much longer, an agency spokesperson said this week. The most recent major contract roundup dated Feb. 9 for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management shows the […]

Two members of Nevada’s congressional delegation on Tuesday reintroduced a bill that, if made law, would spell the final end of the proposed Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository. The Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, unveiled in a Tuesday press release by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev), “will ensure that […]

Earnings dipped slightly at Parsons Corp., Centreville, Va., in the fourth quarter but were up for 2022 as a whole, which the government defense and infrastructure contractor attributed during a Wednesday conference call to organic growth.  Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $28 million, or $0.25 a share, down slightly from […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The National Nuclear Security Administration changed the design for the nuclear core of a planned intercontinental ballistic missile warhead late last year, a senior agency official said here Tuesday. Altering the design of the W87-1 plutonium pit, being developed by the agency’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the Air Force’s […]

Earnings rose at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the fourth quarter, which the federal contractor and services provider attributed to its diverse portfolio, although CEO Roger Krone said plans are underway for a government shutdown — just in case. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 30 were $180 million or $1.28 a share, up […]

Small businesses seeking a foothold in the $7.8-billion procurement market for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management can meet one-on-one with an agency representative at the upcoming Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix. Environmental Management will hold individual meetings with small businesses attending the Waste Management Symposia gathering, Feb. 27 – March 2 at […]

Earnings rose at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, Va., in the fourth quarter, which the shipbuilder and federal contractor attributed to growth in those core businesses. Net earnings for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were $123 million, or $3.07 a share, up from $ 120 million or $2.99 a share, in the year-ago quarter, according […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The Los Alamos National Laboratory might still be able to make 30 nuclear-weapon cores before 2030, even though the equipment needed to do it is not supposed to be ready until then, the lab’s director said here Tuesday. In January, the lab’s owner, the Department of Energy, approved a formal cost and […]

A bill aimed at keeping a privately-run interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel out of New Mexico cleared a legislative milestone Monday after passing a floor vote in the state Senate. If signed by the governor, the proposed legislation would amend state law to ban the storage of spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico […]

Two anti-nuclear groups said Tuesday that they would try to use a federal public records law to get the original version of Holtec International’s heavily-redacted plan to restart a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday by lawyers for Beyond Nuclear and Don’t […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The National Nuclear Security Administration could solicit bids for a new 10-year management contract for its uranium hub in Tennessee by spring of 2024, the head of the agency said here Tuesday. “The notional schedule is Y-12 is one year behind Pantex,” Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — With delays piling up for its two planned plutonium pit factories, the National Nuclear Security Administration already believes it will have to exceed the military’s minimum annual order for the nuclear weapon cores, the head of the agency said here Tuesday. “We anticipate that due to all the different things going on […]

Following requests from citizen groups last month, the New Mexico Environment Department agreed to extend the comment period by 60 days for a 10-year permit renewal for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Interested parties now have until 5 p.m. Mountain Time on April 19 to weigh in on the permit renewal for […]

The Department of Energy and its environmental contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory could start operating the Integrated Waste Treatment United any time now, a state spokesperson said Monday. “They are planning to start simulant feed today,” a spokesperson with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said Monday in response to an email inquiry from […]