Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Jacobs-led contractor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory was poised to start simulated operations of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, according to an Idaho Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson. “They are estimating radiological waste will start being added mid-February,” the state Environmental Quality Department spokesperson said Wednesday in an email to Exchange […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 08: Meeting: The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board for Oak Ridge holds a hybrid meeting starting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. To attend virtually, please email to: orssab@orem.doe.gov no later than 5 p.m. […]

A New Mexico state Senate panel was scheduled Monday to vote on a bill to block a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Land of Enchantment.  If made law, Senate Bill 53, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), would update New Mexico law to ban the disposal of spent nuclear […]

Effective Saturday Feb. 4, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors took over operation of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), which also includes New Mexico-based subcontractor Los Alamos Technical Associates, said in a Friday evening press release it was about to officially take over as prime […]

There will be some churn in the 118th Congress among staff on the House Armed Services Committee, which sets policy and spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear-weapons programs, according to documents the committee published Wednesday. Christopher Vieson will be the top committee hand at Armed Services for the new Republican majority, according to a list […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is waiting for more information before it assesses the potential impacts of the White House’s announcement this week that the three-year-old COVID-19 national emergency declaration would end this summer, a spokesperson said Wednesday. In an Office of Management and Budget policy statement Monday, the Joe Biden administration announced that it would […]

Employees suing the Department of Energy’s prime for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over its COVID-19 vaccination policy continued settlement talks with the contractor and a mediator, according to a recent court filing.  Since the Dec. 28 joint status report, “the parties have continued to exchange offers and counter-offers,”  according to the update […]

In a draft report presented this week to  a National Academies panel, a Department of Energy research team said grout represents the safest bet for treating half of the low-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Only alternatives employing grout technology appear to be technically viable, low-to-moderate risk, and flexible enough to […]

There will be some churn in the 118th Congress among staff on the House Armed Services Committee, which sets policy and spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear-weapons programs, according to documents the committee published Wednesday. Christopher Vieson will be the top committee hand at Armed Services for the new Republican majority, according to a […]

Nuclear power plant operators looking to take advantage of a federal bailout scheme may have to wait a bit longer to apply for the program’s second funding round, according to a Department of Energy spokesperson. DOE expects to release “application guidance” for the second round of its civil nuclear credits program in the first quarter […]

In a Federal Register notice Tuesday, the Department of Energy said that glass logs produced from low-level radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state can be treated as low-level waste. DOE published that conclusion after consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tribes and other local stakeholders in the final “Waste Incidental to […]

The Department of Energy expects to begin awarding funds from its multi-million dollar interim storage funding program by midyear, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Roughly $26 million is up for grabs in DOE’s interim storage funding opportunity announcement, aimed at bringing together communities and other stakeholders to hash out how the department should go about […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is working with Carlsbad city officials to secure federal money for electric vehicle charging stations in the community, a spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. The local Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper reported last week the city and DOE’s Carlsbad field office management have agreed to […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory will install by 2030 the equipment needed to make at least 30 plutonium pits annually, according to a Jan. 19 memo from the deputy secretary of energy. Formally known as the Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project 30 Base Equipment Installation subproject, the installation will provide the lab with “the […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Massachusetts nuclear power plant affirmed Monday night that it would not discharge radioactive water from the facility until it gets a required federal permits modification later this year. Holtec International “will fully comply” with the terms of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s National current Pollutant Discharge Elimination System […]

An entity called SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, which appeared to have the business in hand two years ago, filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Department of Energy’s award of a new Savannah River Site security contract for incumbent Centerra. The award was announced earlier in January, and the bid protest […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration stonewalled some requests for classified information by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the board said in a congressionally mandated report. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) made a pair of classified-information requests with a Nov. 18 delivery date, but as of Jan. 19, “the board has not yet received […]

Texas is fighting to keep its lawsuit against commercial interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in the state from getting tossed on a technicality, as a similar suit was last week, a court filing shows. The state on Friday argued that a site proposed in Andrews County by the Interim Storage Partners (ISP) joint venture […]

Mark Bollinger is now the acting manager for the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico, which oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced earlier in January that Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr is moving to the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office to become the deputy manager helping to oversee […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has added a new attorney to its defense team in a racial discrimination case brought by an employee who claims he was unfairly passed over for promotion. With a new trial date and new federal magistrate judge in place, the […]

A Colorado Republican will chair the House Armed Services subcommittee in charge of Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, the full committee’s new chairman announced recently. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) will lead the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, which aside from setting policy and spending limits for the entire National Nuclear Security Administration every […]

Those seeking funding to help the Department of Energy develop a strategy for siting an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility have a day or so to throw their hat in the ring. DOE’s roughly $26 million funding opportunity announcement closes Jan. 31, the agency has said. That deadline is about a month later than […]

After skipping a couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual controlled deer hunts returned to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina during December, and 261 deer were killed, according to the site’s top fed. “Finally we did the deer hunts in December,” Michael Budney, who heads DOE’s Office […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. January 31: Meeting: The National Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board holds two days of hybrid meetings starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on its review of the continued analysis of supplemental treatment of Low-Activity Waste […]

As scheduled, Bob Pragada formally became the new big boss at Jacobs last week, as the former president and chief operating officer succeeded retiring CEO Steve Demetriou, the company announced in a press release. Also last week Jacobs announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer effective in August. The Dallas-based international engineering and […]