Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Tennessee Valley Authority was in the process of securing approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase production of tritium for nuclear weapons in one of the company’s reactors by November 2024, according to its latest annual earnings report. That date, disclosed in the authority’s latest 10-k filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, […]

Plaintiffs suing current and past Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio asked a U.S. District Court this week to force a resident near the nuclear site to turn over information she collected over time with her own private air monitors. Attorneys for Ursula McGlone and several other residents living […]

People placed on leave from the Los Alamos National Laboratory for refusing a COVID-19 vaccinations will get no help from the courts in ongoing arbitration proceedings with the lab, a federal judge in New Mexico said recently. The decision dropped Halloween night in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico, where Judge Kea Riggs told […]

Sampling overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers around the Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., has not turned up evidence of radiation above background levels, the Corps’ St. Louis District Office said Wednesday. “From a radiological standpoint, the school is safe,” Col. Kevin Golinghorst, St. Louis District commander, said in a press release.  […]

A federal court in Washington was scheduled Thursday to hear oral arguments in a joint lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a proposed commercial storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in west Texas. Thursday’s oral argument in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals should prove an opportunity for a coalition of anti-nuclear groups, including […]

The legislative process could prove an obstacle to the Department of Energy’s goal to get a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel up and running within a decade or so, an agency official said during a recent webinar. DOE’s prediction that its proposed interim storage site could be open in 10-15 years is, […]

In congressional races in Washington state, incumbents who help control the purse strings for the Hanford Site, the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property, won re-election. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th congressional district includes Hanford and who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, was declared the winner by the Associated […]

Key questions remain about the practicality of either immobilizing waste with grout or building of a second glass-making plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a National Academies of Science panel said Tuesday.  This includes examination of the timeline for building another vitrification plant at Hanford or, if DOE decides to […]

The Department of Energy could award a contract to operate a small, Centrus Energy-built uranium enrichment cascade at the agency’s Portsmouth site in Ohio this month, the company’s CEO said Wednesday on a quarterly earnings call. “The Department has indicated in a recent industry briefing that a decision could come as early as this month,” […]

The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday rejected a challenge by a Westinghouse-led group to the Department of Energy’s July award of a potentially $3 billion management contract to manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. In a statement, the Government Accountability Office said it has denied the bid protest filed by Carlsbad Operations […]

The operator of more than a dozen U.S. nuclear power plants aims to extend the life of its fleet by up to two decades using federal tax incentives approved this year, its CEO said Tuesday. Nuclear production tax credits made law under the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August, have had a “transformational […]

Alutiiq Logistics & Maintenance Services failed to comply with contractual obligations to provide certain services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Albuqeruqe complex in New Mexico, the Department of Energy Inspector General said. The Department of Energy’s Inspector General substantiated eight allegations of contractual noncompliance by Alutiiq Logistics & Maintenance Services, the facility and maintenance […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., should start disposing of transuranic waste in the new Panel 8 this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, an agency spokesperson said Monday. In recent weeks, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) emplaced its final shipment of defense-related transuranic waste in Panel 7, according […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the nuclear contractor attributed during a Monday earnings report to growth throughout its naval, weapons cleanup and commercial power lines. Net earnings for the 2022 third quarter were $61.6 million, or $0.67 a share, up from $60.2 million, or $0.63 a share, in […]

Department of Energy small business contractor Boston Government Services, Oak Ridge, Tenn., was acquired in October by a private equity fund, according to someone familiar with the deal. Bernhard Capital Partners, Baton Rouge, La., was the buyer for Boston Government Services (BGS), according to this person. Harry Boston, founder and president of BGS, did not […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is distributing $30 million in grant money to minority serving institutions to bolster math, science and technology education among non-white students in South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state. The funds should help develop science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) proficiency among students at traditionally black, hispanic and […]

Daniel Ogg will lead the federal government’s independent board of technical experts on nuclear waste, the board announced on Monday. Ogg had been the acting executive director of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) since the organization’s former head, Nigel Mote, retired in September 2021. Ogg assumed the role full time on Sunday, the […]

The Department of Energy on Friday released a draft environmental impact statement covering the next 15 years of operations at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The public may comment on the draft through Jan. 03, according to a Federal Register notice. For the period spanning 2023-2035, the DOE has proposed 75 projects at […]

Fluor executives said Friday they are pleased with progress being made on both the business and the regulatory front by small modular reactor developer NuScale, in which Texas-based Fluor remains a majority stakeholder. In September NuScale signed a deal to start development of the first small modular reactor (SMR) in Poland and next year will […]

Mediation was set to resume Dec. 9 between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s prime contractor and six lab employees who sued the company over its COVID-19 vaccination policy. Plaintiffs led by Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu were to sit down with the University of Tennessee-Battelle (UT-Battelle) contractor team and mediator Chadwick Hatmaker in an attempt to […]

07: Earnings: BWX Technologies will release its quarterly earnings after the markets close and then conduct a conference call with financial analysts, available online, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.  09: Meeting: Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board holds a hybrid meeting starting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. While board members attend in person at the DOE […]

The Massachusetts state legislature last week approved a proposal that could throw a wrench in a decommissioning company’s plans to discharge irradiated wastewater from a nuclear power plant it is currently dismantling in the Bay State. If state Sen. Susan Moran’s (D) proposal, part of a sweeping economic development package greenlit by Boston lawmakers Thursday, […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site prime in South Carolina has contracted a domestic affiliate of Toronto-based Aecon to handle $100-million worth of decommissioning to help pave the way for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility. In an Oct. 26 press release, South Carolina-based Aecon-Wachs said it has landed two contracts with Fluor-led Savannah […]

Despite some concerns, a Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state received good marks from an independent assessment of its pretreatment of radioactive wastes prior to vitrifying the waste into a more stable glass form.   The DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments conducted the review of Hanford’s Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) […]

Entergy Corp., New Orleans, reported Wednesday losses in its nuclear power segment during the third quarter of 2022, which it attributed in part to the recent closure of a Michigan nuclear power plant, according to a press release. According to an earnings press release published Wednesday, losses at Entergy Wholesale Commodities (EWC), which manages Entergy’s […]

A senior official at Entergy Corp. said Wednesday that the energy company believes a sweeping federal legislation package passed over the summer that includes tax incentives for nuclear power plants could bring value to its stakeholders. Entergy is “optimistic” about the potential benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in August by President […]