Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

The Navy plans to buy five Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines in a block buy after the first two vessels and little margin remains to get the first vessel on patrol by the early 2030s, an admiral said Tuesday. “For long range planning and to signal the industrial base…our plan will be to buy the […]

As expected, the prime cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has taken over transuranic waste responsibilities from North Wind, the agency said Tuesday. As of last week, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) took over the Transuranic Waste Processing Center from North Wind Solutions, DOE said in a Tuesday […]

Critical-decision 2 for a new plutonium pit production plant at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is now expected in fiscal 2025, a state panel heard last week from the National Nuclear Security Administration. Jason Armstrong, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) field office at Savannah River, told the […]

The Joe Biden Administration will maintain all three legs of the U.S. nuclear triad, which need to be modernized to remain relevant, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday. “At least in this current moment, in the current security environment, and again validated all the way up to the President … we needed to retain the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department could issue a 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., before Christmas, a state spokesperson said recently. The draft permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be released for public comment by late November or early December, Matthew Maez of […]

The utility in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pick up where it left off on a decade-old request to extend the facility’s license, according to agency filings. If approved, Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Monday request would see NRC revisit the utility’s 2009 license extension […]

The Washington state congressional delegation wrote to President Joe Biden last week, urging more federal funding for the Hanford Site in fiscal 2024 as the former plutonium production facility starts turning low-level radioactive tank waste into glass. The DOE and Bechtel are targeting the startup of the Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste Facility at the Waste Treatment Plant by […]

A federal magistrate judge has ruled a scientist fired by a Honeywell-owned prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories need not litigate his wrongful termination case in U.S. District Court. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephan Vidmar ruled Oct. 20 that National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia has not proven the lawsuit brought by Carlsbad, N.M., -based […]

An Illinois nuclear power plant that just last year had been slated for closure could be getting a new lease on life, the facility’s operator said Monday. Constellation Energy, which owns Dresden Nuclear Generating Station, has applied with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20-year license extension for the Morris, Ill., plant, the company said […]