Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

One of two on-site facilities storing spent fuel from a California nuclear power plant can keep operating for another decade or so, the Golden State’s coastal land regulator said last week. The 12-member California Coastal Commission voted 9-0 Thursday to approve a 13 year extension on state permits for the storage pad, located at San […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the two main U.S. civilian nuclear-weapons production sites agreed in early October to end a contractual dispute before it escalated to court, according to a recently published decision. According to a notice dated Oct. 6 and published subsequently, attorneys for the Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 19-20: Meeting: Hanford Advisory Board meets in a hybrid session starting at 1 p.m. Pacific Time on Oct. 19 and then at 9 a.m. on Oct. 20. The session originates from the Three Rivers Convention Center, Room […]

An amendment to the Senate’s nearly $900 billion defense budget proposed for the 2023 fiscal year would, if made law, direct the Department of Energy to ensure that the U.S. civilian nuclear fleet can run on domestically-sourced fuel. Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.V.) proposed add to the Senate’s $847 billion version of the National Defense Authorization […]

State and federal agencies said in a Wednesday analysis that teardown and removal of old U.S. Naval submarine reactor prototype facilities at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is the best remediation option. That is according to an engineering evaluation/cost analysis published for demolition of Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse and Aircraft Carrier 1st Generation […]

There is a changing at the guard in upper management ranks of Oak Ridge, Tenn.,-based Navarro Research & Engineering as Ryan Overton, formerly of GEM Technologies, becoming executive vice president, gradually takes over the role from industry vet Cathy Hickey who plans to retire from the company next year. “Ryan is fabulous,” Hickey said in […]

The U.S. national security strategy released Wednesday did not contain the Joe Biden Administration’s unclassified nuclear posture review or call for extreme changes to the nation’s nuclear-weapons philosophy. “Nuclear deterrence remains a top priority for the Nation,” reads the 48-page, 23,000-word national security strategy, which devotes roughly 400 words to nuclear weapons. “The United States […]

Uranium fuel company Cameco and environmental investment firm Brookfield Renewable Partners on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership aimed at purchasing Westinghouse Electric Company, according to a press release. If the deal closes as planned, Cameco will own a 49% stake in Westinghouse and Brookfield Renewable will control 51% of the company, according to a Tuesday […]

The Pantex Plant could soon rid itself of plutonium sent to the Amarillo, Texas, nuclear weapons depot from the Savannah River Site, the government’s independent nuclear safety agency said recently. In late August, according to a report published this week by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Pantex prime contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) demonstrated […]

The story “UCOR takes home 85% of its potential fee; discusses new Oak Ridge contract” in [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Oct. 06, 2022] should have said that an Amentum-Jacobs team won 85% of its potential fee from the Department of Energy for its remediation of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee during the final seven […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state will commence retrieving radioactive waste from a single-shell tank next month, a federal safety board said recently. Amentum-led contractor Washington River Protection Solutions plans to begin retrieval of tank AX-101’s  waste in mid-November, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a […]

A federal judge in New Mexico has granted an additional 100 days for the Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department to continue settlement talks over a 2016 compliance order on consent that governs legacy nuclear cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar granted the request Oct. 3 […]

In an amendment to the Senate’s biggest defense bill of the year, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wants to force another debate about whether Congress should authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy to build a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile. Van Hollen’s amendment would bar development of the missile, citing the cost. President […]

A Massachusetts state legislator is pushing to get a proposed study on the possible effects of discharging a shuttered nuclear power plant’s irradiated wastewater into an economic development bill under consideration in Boston, a spokesperson said recently. State Sen. Susan Moran (D), who represents Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station’s host community in Boston, has proposed establishing […]

The nuclear-powered submarines Australia wants will likely include U.S.-built nuclear reactors and be preceded by a joint U.S.-Australian command of a Virginia-class attack submarine, a member of the House Armed Services Committee said in a recent virtual event. “I think the way to do that is to just say that BWXT will produce those reactors, […]

The Department of Energy and a Jacobs-led contractor have started tearing down shuttered support buildings at the Idaho National Laboratory used for a Naval reactor prototype for the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced in February it would oversee deactivation and demolition of the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse […]

As the top boss at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office promised last week, crews at the Hanford Site in Washington state are heating up a giant melter designed to solidify radioactive tank waste into a glass form at the $17-billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. The Tri-City Herald newspaper in Richland, Wash., reported […]

Ahead of the midterm elections, plans for disposing of spent nuclear fuel currently stranded at a California nuclear power plant are among the issues at play in one battle to represent the Golden State in Congress. The issue of nuclear waste disposal is especially personal to the candidates for California’s 49th congressional district — incumbent […]

In a matter of weeks, the Government Accountability Office could rule on two protests against the Department of Energy’s decision to let a Bechtel National-led group run the agency’s only underground repository for defense-related transuranic waste. There are two appeals pending against the potentially 10-year, $3-billion management and operations contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy is considering the purchase of up to 25 metric tons annually of high-assay low enriched uranium, the office said Thursday in a request that solicited both information about and sources of the material. The office envisions at least a six-year contract for the material, to begin “as […]

Here is an event related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week October 12: Meeting: The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board for Oak Ridge holds a hybrid meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The session will be held at the DOE Information Center, Office of Science and […]

The prime contractor at the Savannah River Site last week signed a project labor agreement with a consortium of 19 labor unions for construction of the larger of the National Nuclear Security Administration plutonium pit plants. The Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and the Augusta Building and Construction Trades Council inked the accord in Augusta, […]

The recent effort to keep California’s last operating nuclear power plant online enjoys bipartisan support among voters in the Golden State, according to a university poll published Friday. Among registered voters in California, 56% said that they support keeping Diablo Canyon Power Plant online five years past its scheduled 2025 shutdown date, according to polling […]

Two research contractors for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory could enter guilty pleas next week for allegedly submitting false bills to the federal agency for nearly a decade, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina. Greenway Energy and Savannah River Consulting, both of which have agreed to plead […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration picked up Westinghouse Government Service’s next 10-year option to manufacture tritium producing burnable absorber rods at a South Carolina factory. The rods are the source of tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons. Westinghouse has a sole-source contract to produce tritium producing burnable absorber rods, which the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory designed. […]