Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy intends in November to start up the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory, the federal agency told state officials. That was the target DOE’s Office of Environmental Management gave officials with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality on a conference call last week, Kim Custer, a senior […]

In news reminiscent of disclosure of radioactive contamination found at a school bordering the Department of Energy’s Piketon Site in Ohio, a citizens group in Missouri is citing a report of high levels of thorium and radium contamination on school grounds near a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleanup site at the St. Louis Airport. […]

The story “This week” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Oct. 17] should have said that the two-day Hanford Advisory Board meeting starting this afternoon will be at the Three Rivers Convention Center, Room D 7016, West Grandridge Boulevard, Kennewick, Washington.

Although a Michigan nuclear power plant shut down earlier than expected, capacity losses from nuclear generation outages were lower this summer than they were the year prior, the government’s independent energy auditor said in a report last week. Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, which shut down May 20, removed around 770 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from […]

The Department of Energy could be prepared to start transferring control of the Savannah River Site to its semiautonomous nuclear-weapons agency in bits and pieces starting around 2023, a spokesperson at Washington headquarters said Monday. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), which owns the Aiken, S.C., site now, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), […]

The U.S. Department of Justice is opening a U.S. Attorney’s Office branch in Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, Vanessa Waldref, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington said Friday. “The number of cases prosecuted by the Richland Division of my office has risen significantly over the last two decades,” Waldref […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, which as of last month was the last nuclear cleanup property with indoor mask restrictions, no longer has a high local transmission rate for COVID-19. The transmission rate in the county surrounding the former gaseous diffusion plant is now medium, according to figures updated Friday […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup procurement office last week laid out what type of foreign ownership and control disclosures bidders should be ready to provide when pursuing contracts in the weapons complex. The DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in a seven-page document detailed the Foreign Ownership Control or Influence review that contractors […]

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 […]