Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Due primarily to COVID-19, Los Alamos National  Laboratory believed it could take a year longer than expected for the the lab to casting 10 plutonium pits annually in New Mexico, according to an internal document. A redacted copy of the Los Alamos-authored document, dated September 2021 and released by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

The Senate Tuesday evening advanced a continuing budget resolution that, if made law, would avert an impending government shutdown and keep federal funding at 2022 levels. The stopgap budget, which on Tuesday, by a 72-23 margin, the upper chamber agreed to vote on later this week, would largely keep federal spending at the levels set […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a former Massachusetts nuclear power plant said Monday night that, if it decides to follow through on a controversial plan to release irradiated wastewater from the facility, it will do so early next year. The earliest time “under consideration” for discharging water from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station would be […]

The Department of Energy plans to ink a contract extension by Friday with the management and operations manager for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an agency executive told a federal advisory board Monday. “A new contract should be signed sometime this week because Sept. 30 is approaching fast,” said Jimmy “Mac” McMillian, DOE […]

Organizations within the National Nuclear Security Administration bureaucracy are reviewing a draft cybersecurity directive the agency wrote after a third-party review, the weapons steward told the Government Accountability Office last week. The semiautonomous Department of Energy weapons agency planned to issue a final supplemental directive, titled Baseline Cybersecurity Program, by April 30, according to the […]

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, including the portion being cleaned up by the Department of Energy, will have a new congressional representative in January 2023 thanks to redistricting. Following the 2020 Census, the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission redrew the state’s congressional districts, moving the 2,850-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif., to […]

ARLINGTON, VA — During a conference dominated by workforce continuity issues, it was noted Friday that Department of Energy field office managers for nuclear cleanup, who often head the biggest employers in rural locales, have been in their current posts for less than five years.  Being a major government employer in small-town America poses unique […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 26: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens’ Advisory Panel (NDCAP) to meet. Dave Noyes, senior compliance officer at Holtec International, to provide an update on wastewater release plans. Plymouth town hall, Great Room. 26 Court […]

A citizens’ advisory panel was scheduled Monday to discuss a controversial proposal that would see irradiated wastewater from a shuttered Massachusetts power plant discharged into the Cape Cod Bay, according to a meeting agenda. Holtec International, which is currently decommissioning the Plymouth, Mass., Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, is set to provide the community-led nuclear decommissioning […]

A California congressman who has been a vocal proponent of a federal nuclear waste solution took some credit Tuesday for the Department of Energy’s recently-unveiled interim storage funding opportunity, according to a press release. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), who counts San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) among his constituents in California’s 49th congressional district, “helped […]

An Energy Northwest official told a state board Tuesday that an investigation will be completed soon into spiked tritium levels in the groundwater near the Columbia Generating Station reactor north of Richland, Wash. Felicia Najera-Paxton of Energy Northwest gave a brief update to the Washington Energy Facility Evaluation Council — a permitting and watchdog board […]

ARLINGTON, VA —The acting boss of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a top manager from the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy and key congressional representatives were to kick off the National Cleanup Workshop here Tuesday.    The workshop is hosted annually by the Energy Communities Alliance in cooperation with DOE and the Energy […]

At least one Department of Energy nuclear cleanup property, the Portsmouth Site, is assured of replacing a seasoned lawmaker in November’s midterm election, with Sen. Portman (R-Ohio) not seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) , the incumbent from Ohio’s 13th congressional district, is running against J.D. Vance, the GOP […]

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Sentinel, the next nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile, is a “real program,” a senior executive with the rocket’s prime contractor said here Wednesday at an industry conference.  “Just yesterday we announced … the casting for the first and the second stage [Sentinel rocket] motors,” James Kowalski, vice president of government programs at […]

Senate leadership is planning for the upper chamber to remain in session in October and take up the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday at a press conference A recess had been expected in the early part of October to allow Senators to leave Washington and campaign […]

David Campbell, former senior vice president of Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services, is joining EnergySolutions, the Salt Lake-City based company said Tuesday. Campbell, whose background includes executive stints at Bechtel as well as the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will be joining EnergySolutions as the company’s executive vice president for business […]

The legacy nuclear cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said Tuesday it recently awarded a total of $120 million in subcontracts for soil contamination work to three companies. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) said in a press release that Idaho-based North Wind Group will assist […]

In the state’s latest attempt to kill the project for good, Nevada on Tuesday asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to end the long-stalled licensing review of the U.S.’s only congressionally-designated storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Gov. Steve Sisolak’s (D) motion, if approved by NRC, would re-open licensing proceedings for the Yucca Mountain site — […]

The Department of Energy Tuesday unveiled a multi-million-dollar funding opportunity aimed at giving interested communities the tools to explore whether they could host an interim storage site for nuclear fuel. The funding opportunity, which DOE announced in a press release Tuesday, would provide around $16 million in funding for six to eight awardees over a […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects decommissioning for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to be finished in fiscal 2030, William (Ike) White, the office’s acting head, said. Current remediation efforts focus on removing hazardous material from the facility, where deactivation started in July 2019, White said in […]

Ex-government officials on Tuesday urged the Senate Armed Services Committee to support continued modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons and production infrastructure in the face of a rising China and a hostile Russia.  Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chair of the committee that sets policy for defense agencies including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said the […]

California’s last operating nuclear power plant, slated for closure until recently, produced nearly a tenth of California’s total electricity supply last year, the government’s independent energy auditor said Monday. Diablo Canyon Power Plant generated more than 16,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, around 8%, of California’s 2021 electricity reserves, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a […]

The Department of Energy and the state of Tennessee have agreed to devote $42 million to address natural resource damages around the 32,000-acre Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to a recently-published assessment. The state and federal agencies that serve as the trustees for natural resources at the Oak Ridge Site have agreed in principle […]

FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah retired without warning at roughly the same time that an internal management review related to the corporation’s 2019 bribery scandal was completed. The company provided no information on the timing of the retirement. In a press release Sept. 15 FirstEnergy said John W. Somerhalder II, chairman of FirstEnergy’s board of directors, […]

The Department of Energy has suspended centralized collection of weekly COVID-19 summary information from its labs, plants, and nuclear cleanup sites, a spokesperson with the agency’s Office of Environmental Management said Monday. “Most DOE locations are at a low COVID-19 transmission rate in accordance with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Community Levels,” the […]