Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Robert Duffy took over as BWX Technologies’ top human resources and administrative executive, the company said Monday in a press release. Duffy, most recently with L3Harris Technologies, replaced Rick Loving as senior vice president and chief administrative officer, the Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear-navy and Department of Energy contractor wrote in release, which was appended to an […]

An inspection at a former Massachusetts nuclear power plant under decommissioning by Holtec International revealed just one small issue related to radiation safety procedures, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the company in a recent letter. Holtec staff working at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station “failed to survey the levels of airborne radioactivity” inside the plant’s drywell, […]

Jacobs, which swallowed CH2M Hill in 2017 to boost its presence in the Department of Energy contracting market, planned to rebrand itself as Jacobs Solutions effective Aug. 29, the Dallas-based company disclosed Friday. Presently known as Jacobs Engineering Group, the company told investors and regulators about the planned rebrand in an 8-k filing with the […]

The Department of Energy said Friday it is dropping most pandemic-related safeguards, such as COVID-19 screening and collection of vaccination data for employees and contractors— although indoor mask mandates remain in place in areas with high transmission rates. The DOE announced its “Updated COVID-19 Workplace Safety and Reentry Framework” in an email to “Team DOE” […]

After a 40-year career in the energy industry, Entergy’s chief executive Leo Denault plans to retire in the new year, the company announced Tuesday in a press release. Andrew Marsh, currently Entergy’s CFO and executive vice president, will replace Denault after he leaves in 2023, according to a statement. As part of the New Orleans-based […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to conduct a major environmental review of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is set to become a nerve center and manufacturing satellite for nuclear weapon cores this decade. The semiautonomous nuclear-weapons agency announced the impending site-wide environmental impact statement in a Federal Register notice set to be published […]

In the latest mega-extension for a nuclear-weapons site-management contractor, the National Nuclear Security Administration locked in a Honeywell-led team for five more years at the Nevada National Security Site. Mission Support and Test Services, which also includes Jacobs Engineering and Huntington Ingalls Industries, will be on site from 2023 through 2028 under five one-year options […]

William Morrison joined EnergySolutions, Salt Lake City, after leaving rival waste management company Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services, according to a press release. Morrison, rejoining the Energy Solutions for another stint in Utah, will be chief operating officer of waste management, federal services and commercial development and strategy, the press release says. “I am excited […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration completed the smaller of two subprojects that aim to expand an underground, zero-yield nuclear-weapon testing laboratory in Nevada, the agency said Tuesday. The Access and Life Safety Infrastructure portion of the greater U1a Complex Enhancements Project hit the CD-4 milestone on June 30, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons […]

William Morrison planned to resign as chief executive officer of Veolia Nuclear Solutions’ U.S. Federal Services business effective Friday, the company announced Monday.  Steve Moore, the chief operating officer of the Federal Services business, was to become the interim CEO while the company searched for a permanent CEO, according to a press release.  The company […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week August 01-26 – United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. 10th Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Conference. United Nations Headquarters, New York. 16 –President Joe Biden planned to sign the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 37 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of July, according to data from the agency’s public website. The site received 26 shipments from the Idaho National Laboratory, eight from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, one from the Oak […]

A billion-dollar bailout proposed by the governor of California could help give the state’s last operating nuclear power plant a new lease on life, according to a draft bill published late last week. If draft legislation supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) becomes law, Sacramento could authorize the California Department of Water Resources “to make […]

President Joe Biden was scheduled Tuesday to sign into law a sweeping spending package that would, among other things, give nuclear power plant operators a tax break in hopes of keeping the U.S. reactor fleet humming along. If enacted, the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the House Friday on a 220-207 party line vote, would […]

The outcome of long term talks between Washington state and the federal government about liquid waste cleanup at the Hanford site will inform the Department of Energy’s future budget strategy for the sprawling plutonium production complex, the Secretary of Energy said Friday. Visiting the Hanford site for the first time last week, Jennifer Granholm, now […]

In keeping with a directive by Congress, a National Academies panel holds a fact-finding session next week on nuclear threats and weapons of mass destruction terrorism. The Nuclear Studies and Radiation Board (NRSB) of the National Academies plans a hybrid meeting for information-sharing between 12:45pm – 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday Aug. 15. The […]

The Department of Energy says the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state has now pretreated 380,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste before entering its latest outage on July 20. More than 182,000 gallons of tank waste was treated in Batch 2, which began on June 18 and concluded July […]

NuScale Power Corp. is still losing money, but at a slightly lesser pace than last year, according to its latest filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. NuScale leaders’ discussed the latest financial figures with analysts at a Wednesday teleconference. NuScale went public on May 2. For the quarter ending June 30, 2022, NuScale  […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is one step closer to having its executive committee back at full strength, as one of the agency’s two new top regulators took her oath of office this week, a spokesperson said. Annie Caputo was sworn in as an NRC commissioner Tuesday, an agency spokesperson told Exchange Monitor via email Wednesday. […]

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection, Tuesday conceded her loss in Washington’s 3rd Congressional district primary on Aug. 2. “I’m proud that I always told the truth, stuck to my principles, and did what I knew to be […]

A University of Georgia research associate at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina was “treated and hospitalized for a few days for observation,” after being bitten by a poisonous copperhead snake July 22, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “The individual is fully recovered and returned to work,” Vicky Sutton-Jackson, a spokesperson for […]

With Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set to visit the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state later this week, a coalition of organizations wrote President Joe Biden Tuesday urging a $1 billion increase in cleanup funding for the former plutonium production site. “Given its role as the workhorse for plutonium production, the scope of […]

A batch of documents were made public Monday after previously being under seal in the ongoing legal battle on whether Swift & Staley should have been disqualified for the new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract awarded by the Department of Energy in December 2020. Swift & Staley, the Justice Department and a rival bidder for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monday submitted its last set of arguments against a coalition of anti-nuclear and other groups suing the agency over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, court documents show. In its wrap-up brief, filed Monday with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, NRC doubled down on its argument that […]

Workers claiming Consolidated Nuclear Security shorted a slew of employees out of a paycheck’s worth of work are taking the management and operations contractor for two major nuclear-weapons production sites to trial next summer, according to a recent scheduling notice. The trial will begin on June 13, 2023, according to a scheduling order signed last […]

FirstEnergy is seeking the return of $56 million in bonuses to fired CEO Chuck Jones in the aftermath of the corporation’s bribery scandal, according to the company’s July 26 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. FirstEnergy fired Jones in October 2020 after the U.S. justice department charged former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder […]