Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

U.S. nuclear electricity generation will continue its downward trend as more power plants close down in the coming years, the federal government’s independent energy auditor said in a recent report. Generation losses from reactor retirements contributed to a net U.S. nuclear electricity output of 778 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2021, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state had to cope with an unexpected springtime snowfall in their daily commute on Monday. The DOE’s Hanford Site said via Twitter Monday that the 2.3 inches recorded by  Leidos-led services contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) represents a new record for an April snow […]

Marvin Adams on Monday officially became the deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration, sworn in by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm over video conference five days after the Senate unanimously confirmed him for the job. The semiautonomous DOE nuclear-weapons agency announced the swearing-in in a press release. This marks Adams’ […]

A member of a three-judge panel for the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said during Friday oral arguments, the Joe Biden administration’s authority to order COVID-19 vaccinations for federal contract workers could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. “You may win the case, the Supreme Court may go with the government down […]

The Department of Energy has yet to carry out needed fixes to allow the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit to resume its final test run at the Idaho National Laboratory, the agency confirmed Monday. A 50-day demonstration run of the long-anticipated Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was suspended Feb. 26 after swings in operating temperatures and […]

A turkey flew into an overhead powerline and tripped a circuit breaker at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., last month, blacking out buildings on the west side of the site and very briefly affected critical safety systems in facilities that produce key nuclear-weapon components, federal officials said this week. “The outage […]

Candice Robertson, a familiar face at the Department of Energy, officially started in her new role as acting second-in-command at the agency’s $7.6-billion Office of Environmental Management, according to the latest organizational chart posted Monday.   Robertson is the acting principal deputy assistant secretary, or EM-2, at the DOE nuclear cleanup office, filling the opening created […]

Holtec International has moved into storage some highly-radioactive reactor components at a Massachusetts nuclear power plant under decommissioning, the company announced recently. Holtec finished moving Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) waste, which includes non-fuel waste products such as “highly activated metal components,” onto the site’s independent spent fuel storage installation in early March, the […]

Continuing the U.S. campaign to inshore production of Molybdenum-99, the Secretary of Energy this week announced she cleared the way to provide upstart domestic manufacturers of the medical isotope with up to 750 kilograms of high assay, low enriched uranium annually. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set up the annual transfer to industry on April […]

Plaintiffs suing the Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over COVID-19 vaccination requirements for employees are interested in settling the case, according to a filing last week in federal court. “Plaintiffs believe that this case is well-situated for settlement discussions,” according to an April 5 status report filed […]

Changes in the scope of work for two new Department of Energy contracts planned at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and Paducah Site in Kentucky, should not cause job cuts or employee transfers between the two former gaseous diffusion plants, the agency said Thursday in a procurement notice. As DOE has said previously, some work […]

Things are stable once again at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico after discovery of a freestanding liquid with low levels of radioactive contamination in the CH-Bay at the complex near Carlsbad, N.M., DOE said via Twitter Saturday night. The discovery of the liquid at the bottom of a transportation […]

The New Mexico-based Los Alamos Study Group filed suit Wednesday against the National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington, D.C., claiming the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency is violating the Freedom of Information Act when it comes to plans for expanded plutonium pit production. The Albuquerque-based Los Alamos Study Group has made 65 requests under the […]

The Senate late Wednesday confirmed Marvin Adams to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s office of defense programs, clearing the way for the Texas A&M professor and longtime weapons-labs consultant to enter federal service for the first time. Adams had a whirlwind trip through the Senate, where lawmakers confirmed him Wednesday after the body’s Armed […]

The Department of Energy will not revoke until August a disputed landlord services contract that could keep Swift & Staley at the Paducah Site in 2027 — but the agency also will not slow down plans to recompete or reward the work, which the incumbent is fighting in court to keep. That was the news […]

In some of the first public details about decommissioning work at California’s last operating nuclear plant, Orano USA announced Wednesday that it had locked down a contract to transfer the site’s spent fuel into dry storage post-shutdown. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which owns and operates Diablo Canyon Power Plant, selected Orano USA subsidiary TN […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved an agency staff suggestion to combine two ongoing radioactive-waste rulemakings into one in an effort to streamline the process, according to a Wednesday memo. The commissioners’ unanimous approval means that NRC staff will now re-issue a new proposed rulemaking combining an existing inquiry into a rules change for Greater-Than-Class-C […]

John (Jack) William Crawford, Jr., a Navy captain who served on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover prior to stints with the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, has died, the board announced in a press release last week. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was created by Congress […]

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — Despite a perceived lack of interest in the technology at the federal level and a major roadblock in the form of federal nuclear-waste law, Curio Solutions is still carrying a torch for spent fuel reprocessing and the company’s CEO wants Congress to know. “We have a once-through fuel cycle that treats […]

Parts of Centrus’ high assay, low-enriched uranium cascade at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio were ready to operate as specified in a sole-source contract with the Department of Energy, the company said Wednesday. The 16-machine AC100M cascade was ready to start up by March 31, a company spokesperson said in an email Wednesday, except […]

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — Advanced nuclear companies hoping to tap into big pools of funding for their projects need to bring more than good ideas to the table, J.P. Morgan’s lead energy executive said here Tuesday. “I think, first and foremost, what people need to show us is that they have a company,” said Jay […]

Eleventh U.S. Court of Appeal oral arguments on a federal district judge’s order blocking the Joe Biden administration mandate that most federal contractor employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be livestreamed Friday, but a recording should be posted online early next week, a court representative said Tuesday. Streaming of oral arguments before the Atlanta-based […]

The Department of the Air Force has designated the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent next generation intercontinental ballistic missile under development by Northrop Grumman the LGM-35A Sentinel. “The name Sentinel recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is extending the proposal deadline for a potential $120 million small business Technical Assistance Contract solicitation until April 25, the agency said this week. The prior deadline, from a request for proposals (RFP) issued last month, was April 18. But that conflicts with Easter, said one unidentified […]

The former head of the House’s energy panel won’t seek another term in Congress, he announced Tuesday. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is retiring after a nearly 30-year stint representing Michigan’s sixth congressional district, he announced Tuesday during remarks on the House floor. “Thanks again to the people of my district who placed their faith and […]

The top-ranked U.S. general again touted his support for the low-yield, nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile the Joe Biden administration wants to cancel, this time at the invitation of House Republicans during Tuesday’s Armed Services Committee hearing. Gen. Mark Milley’s position on the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, SLCM-N, “has not changed,” the chairman of the Joint […]

The Joe Biden administration’s nominee to lead nuclear weapons programs at National Nuclear Security Administration headquarters was one of four nominees approved unanimously on Tuesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Marvin Adams got the nod from the committee just under four months after the White House announced Biden’s intent to install the Texas A&M […]