Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy could begin doling out the first installments of credits for financially-troubled nuclear power plants this summer, the agency’s nuclear fuel cycle chief said Monday. Mid-June “is the best estimate we can offer” on when DOE’s initial payments could go out, said Andrew Griffith, the Office of Nuclear Energy’s deputy assistant secretary […]

A proposed change to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s nuclear decommissioning rulemaking, which includes updates to tracking requirements for low-level nuclear waste shipments, is scheduled to go live for public comment this week, an agency spokesperson said Monday. A public comment request on the proposed decommissioning rule is scheduled for publication Thursday in the Federal Register, […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Christopher Hanson took a break from the East Coast in early February to tour San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the California plant’s operator said in a press release last week. Hanson visited the Pendleton, Calif., San Onofre (SONGS) “earlier this month” and toured the site’s turbine building area, spent fuel storage […]

Hundreds of nuclear engineers and climate advocates in a letter earlier this month implored Michigan’s governor to step in and stop a nuclear power plant’s planned closure in the spring. “We seek your assistance in preventing the permanent and premature closure of the Palisades nuclear plant in May 2022, nine years before its operating license […]

A joint venture led by BWX Technologies, Savannah River Mission Completion, has taken over liquid waste operations now at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which began its transition at the end of November, was to officially assume control of the waste management operations from Amentum-led […]

Over the next 10 years, virtually all of the legacy transuranic waste at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory will be shipped to New Mexico for underground disposal and the lab’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex will be closed, the president of Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition, said Thursday. In addition, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. March 1 – Hearing, House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. Witnesses include Sasha Baker, deputy under secretary of defense for policy and Adm. Charles Richard, commander, United States Strategic Command. Rayburn House Office Building Room 2118 and streaming […]

After being offline for nearly two years due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and plant upgrades, the Department of Energy says conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride to a more stable form is resuming at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Likewise, depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion into uranium oxide at the Portsmouth Site in […]

The Toebbes, Jonathan and Diana, were set to be sentenced in August for attempting to sell Virginia-class submarine technology to a foreign nation, according to a Thursday court filing. The Husband-Wife duo were to face the judge together on Aug. 16 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time in the Martinsburg District Judge Courtroom at the U.S. […]

The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico won 72% of its subjective fee and 91% of its performance-based fee during fiscal 2021, according to an agency scorecard posted this week. Altogether, Newport News Nuclear BWXT (N3B)-Los Alamos took home $8.37 million out of a potential $9.77 […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is remaining in Washington, D.C., this week after canceling a trip to the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state due to tensions in Eastern Europe that on Thursday morning erupted into a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Given the uncertainty in global energy markets and the global security […]

The Department of Energy is scheduled to answer the public’s burning questions about its forthcoming tax-credits program for economically-troubled nuclear power plants, the agency’s nuclear energy office said Wednesday. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) will host two public seminars next week to answer questions about its request for information (RFI) on the civil nuclear […]

Revenue at FirstEnergy, Akron, Ohio, grew during 2021 despite financial challenges stemming from a bribery scandal in Columbus, according to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For year ended Dec. 31, FirstEnergy reported revenue of roughly $11.1 billion, up just 1% from $11 billion in 2020, according to a 10-K form filed Feb. […]

Both quarterly and annual net earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., the nuclear services provider said in a Tuesday press release. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, were $117 million, or $1.26 per diluted share, which beat net income of $65.7 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, in the prior-year […]

After a warm up period, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory last week resumed a 50-day final trial run of the plant expected to treat about 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste, federal and state agencies confirmed Tuesday. On Feb. 17 operators of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit […]

Citing a lack of transparency on the agency’s part, a losing bidder for a major nuclear-weapon sites management contract cried foul in January when the National Nuclear Security Administration short-circuited an external review of the controversial award, according to the Government Accountability Office. According to a January decision memorandum from the office, part of the […]

For those not traveling to Phoenix in a couple of weeks for the annual Waste Management Symposia, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is making its Business Opportunities Forum session available online. Topics during the 9:45 a.m. Mountain Time session from the conference at the Phoenix Convention Center will include an update on […]

Next Monday, Feb. 28, is the current target for a return-to-onsite work for most Department of Energy Idaho National Laboratory personnel, according to a recent staff report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which said COVID-19 is still complicating work there. Another Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) memo said COVID is also still […]

The Department of Energy’s Enterprise Assessments office, one of the agency’s internal watchdogs, will check out an incident last summer at the Kansas City National Security Campus that resulted in one employee getting what the site called a mild concussion. Among the things the watchdog will look at — in the wake of the employee […]

In the latest volley of corporate sparring over the sale of a Wisconsin nuclear plant, the decommissioning company purchasing the site has asked the state public works commission to ignore comments made by the head of another company that’s trying to muscle in on the transaction, according to recent documents. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission […]

The interested public has just about one week left to suggest ways the Department of Energy could go about siting a future federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. March 4 is the deadline for submitting comments on DOE’s request for information (RFI) about the interim storage inquiry the agency unveiled in November. DOE […]

The wife of the man who attempted to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign government in exchange for crypto currency will like her husband go to prison as a co-conspirator, according to a plea agreement published Friday. Diana Toebbe, like her husband, will plead guilty to a single count levied against her, in […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. February: 22 – BWX Technologies holds its financial conference call on quarterly annual results at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. 24 – The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Idaho Cleanup Project meets at 8 a.m. […]

Net income from continuing operations at Fluor, Irving, Texas, fell for both the fourth quarter and 2021 as a whole, which the international company and Department of Energy contractor attributed mostly to a massive, pre-tax charge related to a Dutch pension plan, according to a financial release Tuesday morning. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, […]

 A May 2021 radiation exposure of 22 workers resulted in a federal preliminary finding of a low-to-moderate safety problem for the Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said recently.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has four levels of classifications for safety problems. Green means a finding of very low safety significance […]

Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley will stay on at least another month while a federal judge decides whether the firm exceeded the size restrictions for the $160-million Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, according to a Friday court filing. In a Feb. 18 order, U.S. Court of Federal Claims […]