Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

It was not clear exactly how many people showed up Tuesday in Los Alamos, N.M., to protest a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Los Alamos National Laboratory employees, though local media reported that they observed several hundred people, some of whom worked for the laboratory. The Local Los Alamos Reporter put the size of the crowd […]

Given the shrinking chances of Congress agreeing on fiscal year 2022 appropriations by the end of the month, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday requested that any continuing resolution Congress passes to extend 2021 budgets protect the short-term operations of the Department of Energy’s uranium enrichment cleanups. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing has reported, the […]

The head of Texas’s environmental regulation agency is staying for another term, the governor’s office said Tuesday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday reappointed Jon Niermann to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a press release. Now in his second term on the commission, Niermann can remain in his post until 2027, […]

The Amentum-Jacobs joint venture in charge of remediating the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee said Tuesday it will make vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment for its 2,000 workers. That makes the team the third DOE nuclear-site contract to mandate the vaccine, after contractors at the Savannah River Site in South […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Uranium Processing Facility will start up in August 2025, almost a year later than once anticipated but with months of margin to spare to reach full operational capability by the long-promised date of December 2025. That’s according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s DNFSB latest Oak Ridge site report.  […]

With two major Department of Energy nuclear site contractors having already announced plans to mandate worker vaccination against COVID-19, don’t be surprised to see others follow in coming days, sources told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. One industry source said Friday there is a good chance at least one more major limited liability corporation at a […]

Working closely with would-be opponents of nuclear waste repositories is important to getting such sites built, a panel of international nuclear experts said at a conference last week. “I think it’s very important to have informed critics [of nuclear waste],” Arne Kaijser, professor of technology and history at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, said […]

Mike Nartker, a former communications director at the Department of Energy’s Office’s Office of Environmental Management is now chief of staff, according to a new organizational chart posted online last Wednesday. In the post, Nartker reports to DOE’s acting assistant secretary for environmental management (EM) William (Ike) White.  In addition to supporting White and principal […]

A group opposed to COVID-19 vaccination mandates and mask mandates in schools urged Los Alamos National Laboratory workers to show up Tuesday to protest lab contractor Triad National Security’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees. The group, New Mexico Freedoms Alliance, urged Los Alamos employees to show up from 11 a.m. to 1 […]

A New Jersey power plant undergoing decommissioning needs to shore up its spent fuel inventory security procedures, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found in a recent site inspection. NRC logged three physical security violations at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station during an August inspection of the plant’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), according to a […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved about $425 million in funding above the president’s request for nuclear-weapons infrastructure in fiscal year 2022 — money that corresponding appropriations bills would not yet allow the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend. The authorized funding came from an amendment to the committee’s 2022 National Defense Authorization […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published on Monday, Sept. 6, 2021 in observance of the U.S. Labor Day holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

The sponsors of a proposed bill banning the storage of high level nuclear waste in Texas, which passed the state Senate Wednesday, are using a parliamentary gambit to get the law on the books before the federal government can license a planned interim storage facility in the Lone Star State. After unanimously passing the Texas […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration would have to report to Congress about the benefits of competitively awarding management and operations contracts for nuclear weapons sites by March 1, if the House’s version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act becomes law. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who holds the seat recently vacated by longtime Armed Services […]

A public meeting is set for 5 p.m. Mountain Time today as the New Mexico Environment Department reviews plans by the Department of Energy and its prime contractor for two new underground disposal panels at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. The Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership, which includes BXW Technologies, will present information on […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state lifted a take cover order about four hours after workers detected strange odors Wednesday morning in the 200 West Area of the cleanup complex. Crews investigating reports of odors near the Reduction Oxidation (REDOX) plant found no evidence of radiation or a chemical release near the […]

For the second review period in a row UCOR, the Amentum-Jacobs cleanup team at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, is pocketing 98% of its potential fee from the Department of Energy. The contractor earned 100% of its almost $7.9 million potential fee for the first half of fiscal 2021, from Oct. 1, 2020 through […]

Construction of plutonium pit factories should continue more or less as planned for another year-and-a-half, until the Joe Biden administration wraps up a nuclear posture review and the Savannah River Site delivers a baseline cost estimate for a pit factory there, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.  “We are sort of […]

An anti-nuclear watchdog’s agency-level effort to halt the sale of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant is dead to rights after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted it down Tuesday. The three NRC commissioners voted unanimously during a Tuesday meeting to nix Three Mile Island Alert’s petition to reconsider the sale of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating […]

Overall, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth claimed $30 million, or 85% of a potential $35.3 million in total available fee, for its work at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site for an 18-month period ending March 31. The Fluor-led contractor earned $7.4 million or 70% out a potential $10.6 million in subjective fee, according to the scorecard from […]

An appeals panel within the Small Business Administration erred in May when it found Swift & Staley was too big to qualify for a $160-million Department of Energy set-aside contract for services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge ruled. The ruling turned on whether a Swift & Staley […]

As Hurricane Ida rolls through Louisiana, one of two nuclear power plants in the storm’s path is offline while the other is operating at reduced capacity, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday. Waterford Nuclear Generating Station, located about 25 miles from New Orleans, lost offsite electrical power Sunday evening, NRC said in a statement published […]

The House Armed Services Committee wants the Air Force to review its approach to the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, to include identifying potential steps for reducing costs and introducing more opportunities for competition in the operation and maintenance phase. The panel’s draft version of the next National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) notes the effort […]

The Department of Energy’s Jacobs-led contractor for remediation of the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York could begin taking down the Main Plant Process Building this year, a manager said at a public meeting Wednesday. Deactivation of the contaminated facility should be finished later this fall, although the schedule could always slip due […]

The Department of Energy is implementing an electronic system for employees and contractors to either verify they are vaccinated against COVID-19, or refuse to reveal their status, according to a Monday letter to workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “On Friday, DOE launched an electronic vaccination attestation form to obtain information from federal […]