Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Like a spending bill passed earlier this month by the House Appropriation Committee, the National Defense Authorization Act that cleared Senate Armed Services last week,restores $5.7 million in community funds the Joe Biden White House left out of its fiscal 2022 budget request for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. That […]

The Department of Energy expects to continue modified schedules at the Hanford Site in Washington state throughout the summer as the area continues to struggle with oppressive heat, according to a recent Defense Facilities Safety Board report. The staff report dated July 2 and recently posted online on the safety board’s website details some of […]

Here are some events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. July: 26: Meeting: House Rules Committee. 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. H-313, Capitol Hill. The Committee will write a rule of debate for a minibus appropriations package that includes the House Appropriations Committee’s proposed DOE budget for 2022. […]

The House Rules Committee was to write a rule for debate Monday that would tee up a vote this week on a massive spending bill that includes the Department of Energy’s proposed 2022 budget of roughly $45 billion. The committee was scheduled to meet on Capitol Hill at 2:00 p.m. to consider a rule and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will allow members of the public to comment this week on the decommissioning of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant in New York, according to a notice from the agency. Holtec International’s Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station will be on the docket at a public meeting […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has officially started the job hunt for someone to run its spent fuel and waste disposal program, according to federal want ad posted Wednesday. Anyone interested in becoming the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (ONE) deputy assistant secretary for its spent fuel and waste disposition program can apply […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the contractor that runs the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, this week asked a federal court in New Mexico to dismiss a $500,000 lawsuit filed by an African American security employee who claims he was bypassed for a promotion due to his race. While the Amentum-BWX Technologies partnership acknowledges plaintiff […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management appointed Michael Mikolanis to lead its Los Alamos National Laboratory field office in New Mexico, a DOE advisory board learned Wednesday. The Mikolanis appointment was announced to the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board by Lee Bishop, DOE’s deputy designated federal officer, during a virtual meeting. Mikolanis, […]

John “Devin” Biniaz was appointed deputy associate administrator for defense nuclear security, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday. In his new role at headquarters, Biniaz wil backstop Jeffrey Johnson, the head of the office responsible for physical and information security at the agency’s labs, plants and sites.  Biniaz was most recently assistant manager of […]

Oral arguments are set for today in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., as Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley seeks to hold onto the $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract in Kentucky, which it won in December before the Small Business Administration ruled the company exceeds the size limit for […]

John Howanitz will be promoted to president of Bechtel National’s nuclear, security and environmental global business effective Sept. 1, replacing the retiring Barbara Rusinko as the head of the Reston, Va.-based company’s nuclear business with the Department of Energy and other agencies worldwide. The company announced the impending change Wednesday in a press release.  Howanitz […]

Jill Hruby was scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. confirmation vote in the Senate Thursday that would install the ex-Sandia National Laboratories director as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Hruby would be the sixth Senate-confirmed administrator of the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the part of the Department of Energy responsible for nuclear-weapons […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is dealing with a software error that forced some transuranic waste to be sent back to the Idaho National Laboratory in late May because of duplicate shipment data. Generation of duplicate package numbers “was an extremely rare occurrence that will be addressed by an […]

Norbert Doyle, a top acquisition executive at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is taking a two-year posting as a faculty member at the National Defense University’s National War College in Washington, D.C. Although still an Office of Environmental Management (EM) employee, Doyle will serve as the DOE faculty chair at the National […]

An internal Department of Energy watchdog gave Consolidated Nuclear Security a public calling-out, but no other penalty, for letting an employee at the Pantex Plant in Texas work in radioactive areas for six months last year after the contractor realized the person had lost their dosimeter, according to a report published this week. The employee […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission distorted the state of New Mexico’s arguments against a proposed interim storage facility when it said that a district court didn’t have the authority to rule on a state lawsuit, according to a new court filing. Since the state isn’t looking to challenge a final agency decision under the Hobbs Act […]

An auxiliary manufacturing space, known as Kansas City East and Building 23, should be christened in the fall, the president of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main non-nuclear parts maker said Tuesday. The headcount at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) is “currently around 5,500 with plans growing to 6,000 here before the end […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to vote Thursday morning on Department of Energy nominees for general counsel and two other posts. During the business meeting set for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the committee planned to consider the nomination of Samuel Walsh to be DOE’s general counsel, Andrew Light to be assistant secretary […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s spending bill would provide the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio with more funds than the White House sought for community and regulatory support, including setting up a liaison to localities around the former gaseous diffusion plant, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said Monday. The fiscal 2022 appropriations package for Energy […]

A fiery summer continues at the former Nevada Test Site, with another blaze reported in the southwest part of the site at Area 25 and 29, according to a press release. By Monday afternoon local time, the fire had spread across some 860 acres, compared with the 300 on which it was burning earlier in […]

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge is the new president of Holtec’s government services subsidiary, the company announced Monday in a press release dominated by new hires for the Campden, N.J., company’s financial team. Now leading the finance silo is Kevin O’Rourke, the new vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces David LaRosa, who […]

Some prospective bidders for the Department of Energy’s potentially $3-billion, 10-year prime contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are worried about the financial penalties the agreement prescribes for failing to finish a new ventilation system and other infrastructure projects, according to questions and answers published last week. The next Waste Isolation […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed Department of Energy budget for fiscal year 2022 would slash funding for one of the potential disposal routes for surplus weapon-usable plutonium that has to be removed from South Carolina under terms of a record-setting legal settlement. The bill would deny $145 million in 2022 funding requested for the Versatile […]

Wednesday is the deadline for members of the House to submit amendments to a six-bill spending package that includes the House Appropriations Committee’s 2022 spending proposal for the Department of Energy, the chamber’s Rules Committee said. After the amendments are in, the Rules Committee plans to meet sometime next week to finalize the rules of […]

Here are some events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. 19 – Markup (CLOSED): Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Portions of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act that include Pentagon and DOE nuclear weapons programs. 20 – Virtual Forum: Hudson Institute. “Showdown at the IAEA: […]

House Appropriators didn’t go for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to trim the Inertial Confinement Fusion program’s budget by about $5 million in 2022 by using leftover 2021 funding to continue a portfolio of high energy density physics projects that can aid nuclear-weapons maintenance.  A bill approved Friday by the House Appropriations Committee would […]