Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy needs to consolidate its agency-sponsored research on high-burnup spent nuclear fuel storage, the federal government’s nuclear waste panel said in a new report published Monday. Although DOE funds “a variety of organizations” and their research on the viability of storing and transporting high-burnup fuel (HBF), there’s not currently a single compendium […]

An inspection at a New Jersey nuclear plant being decommissioned by Holtec International revealed several security violations that might earn the company a civil penalty, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a letter to the plant’s owner last week. According to NRC’s letter, dated July 28, Holtec has a month to either contest the commission’s […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff recommended granting a 40-year license extension to Westinghouse Government Services’ Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, which among other things manufactures the rods used to restock the tritium reservoirs of U.S. nuclear weapons. The recommendation was part of a draft environmental impact statement published Friday.  The 40-year extension would kick […]

The story “Citing New Evidence, Enviros Ask NRC to Reconsider Decision on TMI Water Use Allegations” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, August 2, 2021) should have said that projected decommissioning water use at Three Mile Island Unit 2 was 100,000 gallons per day.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to fire its next salvo this month in an ongoing legal battle over one of two proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a court filing Monday. NRC will file its next brief in the case over Holtec International’s proposed storage facility in New Mexico by […]

Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, which the Department of Energy contractor and maker of nuclear submarine reactors and components attributed to non-recurring costs such as commercializing a line of medical isotopes, plus higher interest rates. Net income for the second quarter ended June 30 was $59.4 million or $0.62 […]

Earnings from operations dipped at Jacobs, Dallas, in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, which the international engineering and construction company attributed in part to a non-cash valuation connected with its March purchase of the majority stake in PA Consulting. Net earnings for the third quarter ended July 2 were $165 million, or $0.82 a […]

Here are some events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week. 02: BWX Technologies releases its second quarter earnings after the market closes and hosts an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. 03-05: Exchange Monitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit. The Westin Alexandria, Alexandria, Va. IN PERSON. 03: Leidos holds its […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should certify that the parties involved with decommissioning Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant comply with environmental law and that there’s a plan in place for water use at the site, a watchdog group said in a new filing with the agency. Citing new evidence in the form of emails […]

If the recent past is a guide, CEOs at some of the nation’s largest publicly-traded Department of Energy contractors could use their upcoming public earnings calls with Wall Street analysts to discuss President Joe Biden’s toughened stance on vaccinations for federal employees and on-site contractors. Weapons complex contractors BWXT, Fluor, Huntington Ingalls, Jacobs, Leidos and […]

The Department of Energy will establish a process to auction off tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, according to the Senate-side version of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. If the roughly $6 billion in allocated credits proposed in the bill became law, DOE would “establish a process for evaluating bids” and “select certified nuclear reactors” […]

The Exchange Monitor will host its annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Tuesday through Thursday this week in Alexandria, Va. Programming was scheduled to begin Tuesday morning with a pre-conference workshop, followed by an afternoon keynote address from Charles Verdon, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense programs.  Bob Raines, NNSA’s associate administrator for […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has made no decision yet on a Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board proposal to allow members to serve beyond their term expiration dates in order to keep the panel near full strength. The Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters is reviewing the Savannah River Site (SRS) […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is officially doing away with a proposed rulemaking that would govern spent fuel reprocessing, according to an agency notice published Thursday. Declining industry interest in spent fuel reprocessing, higher priorities in spent fuel management and “budgetary constraints” were the main drivers in discontinuing the staff rulemaking activity that began in 2013, […]

A roughly $1-trillion infrastructure bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators could provide Superfund sites with more than $3 billion for cleanup over the next five years. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would increase federal investment in projects including roads, bridges and broadband —and quicken cleanup of environmental contamination through $3.5 billion […]

A House Armed Services panel on Tuesday called for a briefing about delays to a bomb and warhead refurb at the National Nuclear Security Administration and a new report on planned subcritical testing facilities. The strategic forces subcommittee wrote the requirements into a report appended to its portion of the fiscal year 2022 National Defense […]

A federal suit against a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel remains in limbo while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission works through licensing proceedings, according to a Wednesday court filing from the agency. Holtec International’s application for a federal license to build an interim storage facility in Lea County, N.M. is “still under consideration […]

As of Wednesday, everyone was again required to wear face masks inside of Department of Energy buildings located in areas with substantial or high COVID-19 transmission, the agency announced in an email blast. “[E]ffective immediately, face coverings must be worn by everyone in all DOE buildings and leased spaces that are in areas of substantial […]

The nation’s nuclear fleet would get a cash injection if the Joe Biden administration’s proposed bipartisan infrastructure bill becomes law, according to a summary of the trillion-dollar measure. Under the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Department of Energy would get roughly $6 billion to dole out over four fiscal years to struggling nuclear […]

The roughly 1% annual increase the Joe Biden administration proposed for civilian nuclear weapons programs is “minimally sufficient” to keep warhead and bomb modernization on track in 2022, but maybe not beyond, a joint Pentagon-Department of Energy nuclear acquisitions group told Congress in a letter dated Friday. The Biden request of roughly $20 billion for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing process for two proposed interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel can’t legally move forward without approval from host state governors, a Texas congressman argued Tuesday on the House floor. “The law is very clear … that the governor can disapprove [of an interim storage facility],” said Rep. Henry Cuellar […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has opened a training center in Carlsbad, N.M., to prepare staff for resumption of shipments of remote-handled waste at the underground disposal facility, the agency tweeted Monday. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has not taken shipments of remote-handled (RH) transuranic waste using RH-72B casks since 2014, […]

Testing done in recent weeks by the Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in Washington state has turned up no signs the foul odor encountered by workers around a tank farm was ammonia from tank vapors, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Following last month’s incident three employees were checked out at a Richland, Wash., […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is putting together a team to review a financially-troubled Ohio nuclear power plant’s response to several equipment failures and a recent reactor trip, the agency said Tuesday. Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station has experienced four emergency diesel generator failures over the last two years, NRC said in the statement dated Tuesday. The […]

Jill Hruby was sworn in Monday as the sixth administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, she wrote in a Twitter post on the official government account for the nuclear-weapons agency’s leader. Today, surrounded by my family, I was sworn in as #NNSA Administrator by @SecGranholm. Leading the dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to advance […]

Some 200 members of the Society of Professionals, Scientists and Engineers were scheduled to begin a three-day strike Tuesday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California to protest what they call unfair labor practices, the union said Monday. “The 200 strikers will spread out across the lab’s gates,” the union wrote in a press […]