Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Environmentalists on Tuesday sued to stop the National Nuclear Security Administration from building a plutonium pit plant at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., alleging violation of environmental law. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should have to reopen the environmental record for the planned Savannah River Plutonium Pit Production Facility (SRPPF) and a […]

Bidders for the new prime contract at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., are getting two more weeks, until Aug. 3, to submit their proposals. In a notice published on a procurement website Tuesday the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it plans to extend the submission deadline for the […]

The company seeking a license to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico joined the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week in requesting that a judge toss the state attorney general’s lawsuit over the proposed site, a court filing shows. New Mexico attorney general Hector Balderas went to the wrong court […]

One of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s four current commissioners sees out her term today, leaving the Joe Biden administration with two seats to fill at the top of the independent regulatory agency. Commissioner Annie Caputo, who was nominated to her three-year term in 2018 under the Donald Trump administration, leaves NRC Wednesday, commission chair Christopher […]

After failing to build a plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site after 20 years of planning and billions spent, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday he has doubts about whether the National Nuclear Security Administration can turn the failed project into a plutonium pit factory.  “I do not trust […]

After two presidential administrations allowed the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board to dwindle to only seven out of a potential 25 members, the panel voted Monday to adopt a policy to avoid such staffing shortages in the future. The Citizens Advisory Board voted during an online meeting carried via Youtube to […]

After holding up the project two years, the Department of Energy will start developing an environmental assessment in July for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative that involves grouting and out-of-state disposal of low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s site manager for Hanford, Brian Vance, told the Washington […]

The story “NNSA Approves CD-1 Range for Savannah River Pit Factory; $6.9B-$11.1B” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, June 29, 2021] should have said that Jill Hruby, the Joe Biden administration’s nominee for NNSA administrator, disclosed a schedule slip for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) in congressional testimony on May 27.

A U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina agreed Thursday to grant a Department of Justice motion to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit filed in 2016 against Fluor and the Fluor-led management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site over millions of dollars in reimbursement for home office expenses. The one-page order […]

In another bid to combat mounting nuclear power plant closures, a group of Senate Democrats last week unveiled a bill to keep the existing fleet afloat. If the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act became law, nuclear plant operators could expect a tax credit on every kilowatt-hour (KWh) of electricity they produce, according to the […]

A pre-pandemic report from the company set to decommission a New York nuclear power plant is available for public comment, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced last week. Members of the public can submit comments on Holtec International’s Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for Indian Point Energy Center through October 22, NRC said in a Federal […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday formalized its choice to build the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility pit factory out of the remains of the partially constructed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The planned pit plant will cost between $6.9 billion and $11.1 billion to build and be ready to annually produce at least […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, where daytime high temperatures are in the triple-digits, should be prepared for potential power outages lasting up to four hours on Tuesday, according to an online advisory to employees. “Employees that can telework should telework,” according to the advisory posted online by Leidos-led services […]

North Wind Site Services has won a Department of Energy remediation contract, potentially worth $22 million over five years, at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, N.Y., the agency said in a Monday press release. West Virginia-based North Wind Site Services is part of North Wind Group, which in turn is owned by Cook […]

Centrus Energy got approval in June from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate a 16-machine cascade at DOE’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, that is intended to take uranium to the upper bounds of low-enrichment. Centrus can operate the cascade until May 31, 2022, under the license amendment the commission approved June 11. The Bethesda, […]

Contractors serving the Department of Energy’s weapons complex are watching eagerly to see what contract awards are made for a trio of solicitations, including one for a new prime at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and multibillion-dollar awards elsewhere in the complex. Questions were due over the weekend, and proposals are due […]

The proof-of-concept plutonium pit for the next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile warhead is still on the slate for fiscal year 2023, but cranking out 30 copies annually just three years after that will be “challenging,” the director of the world’s first nuclear weapons lab said Friday. But “I would rather push to a timeline that is […]

A proposed rulemaking for decommissioning nuclear power plants doesn’t go the distance to ensure a balance of safety and efficiency, one of the Senate’s most outspoken nuclear critics told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week. In a letter to NRC chair Christopher Hanson dated Friday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sounded the alarm about the agency’s […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: June 28: The Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board meets online starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.  

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state are this week coping with what the National Weather Service described in a Monday bulletin as “dangerous heat.” At deadline, the high for Monday was forecast to reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit with daytime highs expected to remain above 100 degrees F throughout the week. […]

For the second time in two weeks, a senator from Washington state insisted Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm raise the Joe Biden administration’s financial commitment to long-term Hanford Site cleanup and continue payments to localities bordering Department of Energy nuclear facilities. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) hammered at the topics during Granholm’s Wednesday appearance before the […]

The Joe Biden administration’s nuclear posture review will be bundled with a larger national defense strategy to be released in early 2022, but the administration plans to make a “significant signal” about U.S. force structure before that, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday at a virtual conference. “The Biden administration and the interim national security […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of information. When asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations […]

Final solicitations are coming this autumn for multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Department of Energy said Wednesday. The final request for proposals (RFP) for the potential $21.5-billion Savannah River Site Management and Operating Contract should hit the street in September while the potential […]

WASHINGTON — COVID-19-related delays at the Department of Energy and its vendors might delay refurbishment of a warhead intended for next-generation nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missiles, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday in congressional testimony. “So there’s no near-term impacts with that but there could be a schedule adjustment,” Charles Verdon, […]

WASHINGTON — Personnel at the Nevada National Security Site have fired the second in a series of three planned subcritical plutonium tests called Nightshade, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday. Charles Verdon, the agency’s acting administrator, confirmed the test firing to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing after he testified before the […]