Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

A federal lawsuit brought against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is timely because it was filed soon after the public learned of radioactive contamination at a public school outside the fence, plaintiffs said in a filing last week. Ursula McGlone and fellow plaintiffs argue in a June […]

It may take almost a year longer than recently expected to fully certify the F-35A to internally carry one or two B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs, but the head of the service’s Nuclear Weapons Center said the nuclear end of things isn’t what’s pacing the process. “The timing right now I think to get to full […]

The state of New Mexico is pursuing its lawsuit over a proposed interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel in the wrong venue, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission argued in a recent court filing. Since New Mexico attorney general Hector Balderas’s March suit in the state’s district court cited a violation of the Atomic Energy Act […]

A group composed of Battelle and a quintet of universities from two states is now operating the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. The Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA) took over management of the lab Monday, officially announcing the news via Twitter: “Proud to be @Battelle’s newest national laboratory! Our team […]

The federal government’s independent nuclear health and safety watchdog wants to know what the National Nuclear Security Administration is doing to address perceived safety culture issues at the country’s central nuclear-weapons maintenance facility. After a number of technical safety requirement violations in 2019, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) “received multiple concerns from Pantex […]

The Pantex Plant wrapped up production of the W80-1 Alt 369, which replaced limited life components for the warhead that tips the Air Force’s AGM-86b Air Launched Cruise Missile, the Amarillo, Texas, plant said recently. Pantex announced the milestone in a press release earlier this month. Limited life components include tritium reservoirs, neutron generators and […]

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) held a town hall-style meeting Saturday in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss local concerns over open-air demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and radioactive contamination discovered around a local school. Ryan and Zack Space, former congressman for Ohio’s 18th district, were scheduled to participate in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled to meet this week to affirm its decisions to again deny a minerals company’s request to reopen the record about an objection to the licensing of a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to the commission’s schedule. During a meeting set for Tuesday, the commission will […]

The Central Plateau Cleanup Co. will begin cocooning the K East Reactor later this year, Brian Stickney, the Department of Energy’s deputy Hanford manager for the agency’s Richland office, said last week.  Stickney spoke Wednesday at a public briefing on Hanford in general for the public. The briefing was conducted via Internet with about 150 […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: 22: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission meets for an affirmation session on pending business and the agency’s midyear review, “Transformation at the NRC.” Web access available here starting at 8:55 a.m. Eastern time. 23: The Risk Management […]

A Bechtel-led group, one of four losing bidders for DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract, last week filed a bid protest over the potentially 10-year, $6.4-billion nuclear-weapons cleanup pact. At deadline Monday, the details of Idaho Remediation LLC’s protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over last month’s award to Idaho Environmental Coalition — made up […]

The former Ohio speaker of the House was expelled from the state legislature Wednesday over his indictment in an alleged bribery scheme involving two nuclear power plants. State Rep. Larry Householder (R) was removed from the Ohio legislature in a 75-21 vote Wednesday afternoon. Householder, speaking on the state House floor, argued that his expulsion […]

The head of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is dissatisfied with current legal checks on the President’s authority to launch nuclear weapons, he said in a hearing Wednesday, during which he otherwise offered no other indication that he was eager to disrupt current nuclear weapons policy. The President’s sole authority to launch U.S. […]

The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, is suffering through an “exceptional drought,” a program manager for the legacy cleanup contractor said during an online meeting Wednesday. The U.S. Drought Monitor, a service run by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal entities, places 60% […]

National Nuclear Security Administration shipments of transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remain suspended following a February drum sparking incident, a spokesperson for the disposal site said Wednesday. “Shipments from LANL-NNSA [Los Alamos National Laboratory-National Nuclear Security Administration] remain paused,” a […]

The United States and Russia seek to “lay the groundwork for future arms control” with bilateral talks that will start “in the near future,” the presidents of both countries said in a joint statement Wednesday following talks in Geneva.  In the English-language statement released by the White House, President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the […]

The Department of Energy expects to hand over control of the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina early next week to Battelle Savannah River Alliance. The DOE is “working toward” Monday June 21, an agency spokesperson said by email Tuesday. That is when operations of the national laboratory will shift to the Battelle-led group […]

New Mexico is planning to voice its displeasure with the Department of Energy over a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in their state, a member of its Congressional delegation told the secretary of energy in a hearing Tuesday. The Department of Energy isn’t meeting its responsibility to designate a permanent repository […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

Firefighters at the Nevada National Security Site have completely contained the Cherrywood Fire that started burning on May 17 and spread over 26,410 acres of the former test site, the site said Monday. The fire crossed into a contaminated area less than a week after it started burning, but in a statement Monday, the Honeywell-led […]

By suggesting that the Navy cancel a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, the service’s acting secretary imperilled arms control negotiations and undercut President Joe Biden, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said during a hearing Tuesday. “Everybody at the Pentagon needs to understand the severity of the actions you have taken and its implications for the United States […]

There’s no need for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to change existing regulations surrounding disposal of very low-level nuclear waste, according to the results of a three-year agency scoping study published this month. The study, which began in 2018, was commissioned because of the “anticipated increase of early nuclear power plant closures,” NRC wrote Tuesday in […]

The House Armed Services Committee will hold its full committee mark-up for the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on September 1, pushing back the annual process due to the delayed submission of the president’s budget request. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday also announced plans to have its defense and homeland security subcommittees […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday morning on the Joe Biden administration’s $46-billion fiscal 2022 budget request for the department. Granholm was  to appear before the committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to explain, and if need […]

As far as the Department of Energy could tell at deadline, the hack of a small, veteran-owned consulting business in Albuquerque, N.M., did not compromise any National Nuclear Security Administration data. “The Department of Energy is aware of the cyberattack against Sol Oriens, a veteran-owned consulting firm whose clients include the Department of Energy/National Nuclear […]

With no new contract awarded yet, the Department of Energy will keep North Wind Portage on at least through August as its technical assistance provider at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico, an agency spokesperson said Monday. The $51.8-million small business contract that began in November 2015 would have otherwise expired June 3 without […]