Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy is picking up its option to keep Centerra Group on through at least Oct. 7 as provider of security at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina while the agency continues to review a 10-year, $1-billion follow-on contract awarded in February to Securitas CIS. A DOE spokesperson said in an email […]

There were 177 active, confirmed COVID-19 cases across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s civilian and contractor workforce in the first week of May, the agency reported Friday, keeping current infections around the plateau they fell to in April. Week-to-week, active cases among National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) civil servants and contractors was down by 55, […]

Profits were about flat at Dallas-based Jacobs in its second fiscal quarter that ended April 2, something the international engineering and construction services company attributed to its March acquisition of a 65% stake in PA Consulting, which advises energy, defense and government clients. During the same period last year, Jacobs suffered a $122 million net […]

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by a prominent nuclear trade group over the agency’s interpretation of very-low level waste disposal regulations.  The court lacked jurisdiction to make a ruling, according to a filing Tuesday. If a 2019 letter to industry from NRC detailing its interpretation of […]

A bill that would have banned storage of high level waste in Texas was yanked ahead of a scheduled floor vote in the state’s House of Representatives for being “substantially and materially misleading,” the state Speaker of the House said. H.B. 2692, proposed in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), got tossed back into […]

California-based radioactive waste disposal company Deep Isolation is expanding its search for clients to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The company this week announced it is teaming with Dominion Engineering Inc. of Reston, Va., to combine their nuclear-fuel-disposal technologies with an initial focus on Latin American. “This is potentially a good market,” said Deep Isolation’s chief […]

The 16th secretary of energy is scheduled to face the Department of Energy’s congressional appropriators in an open hearing for the first time today, with the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee set to hear testimony on DOE’s so-far incomplete 2022 budget request at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The Joe Biden administration has yet […]

The Justice Department has formally closed out its fraud case against Mission Support Alliance, the joint venture that formally provided landlord services at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, according to a settlement filed last week with a federal court in Washington state. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson of the Eastern District […]

The Department of Energy is making plans for replacement of the emergency operations center at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by late 2028, according to one of the procurement documents published last week. Last week DOE issued its draft request for proposals for the Savannah River Site Operations Acquisition, a contract which could […]

A frequently-used Department of Energy subcontractor is dropping its lawsuit against a large contractor over business at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Professional Project Services or Pro2Serve or filed a joint motion to dismiss April 15 with Leidos Integrated Technology and its Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) joint venture in U.S. District Court for […]

The Department of Energy and its legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory said Tuesday an interim groundwater pump-and-treat system to contain a hexavalent chromium plume is now fully operational. Three extraction wells and two injection wells that came online this month are part of what DOE dubbed an “interim measure” to control […]

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile failed to launch as scheduled from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after a ground abort in the early morning hours on Wednesday, the Air Force wrote in a statement. “The cause of the ground abort is currently under investigation, and Air Force Global Strike Command is assessing […]

A Texas House of Representatives adjourned Tuesday without voting on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State, leaving a decision on the measure for a future meeting. The second reading of H.B. 2692, introduced in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), was postponed following […]

The Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology have been involved in so-called “holistic” talks with the aid of a federal mediator since June 2020, the parties told a federal court Friday. With a confidentiality deal in place, publicly the parties have said little, other than that talks are ongoing, with the […]

A program-independent review found the cost-floor for building the National Nuclear Security Administration’s planned, multibillion-dollar pit factory at the Los Alamos National Laboratory will be slightly higher than the official estimate, though the ceiling might be a little lower. The Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project (LAP4) and supporting infrastructure should cost between $2.93 billion […]

The company seeking federal approval to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico is asking to get involved with the state’s ongoing lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to recent court filings. Holtec International filed a formal petition April 29 to intervene in New Mexico’s proceedings against NRC in […]

Teresa Robbins replaced Geoff Beausoleil as manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration field office responsible for the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Site, according to the government’s nuclear health-and-safety watchdog. Robbins, one of Beausoleil’s two deputies at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Production Office, was set to take over May 1. […]

A Small Business Administration appeals panel recently agreed that incumbent Swift & Staley was too large to qualify for a $160-million infrastructure support contract it won last year at the Department of Energy’s Paducah site in Kentucky. The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals issued its decision April 20, effectively affirming a […]

In a move that has been in the works for some time, Irving, Texas-based Fluor has sold its North American equipment business, AMECO, to One Equity Partners for $73 million. Fluor announced the transaction in a Tuesday morning press release. The engineering and construction company first put AMECO up for sale in September 2019 at […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission board member Peter Lyons has died, according to a Monday statement from the agency. “For decades, Pete distinguished himself as an influential thought leader in nuclear science and energy policy, first at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and later at the NRC and Department of Energy,” said NRC chair Christopher Hanson […]

The New York county executive with jurisdiction over the recently-shuttered Indian Point Energy Center urged federal legislators to find disposal solutions for the site’s spent fuel inventory, according to a series of requests published by the county office Monday. New York’s legislators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should also continue their oversight over the former […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), whose district includes the Savannah River Site, on Monday asked the House Appropriations Committee to provide a total of $695 million in fiscal year 2022 for plutonium pit production at the Aiken, S.C. site: some $255 million more than the 2021 pit budget. The increase would entirely go toward construction of […]

Revenue and net income fell for BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., during the first quarter of 2021, the naval reactor maker and nuclear services company reported after markets closed Monday. BWXT ended the first three months of the year with revenue of $528 million, a 2.6% dip from the $542 million taken in during the first […]

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the Energy Communities Alliance and six other groups Monday urged Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to set up a Nuclear Waste Management office to oversee both civilian- and defense-nuclear waste. The federal government “has effectively failed to pursue a nuclear waste program for over a decade,” according to the letter. “We […]

The Texas legislature was scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State as a waste management company seeks a federal license to do so. H.B. 2692, introduced by state Rep, Brooks Landgraf (R), would also lower state fees associated with the […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: May 03: The Brookings Institution hosts a webcast on President Biden’s first 100 days at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. 03: BWX Technologies releases its quarterly earnings report after the stock market closers at 4 p.m. Eastern […]

One of the four nuclear power plants set to shut down this year moved its last electron last week, setting the decommissioning process in motion. Indian Point Energy Center’s Unit 3 reactor went dark Friday, according to a press release from Holtec International — the site’s new owner. The Camden, N.J.-based nuclear services company will […]