Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t reconsider a minerals company’s objections to the licensing of Interim Storage Partners’ proposed consolidated interim storage site in West Texas, according to a recent agency filing. According to Friday’s filing, the commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board threw out the most recent of three motions filed last year by Fasken […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology kicked off a 45-day comment period Monday on proposed changes to its permit for the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The state is inviting public comment until March 17 on the closure plan for the $17-billion facility designed to convert […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to approve Jennifer Granhom’s nomination to be President Joe Biden’s first secretary of energy. If the committee approves the nomination — and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), still the chair, expressed great reservation about supporting the Biden administration energy and climate policies […]

January 2021 came and went without an announcement from the National Nuclear Security Administration about the technology it prefers to use to build the next U.S. uranium enrichment facility.  The semiautonomous Department of Energy Nuclear weapon-weapon steward has a choice between the AC100 technology developed by Centrus Energy Corp. of Rockville, Md., and a smaller […]

The Department of Energy is about 85% finished shoring up the three sagging underground waste structures around the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site, a Department of Energy spokesperson at the former plutonium production site said Friday. “We have finished stabilizing the largest structure, the Z-9 crib, and the settling tank, Z-361,” the spokesperson […]

New Mexico’s state Senate will discuss a new bill Tuesday that would create a “radioactive waste consultation task force” to negotiate waste disposal siting with the federal government. The New Mexico Senate’s Conservation Committee will hear the bill, introduced by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D) on Jan. 19, and vote later on whether to send […]

Before leaving office with the rest of the Donald Trump administration, then-Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette asked a federal nuclear safety board for a 60-day extension to produce a report on concerns about transuranic waste handling at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In the letter dated Jan. 19, and posted last week on […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. February 04 Nuclear Diplomacy: Biden’s Middle East Aspirations. Virtual event. Carnegi Middle East Center. 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Eastern.  05 Nuclear Policy and Posture in the Biden Administration. Virtual event. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was to announce on Thursday the new director of the younger U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory, according to a press release. William Goldstein, the current director, announced last year that he would retire after six years in the top spot and 36 at the San Francisco Bay Area lab.  Livermore’s […]

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists kept their metaphorical Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight on Wednesday, citing development of hypersonic weapons, missile defense systems and dual-use weapons-delivery systems over the past 12 months, the dove-ish, Chicago-based group said during its annual clock unveiling. “By our estimation, the potential for the world to stumble into […]

Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of energy, vowed Wednesday that cleaning up the Hanford Site would be a top priority if she is confirmed by the Senate. “You have my assurance that this is going to be a priority,” Granholm, the former Michigan governor, said in response to questioning from Sen. Ron […]

The Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is roughly 25% complete and construction should be finished by the end of 2022, an agency spokesperson said by email Wednesday. A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Construction was awarded the contract to build the […]

Moscow on Wednesday approved an official request by the U.S. to extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the Russian federation for five years, media reported. The U.S. officially proposed an extension on Tuesday after the Joe Biden administration telegraphed the move last week. “On behalf of the United States of America, the […]

Ohio State Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R) has introduced a bill to nullify part of a controversial law that, according to the state’s attorney general, would allow FirstEnergy Corp. to reap more than $100 million in profit from financially troubled nuclear power plants operated by a former subsidiary. The company is allowed to collect the money […]

The Department of Justice wants the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals to lift a stay with implications for a False Claims Act lawsuit against a Department of Energy contractor, Mission Support Alliance, before a federal court in Washington state. The Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA), which recently ended its nearly 12-year run as landlord […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning is considering the nomination of Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden’s choice to be secretary of energy. The hearing that started at 9:30 a.m. is being broadcast live on the committee’s website and marks the nominee’s first public appearance before a major congressional panel. Granholm, a Democrat, […]

The state of New York is suing the Nuclear Regulatory commission over their refusal to delay the sale of Indian Point Energy Center, according to a Friday legal filing. New York state attorney general Letitia James submitted the Friday petition to the D.C. circuit court of appeals, after the NRC denied the state’s request to […]

James Biggins is now listed as the acting general manager of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, according to an organizational chart released late last week. Biggins has served as a special assistant to the chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) since September 2018 and has also served as general counsel and […]

There were no protests filed over the Department of Energy’s December award of a stand-alone contract for a Battelle-led team to manage the Savannah River National Laboratory, an agency official said Monday. “We are working on getting ready to do the contract transition,” said Michael Budney, the top DOE Office of Environmental Management official at […]

COVID-19 is not stopping Super Bowl 55, nor stopping the National Nuclear Security Administration’s annual sweep of background radiation levels at the site of the big game ahead of the coin toss. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency will again dispatch its Nuclear Emergency Support Team’s Bell 412 helicopter, equipped with passive radiation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a petition to extend the review deadline for documents related to Holtec’s proposed interim storage site, according to a recent commission filing. The Commission on Friday released a memo approving the extension and moving the deadline to Jan. 28 after a pair of interest groups petitioned the NRC for an […]

The energy and defense mix on the House Appropriations Committee, at least its leadership, will remain essentially unchanged in the 177th Congress, according to rosters released by Democrats and Republicans Monday. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) will remain chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee. […]

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), an advocate for environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site, said in a statement Monday he will not run for re-election in November 2022. “This doesn’t mean I’m leaving now – I still have two more years in my term and I intend to use that time to get […]

The Biden administration selected Commissioner Christopher Hanson to become the 18th chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency announced Saturday.  Hanson, one of the four current commissioners, is chairman effective immediately, according to an agency press release. He replaces former chair Kristine Svinicki, who left the commission on Jan. 20. “I look forward to […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., had 14 more employees test positive for COVID-19 between Jan. 13 and Jan. 19, the prime contractor said in a Saturday Twitter post, while a half-dozen more cases were confirmed Sunday at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Eleven of the 14 at the […]