Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

A story in Wednesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “NNSA to Start Environmental Review of Dilute and Dispose This Year; Scope Unclear,” should have said that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is in Carlsbad, N.M.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans a virtual site tour and industry day Oct. 28 for potential bidders on a new services contract for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The online events are set for 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Eastern Time, the agency said in a Tuesday notice on a federal […]

A vendor to the Kansas City National Security Campus made thousands of nuclear weapons parts with the incorrect alloy because “product drawings were not clear,” forcing the Pantex Plant to pause servicing on multiple nuclear weapons in mid-September while the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed the parts were safe to use, a campus spokesperson said […]

Anyone who opposes FirstEnergy’s plea for a protective order to block deposition of a company executive by an Ohio state government watchdog has until Nov. 2 to speak up,  Public Utilities Commission of Ohio attorney examiner Gregory Price ruled Tuesday.  FirstEnergy filed for the protective order last week. The company wants to block the production […]

Dennis Foreman, a frequent critic of Department of Energy decisions at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is not being appointed to a new term on the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board, he said Tuesday. Foreman, a schoolteacher and member of Piketon Village Council, became a member of the advisory board four years ago and learned […]

On Wednesday, top U.S. officials in Washington warned against cutting the U.S. nuclear arsenal or agreeing to extend a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia without assurances that Moscow’s promised warhead freeze would actually happen. “[E]ach piece of our triad is essential, but they’re also complimentary,” Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said […]

Texas-based Fluor, a major Department of Energy contractor, lost $171 million or $1.22 per share for its first quarter that ended March 31, according to results released Thursday. Since late 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have been investigating problems with Fluor quarterly data filed during 2019, which prevented the […]

The public comment period for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemaking that would simplify the very low-level waste disposal process ended Wednesday with over 6,000 comments.  Announced in March, the interpretive rule would allow the waste to be disposed of at facilities without Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses. The NRC would grant “specific exemptions” overriding current […]

Shipments to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are down more than 40% for both the first nine months of 2020, and the just-completed 2020 fiscal year, based on figures from the site’s public database. During the first nine months of pandemic-affected 2020, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received […]

Later this year, the National Nuclear Security Administration will begin a formal review of its program to dispose of the 34 metric tons of plutonium once slated to be recycled into commercial reactor fuel, an agency official said. It was unclear whether the agency would heed the advice of the National Academies of Sciences and […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is bidding farewell to Congress after a more than 20-year stint as an Illinois representative, and he says Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) could replace him as the lower chamber’s main advocate for a permanent nuclear-waste disposal site. Shimkus credited Duncan for helping secure a $600 million settlement the federal government paid […]

Soon after withdrawing its designation of Texas-based Waste Control Specialists as its long-term storage site for elemental mercury, the Department of Energy is seeking information about other potentially suitable sites. Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 4 to DOE’s request for information (RFI) for a leased facility and services related to […]

The Nuclear Regulator Commission won’t fine International Isotopes for license and regulatory violations the company made last year that contributed to the release of cesium-137 last year at a Seattle hospital facility. In a letter of enforcement published on Tuesday, commission staff dinged International Isotopes with two violations: failure to have appropriate administrative procedures to […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina already has about 65% of staff back working inside the fence, the top manager there said Friday. Mike Budney, manager of DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) operations at Savannah River made the comments during his presentation to the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council. “That’s […]

The Department of Energy on Sunday finalized changes to its rule about nuclear safety management that, according to the government’s independent nuclear health and safety watchdog, could encourage contractors to unsafely increase radioactive hazards in old buildings. After about two years of deliberation, the agency published its changes to  Title 10, Part 830 of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s radiation-sniffing helicopter started a campaign of low-altitude flights over Washington on Monday, part of an effort to safeguard against a nuclear-armed attack on January’s looming presidential inauguration. The agency routinely measures background radiation ahead of large public gatherings to create a base level against which the source of a radiological […]

The top executive for regulatory and policy at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is calling it a career in a couple of weeks. Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell, the associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, will retire at the end of the month following a career of more than 30 […]

When Michael Pircio blew the whistle on FirstEnergy Corp., the electric utility allegedly involved with former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s $60 million racketeering scheme, the company filed a lawsuit to make an example out of him, Pircio said Monday in a court filing. When FirstEnergy found out that, days after his termination, Pircio downloaded […]

Responsive Non-Destructive Testing will carry out quality inspection and testing at the United Kingdom’s low-level radioactive waste disposal facility after winning a 12-month framework contract this week.  The 18-person U.K.-based company Responsive Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), a subsidiary of Responsive Ltd., has five bases across England and deals with destructive, non-destructive and mechanical testing as well […]

Tank waste operations, particularly a project at the Idaho National Laboratory, are hard hit by workplace restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the No. 2 official at the Department of Energy cleanup office said Monday. A year ago, the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) expected the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at Idaho […]

The Russian Federation on Tuesday appeared to offer a one-year extension of the New START nuclear arms-limitation treaty with the U.S., as long as a politically binding, bilateral warhead freeze is the only condition of such an extension, according to a statement posted online by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The ministry posted a […]

Comments are due Nov. 2 on a draft solicitation for a new, potentially decades-spanning contract for more than $500 million worth of work at the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in Moab, Utah, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management said Monday. The draft request for proposals (RFP) comes after the agency kicked […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration should formalize in April its choice to build a pit-production from the remains of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina an agency official said Friday. That would set the stage for the semiautonomous DOE nuclear weapons agency to approve a formal cost […]

The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced Thursday it has resumed operation of the Tank-Closure Cesium Removal module following an extended maintenance outage that started in summer 2019 after when an aging transfer pump stopped working.  The pump, used to prepare salt waste inside Tank 10 for cesium removal, was replaced this past […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will review an application from Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion) to extend its license at the Virginia-based North Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2. Dominion’s license has already been extended once, in March 2003, with Unit 1 currently licensed to operate through April 2038, and Unit 2 through August […]

South Carolina State University President James Clark said Friday his institution is part of a team of colleges vying to run the Energy Department’s Savannah River National Laboratory. The historically black public university in Orangeburg, S.C., is a member of a team with Clemson, the University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech and the University of […]