Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted almost unanimously in favor of Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes’ nomination to the No. 2 position at the Department of Energy. In the panel’s voice vote, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) raised the sole objection to advancing Menezes’ nomination as deputy secretary of energy to […]

As it holds out hope for some role in building the next generation of U.S. nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, Boeing continues modernizing parts of the existing fleet, including adding the ability to remotely update launch codes at all 450 missile silos. The maker of the current Minuteman III fleet, which last year exited the Air Force […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is ramping up operations that have been reduced for months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no set schedule for a return to prior waste emplacement levels, according to the head of the Department of Energy contractor for the facility. “I unfortunately don’t have […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) agreed to share a strategic management plan it is preparing for sustaining microelectronics infrastructure at the Sandia National Laboratories with the Government Accountability Office, which wants the nuclear-weapon agency to appoint a more powerful manager for the program. The plan will be ready around December 2020, NNSA Administrator Lisa […]

Tuesday was a good night for congressional incumbents in Nevada, who easily overcame Democratic Party primary challenges. The Associated Press has declared Rep. Susie Lee the winner in the 3rd Congressional District and Rep. Steven Horsford the victor in the 4th District, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday morning. Political handicappers in the state have predicted […]

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Air Force Gen. Charles Brown to become the next chief of staff by a vote of 98-0, ensuring Brown becomes the first African-American to lead the service. Brown currently serves as the commander of Pacific Air Forces, the air component command commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and the executive director […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Tuesday began collecting data from potential vendors for the upcoming decommissioning of the SM-1A reactor at Fort Greely, Alaska. The Army Corps emphasized that it is not yet taking bids, but is only seeking capability statements from companies that might perform the work. The eventual contract is […]

Nikki Grover will on Friday become chief financial officer for the Bechtel-led team managing the Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The chief financial officer for Consolidated Nuclear Security “oversees the financial activities at both sites,” according to the contractor’s website. Grover was […]

Many employees of the facilities overseen by the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO) are receiving notices this week to report back to their worksites after months away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first wave of homebound federal and contract personnel on June 15 will begin reporting back to the three locations overseen […]

Five Democratic lawmakers, led by the chairs of House committees that control nuclear weapons budgets and policy, on Monday demanded that the Department of Energy and the Pentagon explain recently reported discussions about resuming nuclear explosive tests. The powerful House committee leaders want written answers to six questions by June 22 and a briefing from […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said the Energy Department might rely too much on its waste acceptance criteria program to keep potentially combustible material out of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The DOE’s National Transuranic Program employs the criteria at department facilities around the country to flag hazards in defense-related […]

Nominations are being accepted through Aug. 31 for the Southeast Compact Commission for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management’s 2021 Richard S. Hodes, M.D. Honor Lecture Award. Nominees can be individuals, companies, or other organizations that have “contributed in a significant way to improving the technology, policy, or practices of low-level radioactive waste management in the United […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management plans to forge a closer working relationship with the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), according to a recent document. “We look forward to future opportunities for regular interactions and discussions,” DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White said in a May 29 letter to Nuclear […]

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will next week begin returning to their offices after months of near-total telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ninety-eight percent of the federal agency’s nearly 3,000 full-time employees have been working remotely since March to curb the potential spread of the viral disease. As of late May, only three […]

One of the 11 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4), which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is relying on to produce war-ready plutonium pits starting in 2024. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) mentioned the case at PF-4 in a report […]

One new and one returning member were sworn in Monday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Serving Commissioner David Wright now gets a full five-year term, through June 30, 2025. Commissioner Christopher Hanson fills a vacancy left by the April 2019 retirement of Stephen Burns, with his term lasting through June 30, 2024. NRC Chairman Kristine […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it will prepare a full environmental impact statement (EIS) on Westinghouse’s application to renew the license for its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The EIS would replace a draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact issued last October by the federal regulator. The agency changed […]

The B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb the National Nuclear Security Administration is building will work with the Boeing-built F-15E Strike Eagle, the Sandia National Laboratories said last week. “Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force conducted the full-weapon system demonstration under a full end-to-end test scenario, demonstrating operational crews, representative carriage, release conditions and weapon functionality,” […]

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) in Canada could by September begin preparing to drill test boreholes in one of two locations still in contention to house a geologic repository for spent fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants. At least two boreholes will be drilled in South Bruce, in southern Ontario, as part of […]

A very small percentage of the Department of Energy’s federal employees were scheduled to report back to work in the Washington region today, even as the agency reported one more  case of COVID-19 among its headquarters workforce. The latest positive case, disclosed Friday in a statement from Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, brings the total […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has re-elected Huntington Ingalls Industries nuclear and environmental group President Michael Lempke as chairman of its Board of Directors for another year, according to a Friday statement. Sandra Fairchild, project services and support director of Energy Department Savannah River Site cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation, was elected vice chair […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will cut contractors some slack when it comes to work deadlines missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a policy that became official last week. The Energy Department “will continue to evaluate COVID-19 impacts on the ability of contractors to perform required work,” according to the formal […]

Mission Support Alliance has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a subcontractor to build a new water treatment facility on the Central Plateau at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. In a June 2 notice posted on a federal procurement website, the Leidos-led site support services vendor said bids are due by […]

The fire chief for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has died, contractor Mission Support Alliance announced this week. Norbert Kuhman had served in the position since February 2014. Management of the 145-person Hanford Fire Department is part of Leidos-led MSA’s contract to provide support services at Hanford. Kuhman spent more than […]

North Wind Services unseated Akima Infrastructure Services as the manager of a specialized workforce subcontracted to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the prime contractor for the Department of Energy facility said Monday. In a press release, Lawrence Livermore National Security said the new contract with North Wind, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, has five-years […]

A federal judge in South Carolina has dismissed the $3.5 million racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee of the security provider at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site. U.S. District Judge Sherri Lydon ruled May 28 that plaintiff Marcialena Tremble Brown missed the deadline to file her case against her former employer, Centerra-SRS. […]