Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has instructed only “essential personnel” to report to work effective immediately under a “temporary planning operations status” due to COVID-19. “Unless contacted by your supervisor, all federal, contractor, subcontractor, and craft employees should not report to work,” according to a notice Sunday on a website for the […]

The Deartment of Energy’s nuclear-weapon sites are starting to track the financial effects of reordering day-to-day operations amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak, even as weapons-production continues and restrictions increase. “Due to state, local and national work restriction orders, NNSA [the National Nuclear Security Administration] has asked us to track expenses related to COVID-19,” the Sandia […]

As part of a much larger spending request, the White House has requested $28 million in emergency 2020 funding to help the Department of Energy telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOE share will pay “for additional information technology requirements and telework support, also including increased cybersecurity costs, in response to coronavirus,” according to a […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Thursday said it had nearly doubled its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019, to $22.1 million from $11.7 million for the corresponding period the year before. The 88% spike was built on sales boosts in its two key businesses for the quarter ended Dec. 31: Revenue in the Services Segment […]

A bipartisan group of over 100 lawmakers pushed House appropriators in a letter this week to fund a second Virginia-class submarine in the fiscal 2021 defense budget bill. Led by the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the letter has a total of 112 signatures. […]

The Department of Energy hopes in April to start construction of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a vendor said Wednesday. Tank waste management contractor Washington River Protection Solutions and DOE’s Office of River Protection are requesting temporary authorizations from the Washington state Department of Ecology to start […]

All field work was halted Wednesday at a massive cleanup project for radioactive contaminants spread across two municipalities in Ontario, Canada, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In a late-morning tweet, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories said it had suspended field operations at the Port Hope Project and Port Granby Project, which are managed jointly under […]

A nuclear industry organization this week gave the Nuclear Regulatory Commission higher marks for transparency in making the case for its fees for the current 2020 federal fiscal year. In the proposed fee schedule issued in February, the NRC said it would require $728.5 million in fees for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30. That […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Wednesday it is activating its Infectious Disease Response Team to help navigate the COVID-19 crisis. The team will operate around the clock and will hold “daily leadership calls” in an effort to limit potential impact of the novel coronavirus on the 310-square-mile, 11,000-employee federal installation. […]

As the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons laboratories conduct mass teleworking amid the COVID-19 pandemic, production sites with work already in the pipeline are still chugging along at about full staff while trying to protect their workforces. At the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for example, construction continues on the Uranium Processing […]

Los Alamos County, N.M., is calling on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to take responsibility for remediation of radioactive waste discovered last month off the property of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Debris contaminated by uranium and plutonium was discovered Feb. 14 by a county contractor doing sewer line excavation for a planned low-income […]

Almost a year after a middle school outside the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio went on summer break early due to concern over levels of radioactive contaminants on campus, an independent contractor will start on-site air and soil sampling. The project is scheduled to start in April, the top official at the DOE Office of […]

There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among U.S. nuclear forces, and fewer than 50 people supporting that interservice group are self-quarantining because of possible exposure during the global pandemic, the head of U.S. Strategic Command said Tuesday. “[W]e have zero people in STRATCOM headquarters or in the components that have tested positive, so I […]

Three employees at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state are undergoing testing for novel coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19), according to updates posted Tuesday on an employee advisory website. It was not clear from the post if the three included the employee of Hanford services contractor Mission Support Alliance who last Thursday was scheduled […]

Nevada and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are attempting to resolve the state’s federal lawsuit seeking the immediate removal of 500 kilograms of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site, court papers filed Tuesday show. To comply with a court order in a separate federal lawsuit, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons […]

President Donald Trump will nominate a familiar face, Joyce Connery, to serve a new term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the White House said Tuesday morning. If confirmed by the Senate, Connery would serve a term expiring Oct. 18, 2025, according to the intent to nominate announcement. Initially nominated by President Barack […]

Organizers of a nuclear waste and cleanup industry event held last week in Phoenix said Monday that one participant has subsequently been tested for coronavirus infection and another is self-isolating for 14 days after developing flu-like symptoms. There was no word at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on whether one or both of the […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is transitioning to minimum-safe operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move that by next Monday will sharply shrink staffing levels and curtail some scientific activity at the Department of Energy nuclear weapons facility. Livermore Director William Goldstein made the announcement Monday night after the government of […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has kicked off market research for a new contract to operate depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facilities at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center issued the request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice Monday. The Energy Department is […]

The Department of Energy is still preparing a report to Congress on “innovative options” for meeting its legal requirement to dispose of tens of thousands of tons of U.S. nuclear waste. “The Department is currently working on the report, and we’ll follow up once it’s public,” a spokesperson said by email Monday. The spokesperson did […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management could tap the brakes on a trio of major procurements due to the ongoing national emergency surrounding the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Due to travel restrictions and other uncertainty spawned by the outbreak, the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) said in a special notice Saturday it might […]

A California regulator has authorized Southern California Edison to withdraw $405.5 million this year from the trusts that will pay for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The March 6 decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) overrules a challenge from a state watchdog organization, even though Southern California Edison acknowledged […]

On top of the $6.5 billion required to build the Uranium Processing Facility by 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will have to spend nearly $1 billion to modernize other facilities needed to support the next generation weapon-uranium hub, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The spending figure comes from an integrated master […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is soliciting bids for a potential five-year contract, encompasssing a one-year base and four single-year options, to store low-enriched uranium required for tritium production. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch, civilian steward of the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile, released the solicitation Thursday. The agency wants new deals in place […]

A federal judge last week rejected a request to dismiss a February 2019 fraud lawsuit against a former contractor and subcontractor for the Department of Energy’s never-completed plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Project prime MOX Services and subcontractor Wise Services failed to explain why the case should be thrown […]

An office building used by one of the main contractors for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has been disinfected after an employee was tested for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a weekend posting on a Hanford website. The office building at 3170 George Washington Way “has been disinfected […]