Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake shook Idaho at around 6 p.m. local time Tuesday, with the epicenter about 120 miles from the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. “While ground shaking was felt, there was no damage to any INL facilities,” INL spokesperson Sarah Neumann said in a Wednesday email. It was […]

Two more staffers at the Department of Energy’s Washington, D.C., headquarters have tested positive for COVID-19, raising the number of confirmed cases at headquarters to at least three, the agency announced this week. At the same time, Sandia National Laboratories reported two more confirmed cases, one each among the workforce of its Albuquerque and California […]

The Energy Department is temporarily ramping down operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., because of the COVID-19 crisis, a spokesperson said by email Monday. By Wednesday, the transuranic disposal facility will be down to essential mission critical operations. This could include roof bolting and other work necessary “to ensure the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was urged Monday to extend consideration of updating its rules on disposal of very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW) in landfills until the COVID-19 crisis has passed, or to just end the proceeding altogether. Extending the comment period on the proposal for up to six months past the end of the pandemic […]

A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report update lays out how the COVID-19 pandemic could impact the Navy’s shipbuilding programs and noted what action Congress has taken in the past to mitigate other events. The report, Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress, was last updated March 27. It notes COVID-19 […]

The Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, has a confirmed case of COVID-19, contractor Fluor-BWXT said on its website Friday afternoon. The environmental remediation vendor said it is following guidelines on controlling spread of the virus from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ohio Department of Health. It is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing nuclear power plants to request exemptions from some staffing requirements to help ensure continuity of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. “A sudden and potentially long-term reduction in available facility staffing, such as that which may result due to the COVID-19 (public health emergency), was not considered during the rulemaking […]

A second person has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge Tenn. The individual shared a work area with the first infected worker, the site said Monday. The second confirmed case at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense-uranium hub underscores how rapidly the disease can spread, and how […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) canceled or suspended contracts with International Isotopes after cesium-137 was accidentally released last year while the company was removing a blood irradiator under agency contract from a facility at the University of Washington in Seattle. The company, which wants indemnity under a federal law covering nuclear incidents, disclosed the development […]

The House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) markup will be delayed as the United States issues more guidelines to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said March 30 that the committee has postponed the fiscal 2021 NDAA markup, originally scheduled for April 30. The postponement follows President Donald […]

Constellis, owner of Energy Department contractor Centerra Group, said Monday its lenders have approved an overhaul of the company’s debt package that should strengthen its balance sheet. The deal received consent from 100% of term loan and revolving lenders, according to a Constellis press release. As a result, Constellis is cutting its debt by about […]

The Pentagon has agreed to tidy up records of its responses to three Obama-era reviews of its nuclear infrastructure, personnel and programs, according to the unclassified version of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from the fall. The three internal reports made hundreds of recommendations, but the Defense Department has done a poor job tracking […]

An article in the March 26 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have said that Centrus Energy sells natural uranium to short-term traders and utilities, and that it returns uranium feed components to the Russian refining company TENEX.

A longtime employee of the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has filed a lawsuit under the Americans With Disabilities Act against facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). The case was filed Wednesday in the Second Judicial Circuit of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas by Richard Lusby, […]

The Kansas City National Security Campus is moving some of its workforce off-site to help cope with COVID-19, making it the latest Department of Energy civilian nuclear weapons site to expand telework during the pandemic. “To further protect our work force during the COVID-19 crisis, the Kansas City National Security Campus has reduced its on-site […]

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law the $2 trillion relief bill to support national recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to nearly $100 million for the Energy Department’s Office of Science and semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to support research and development to help contain the fallout of COVID-19, at national […]

Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal suggested Friday that a foreign entity could be used for recycling of U.S. spent nuclear fuel. “If we don’t build a recycling plant in the United States, that’s OK, there are other entities that certainly could do this for us,” Baranwal said during a webinar hosted by […]

The Energy Department has again extended the deadline for bids on a potential five-year, $250 million support services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. In a notice published last week, DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said proposals are now due by 4 p.m. EDT on April 16. Originally, proposals were due March 19 […]

Southern California Edison said Wednesday it is preparing to temporarily ramp down some decommissioning operations at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The utility expects in the next few days to determine which deconstruction activities will be temporarily frozen and what work can continue, according to […]

The Senate voted 96-0 Wednesday night to approve a $2 trillion relief package to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. The House of Representatives will vote Friday on the measure, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure soon afterward. This would mark Congress’ third legislative […]

Centrus Energy Corp. closed out 2019 by boosting revenues and trimming its losses from the prior year, but management said the COVID-19 pandemic has for now dimmed the company’s hopes of returning to profitability in 2020.  On Tuesday, the Bethesda, Md.-based uranium-fuel broker and centrifuge developer reported a 2019 net loss of about $16.5 million, […]

Top Navy officials have not seen any shipyard delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet, but they are expecting and planning for future issues. “[T]o date we haven’t seen any sort of perturbations in that right now but we are anticipating that there will be, and we’re looking at what that might cost with respect […]

CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley in New York state is, like other nuclear remediation vendors for the Energy Department, decreasing its work to “mission-essential” tasks for the near future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily on-site staffing at the West Valley Demonstration Project was decreased effective Monday, and many employees will “telework to the extent […]

The Department of Energy plans to issue a potential four-year, $1 million contract for consultant Jeffrey Trent to assist in “hot commissioning” of the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The notice for the planned no-bid contract was posted earlier this month by the Hanford Office of River Protection on a […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico on Tuesday followed its sister site, the Lawrence Livermore lab in California, into minimum safe operations amid the worsening the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Tuesday evening, there were no confirmed cases of the viral disease at either facility.  On Monday, Los Alamos posted a memo from Director Thom […]

Negotiators agreed to language on a $2 trillion economic stimulus bill to help the nation combat the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, CNN and other national news outlets reported. The specific language of the bill had not been released at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. At press time it […]