Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Energy Department and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Tuesday increased the amount government procurements officers can pay on “micro-purchases” and “simplified’ acquisitions in order to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The updates are outlined in an emergency purchasing flexibility document posted by DOE. The federal procurement officers can […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a March 30 “virtual meeting” to discuss the results of its latest performance assessment for URENCO USA’s commercial uranium enrichment plant in Eunice, N.M. The assessment period covered the entirety of 2018 and 2019. Agency staff determined URENCO did not need to make improvements in five operational areas: safety […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is taking a reduced number of waste shipments following a recently concluded maintenance outage. The underground disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste is accepting “limited shipping to support critical operations within the DOE complex while observing COVID-19 precautions through consultation with our stakeholders,” a DOE […]

The Waste Management Symposia on Tuesday said both attendees at this year’s event who showed signs of possible COVID-19 infection had tested negative. Test results for “Attendee #1” were received Tuesday, one day after the results for “Attendee #2,” according to a statement from James Gallagher, chairman of the board for the annual nuclear cleanup […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to further improve the contentious relationship between the federal agencies. That would be an additional measure on top of DOE’s revision to the controversial Order 140.1 that revised its interactions with the board. The revision comes after Congress last […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it expects shortly to decide on a request from New Mexico’s congressional delegation for more time to submit comments on a key document for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the state. “An announcement should come soon,” agency spokesman David McIntyre said by email. In a draft […]

The organizer of a major nuclear cleanup and waste industry conference held earlier this month said Monday one participant has tested negative for COVID-19 after a potential exposure. Results from testing of one other participant are pending, possibly by today, according to Waste Management Symposia. “We hope to receive the results of the first attendee […]

The containment vessel that blew a leak during a subcritical nuclear test last year in Nevada was not properly designed or procured, the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory concluded in a final report about the accident. The independent federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) summarized the lab’s unreleased report in a recent […]

The Energy Department on Monday reported the first case of COVID-19 among the workforce at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which is now being downshifted to “minimum mission-critical activities.” Management at SRS management learned of the positive test Monday morning, according to a DOE press release. “During this period, activities that support our […]

The ongoing stock market dive triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic marks the latest bad news for Fluor, which still has not filed its annual report for 2019. Fluor shares were worth $5.93 at market close Monday, down from $13.78 one month earlier on Feb. 24 – prior to the New York Stock Exchange decline caused […]

South Carolina’s attempt to wrench hundreds of millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines from the Department of Energy is headed to oral arguments before a panel of appeals judges May 5, according to a Friday court filing. South Carolina has been trying to extract the money from DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

The defense industrial base is considered part of the United States’ critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security, and as such has a “special responsibility” to maintain normal work schedules amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, according to a memo written March 20 by the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer. In the memo, Undersecretary of Defense […]

Decommissioning and spent-fuel offloading will continue at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), but with added safety measures to prevent any transmission of COVID-19, according to majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE). “We’re monitoring the situation very closely, on a day-to-day basis, with plans in place to ensure the appropriate levels of safety and […]

The Navy on March 19 awarded Lockheed Martin a $601 million modification to exercise contract options for submarine-launched ballistic missile Trident II D5 production and deployed systems support. The work will mostly be performed in Magna, Utah (33.5%); Sunnyvale, Calif. (13.7%; Denver (10.6%); Cape Canaveral, Fla. (6.9%); and other various locations. It is expected to be finished […]

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 […]