Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Department of Energy contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security returned some piping to a subcontractor after determining it was unsuitable for installation in the main uranium processing building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. Mechanical contractor Hicks & Ingle, of Knoxville, Tenn., fabricated the pipes under a two-year contract awarded in 2018. A spokesperson for […]

A compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would authorize all the nuclear weapons spending the White House seeks for fiscal 2020 for passed the House in a landslide Wednesday evening, despite earlier threats of resistance from left-leaning Democrats. The annual bill, which sets policy and spending limits for defense programs, passed 377-48. The “no” […]

An article in Wednesday’s edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “NDAA Would Stop DNFSB Members From Serving After Their Terms Expire,” should have said all three members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board are serving expired terms. An article in Monday’s edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “Final RFP for Nationwide Deactivation Contract Expected Soon, DOE […]

New U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette assured a Senate committee recently that steps are being taken to tighten his department’s shipment of radioactive waste for disposal at the Nevada National Security Site. Brouillette, at the time deputy energy secretary, listed several measures in a written response to a question submitted by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to issue a follow-on contract for support in finalizing the emergency preparedness portion of its ongoing decommissioning rulemaking. ICF Incorporated LLC would receive a two-year noncompetitive award for “Completion of Emergency Preparedness Decommissioning Rulemaking and Guidance,” according to a Dec. 5 procurement notice from the NRC. Agency staff in […]

A risk of combustion linked to calcium prompted suspension in November of transuranic waste shipments from the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant further south in New Mexico, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Workers discovered calcium metal in certain transuranic material that can ignite […]

New Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette skirted a Nevada senator’s questions regarding his position on requiring consent from impacted state, local, and tribal communities in selecting the site for storage of nuclear waste. The issue of consent is of keen importance to Nevada’s state leadership and congressional delegation, which for decades have been fighting the […]

Despite discussing arms control in private meetings Tuesday in Washington, the top diplomats for the United States and Russia gave no hint in a subsequent press conference that the countries would extend the New START nuclear treaty. Speaking with reporters, Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, stuck to the administration’s position that New START […]

The Nevada Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved a $5.1 million, two-year renewal to the state contract with a law firm for counsel in its fight against the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The contract amendment keeps Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch, & Lawrence on the job through Feb. 28, 2022, with a maximum payment of […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has signed off on transferring the reactor and spent-fuel storage licenses for the Zion nuclear power plant in Illinois from decommissioning contractor EnergySolutions to site owner Exelon. The order from agency staff took effect on Nov. 26, according to a Dec. 6 notice in the Federal Register. It is good […]

Members of the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would generally not be allowed to serve in expired terms any longer, if Congress’ compromise 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) published late Monday becomes law. The measure would make an exception in cases where the departure of a board member would leave the nominally five-member […]

Two U.S. Energy Department contractors in fiscal 2019 together cited 48 violations of the New Mexico hazardous waste permit for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), including incorrectly recording the whereabouts of 250 drums of radioactive waste. In September, about 250 waste drums shipped to the DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad were incorrectly […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday backed storage of up to 6,800 metric tons of elemental mercury in existing buildings at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) property near Andrews, Texas. Using two buildings at the licensed commercial waste disposal site will be cheaper than building new structures and simplify the Energy Department procurement processes, […]

The Savannah River Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) resumed operations last week, ending a four-month scheduled outage that allowed workers to tie the $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) into the rest of the liquid waste system at the Department of Energy complex in South Carolina. The DWPF is again treating radioactive sludge […]

A compromise defense policy bill published Monday would authorize all the nuclear weapon spending the Department of Energy sought for fiscal 2020, bar the agency from downgrading the hazard classification of certain nuclear waste in Washington state, and prohibit defense funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain permanent waste repository. The House is set to vote […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology is threatening to fine the U.S. Energy Department for withholding important data about operations at the Hanford Site. For its part, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management claims the state misunderstands the level of access allowed under the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that governs cleanup at the former plutonium production complex. […]

U.S. Department of Defense senior executive Tom Mooney is expected this week to become the new chief of staff at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Mooney is the current chief of staff for the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief Management Officer, according to a source who said the federal manager stopped by DOE […]

Nevada National Security Site prime Mission Support and Test Services said it has hired Jose Sinibaldi, a subcritical experimentalist formerly of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as its chief scientist, the company announced. Sinibaldi now will be in charge of creating a strategic plan for the former Nevada Test Site’s future subcritical plutonium experiments, which […]

A legal tug-of-war is underway between a San Diego law firm and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the release of paperwork related to federal oversight of used-fuel management at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. In March and June of this year, San Diego attorney Michael Aguirre filed three complaints […]

AECOM has named Bruce Covert as deputy general manager at the Waste Treatment Completion Co., based at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Waste Treatment Completion Co. is a joint venture formed by Bechtel and AECOM in January 2017 that acts as a subcontractor to Bechtel National for startup of low-activity waste vitrification […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday released a draft environmental assessment for its proposal to treat and dispose of up to 10,000 gallons of recycled wastewater from the Savannah River Siteat a commercial low-level radioactive waste site somewhere outside South Carolina. This would be the first test run of the DOE’s reinterpretation from June […]

Four members of Michigan’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ensure his nation does not build a radioactive waste disposal site near the Great Lakes. The lawmakers said they were concerned by reports that the Canadian government is approaching a decision on the location for […]

Less than two months after U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced plans to leave Congress, several declared candidates are jockeying to take his place. Three Democrats and two Republicans have filed to run in their respective party primaries on May 19, 2020, according to the Ballotpedia website. The victors would then square off in the […]

Congress reached an accord on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and was expected to file the conference report explaining the bill’s policy provisions and funding levels late Monday, a lawmaker said at a defense conference this weekend. “Conferences will be signing the conference report out Monday afternoon and introducing the bill Monday night, and […]

The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would move to keep inspectors on the job at Department of Energy defense nuclear sites beyond Dec. 20, if the federal government shuts down when the current stopgap spending measure expires. In the event of a government closure, “the Chairman may designate resident inspectors at designated DOE […]

The draft environmental impact statements (EIS) for two planned consolidated interim storage sites for used fuel from nuclear power plants are due next spring, officials said last week during a meeting of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The environmental documents are central to the agency’s decision on whether to issue licenses for construction and operation […]

The U.S. Energy Department plans by early 2020 to issue a final request for proposals for deactivation, decommissioning, and removal of excess facilities across the nuclear weapons complex. The agency posted a notice Thursday saying the final RFP on the contract, potentially worth $3 billion over 10 years, should be released within 30 days. The […]