Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants information from the Energy Department by mid-November on potentially flammable radioactive waste storage drums at sites other than the Idaho National Laboratory. To date, DOE has only partly provided the federal nuclear health-and-safety watchdog with requested information regarding its review of an April 2018 incident in […]

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has asked a federal appeals court to order a stay on the already-completed transfer of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Monday’s action, plus two related measures by the federal regulator, should be frozen while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District […]

Leidos on Tuesday reported strong increases in its top and bottom lines in the third quarter, driven by growth across its operating segments and receipt of a payment going back to the 2004 Olympics in Greece. The company also reported record bookings and backlog, tallying $5.2 billion in orders that were nearly double sales that drove […]

Edison International on Tuesday reported lower third-quarter 2019 income for itself and subsidiary Southern California Edison, taking hits from increased costs for fighting wildfires linked to its power lines. Company-wide net income came in at $471 million, $1.36 per share, dropping from $513 million, $1.57 per share, in the same quarter of 2018. However, adjusted […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

The top foreign affairs Democrats in Congress asked the State Department for a briefing from the State Department about efforts to extend — or not extend — the New START arms control treaty that limits U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. House Foreign Affairs Chair Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member […]

A federal judge did not recognize the Department of Energy’s legal obligation to pay millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines to South Carolina, or properly vet the state’s claim that the agency has the money to pay up, according to newly filed court papers. In appealing the ruling of the 2016 lawsuit in the Court […]

Prospects for a permanent 2020 Department of Energy budget dimmed a little on Tuesday in the face of the continued political battle over President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats would block a package of appropriations bills that includes the budgets for DOE and the Pentagon because it […]

U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who represents the congressional district that includes the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup site, resigned from Congress Sunday days after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into whether she violated congressional rules. The panel announced plans Oct. 23 to investigate allegations that Hill engaged in a sexual relationship with […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday effectively selected an Argentine diplomat as its new director general. Rafael Mariano Grossi received a majority vote in closed balloting by the Board of Governors for the U.N. nuclear watchdog – 24 of 35 members, according to an IAEA press release. Grossi would receive formal appointment from […]

The planned release of a draft record of decision (ROD) for a new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has been delayed again, with the new target release date set for Dec. 19, a U.S. Energy Department spokesperson said Monday by email. The document had most recently been scheduled to drop […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy is still pursuing a potentially illegal policy of curtailing Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) oversight of certain nuclear-weapon sites, a board member said during a meeting Monday. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board held the meeting to quiz DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials about […]

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a longtime supporter of cleaning up the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, said Monday he would not run for re-election in 2020. “So, I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, nor election to any other office, but instead I will close the public […]

Less than a month after being awarded $1.5 million from a federal jury for discrimination during a rehiring process, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is seeking an additional $1 million in compensation. That amount represents the pay she would have received from the time she was terminated in 2013 […]

A top U.S. Navy official said the service is unlikely to reach above 310 ships at current funding levels, let alone the congressionally-mandated goal of 355 ships. “Will we get to 355 ships? I think with today’s fiscal situation and where the Navy’s topline is right now – we can keep around 305 to 310 […]

The Sierra Club is seeking permission to file a late argument against licensing by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of a temporary spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico. The environmental organization said its Oct. 23 motion is based on previously unavailable information contained in a new report from the federal Nuclear Waste Technical […]

Texas-based Fluor will discuss its quarterly financial performance Thursday for the first time since announcing its plans last month to divest its government contracting business. It’s also the engineering and construction company’s first quarterly review since another Energy Department contractor, AECOM, said earlier this month it has agreed to sell its government contracting branch to […]

Bruce Stanski, the Fluor finance chief who stepped down in June as the company prepared to shed its government services business, is still consulting with the foundering construction giant as it seeks to right the ship, according to a regulatory filing. Stanski left the company in June but late last week signed an agreement to […]

Raytheon on Thursday reported strong third quarter financial results driven by higher sales across its defense segments and improved operating performance and the company increased its outlook for the top and bottom lines this year. Net income soared 34% to $860 million, $3.08 earnings per share (EPS), from $644 million ($2.25 EPS) a year ago, topping […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is calling in officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration to explain the perceived brushing off of two safety recommendations issued this year. The first meeting is scheduled for later today in Washington and will cover a recommendation about improving emergency response capabilities and safety practices at the National […]

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel will hold a day-long data gathering session Thursday in Richland, Wash., on alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The nearly-complete Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) being built by Bechtel National lacks capacity to convert all 56 million […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on Wednesday kicked off talks they hope will result in a mutually agreeable future plan to address key issues in management of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site. While scant details were available at deadline, a DOE spokesperson confirmed the talks were […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has won a 13-month extension to its ongoing research contract for the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary said Monday it is providing technology support testing for the Hanford Office of River Protection in preparation for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment […]