Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

At least some of the advisory committees chartered to provide independent perspective on nuclear matters to the Department of Energy — including one that represents the neighbors of Cold War nuclear-weapon sites — continued to operate beyond a Sept. 30 presidential deadline to cull such groups. President Donald Trump on June 14 ordered federal department […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Barring unforeseen circumstances, the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management expects soon to award the potential 10-year, $6 billion support services contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state, an agency procurement official said Wednesday. The Energy Department apparently recently informed Congress the contract was being awarded, only to reverse course […]

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), seeking her party’s nomination for president, on Wednesday proposed reinstating corporate taxes to pay for cleanup of Superfund sites contaminated by hazardous wastes. The measure is among a list of proposals in the candidate’s new environmental justice plan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists more than 1,300 Superfund properties on […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Some large infrastructure projects in the U.S. Energy Department’s nationwide nuclear cleanup complex should be completed in the next couple years, an agency official said Wednesday. That should include startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at […]

The state of North Dakota has temporarily suspended its review of applications to allow disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) at two landfills in Williams County. The freeze gives time for officials in the northwestern county to decide whether to approve amendments to the conditional use permits for the landfills to begin […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of the Columbus Day federal holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing a study that could help determine how to treat contaminated groundwater at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former site of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors. The feasibility study is expected to evaluate technologies that could be used to treat the contaminated […]

The U.S. Energy Department is taking public comment through Nov. 6 on plans to remediate the 100-BC Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 100-BC Area stretches about 4.5 square miles along the Columbia River corridor and was home to two now-deactivated nuclear reactors that produced plutonium from the 1940s through the 1960s. […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), which oversees remediation of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, now has a Twitter account (@EMcleanup). The account launched Sept. 9 to mark the 30th anniversary of nuclear cleanup office with a tweet honoring the 20,000-plus Environmental Management workers and contractors. The Office of Environmental […]

A total of 181 nuclear power reactors around the world have been retired as of July 1, but only 19 of those have been fully decommissioned, according to the 2019 version of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. The number of shuttered reactors rose by eight from the 2018 version of report. The United States, […]

Two members of Congress from Missouri are calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold an open hearing on a license application for export of weapon-grade uranium to Europe. The Department of Energy on July 31 filed the application for export of nearly 4.8 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to the Institute for Radioelements […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still reviewing two petitions for intervention in the license transfer of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, even though it approved the transfer in August ahead of the sale of the retired plant. The “presidentially appointed Commission that oversees the NRC still has to rule on the requests […]

Centrus Energy on Wednesday said it had finished the $15 million decontamination and decommissioning of the K-1600 plant at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Bethesda, Md.-based nuclear fuel supplier met its budget and schedule commitments for the job, according to a press release. “I’m pleased our team was able to […]

The head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) got some face time this week with a key House appropriator, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who would play a major part in closed-door 2020 budget negotiations later this year. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty visited with Kaptur in the latter’s 9th Congressional District of Ohio. Kaptur […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is looking for potential buyers of 52 railcars previously used to transport uranium-contaminated soil. Expressions of interest are sought by 11:59 a.m. on Oct. 14 for the government surplus gondola railcars, manufactured in 1998 and 1999 by Thrall Car Manufacturing, now part of Trinity Industries. […]

Nevada is pressing a federal judge for permission to resume a search for evidence that the U.S. Department of Energy skirted federal environmental law last year in shipping half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). On Oct. 3, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du reinstated, but did not rule […]

With a bid protest pending on a five-year contract, it appears three contractors will for the time being continue to provide technical support services for the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. A roundup of major procurements at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, updated Wednesday, shows the stopgap extension to Nov. 30 for the Portsmouth […]

Eight nuclear power plants have been retired since 2013 in the face of continued energy market pressure, with five more scheduled for shutdown over the next six years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday. The latest early retirement was Exelon’s reactor Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa., on Sept. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday asked states and Indian tribes to weigh in with their thoughts on best practices and operations for organizations intended to provide local guidance for decommissioning of nearby nuclear power plants. That input would be incorporated into an agency report on the topic that was mandated in the Nuclear […]

An organization planning a new toll road for the Denver metropolitan area, near the Rocky Flats Natural Wildlife Refuge, has detected no new plutonium contaminated soil samples since one was collected this spring. About 25 soil samples, taken since May, show plutonium well below the level of 50 picocuries per gram, considered to pose no […]

The United States and Russia both remained in compliance with the New START nuclear arms-control treaty through Sept. 1, with each signatory making only minor changes across their strategic nuclear forces, the U.S. State Department reported in its latest update. Under the bilateral pact, which entered into force in 2011, the State Department publishes a […]

Perma-Fix Northwest on Monday applied for a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to export up to 10,000 kilograms of radioactive waste back to Italy after it has been treated in the United States. The incoming waste would be comprised of personal protective gear, plastic, paper, and a small amount of glass contaminated by […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a report from the U.S. Energy Department on what it will take to decommission excess facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over the next 10 years. The panel said on Sept.12, in a report accompanying its version of the energy and water development bill, DOE should submit […]

The security contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina received a four-month extension Friday, keeping the company on the job through Feb. 7, 2020. Centerra-SRS, a subsidiary of Florida-based Centerra, will receive $35.8 million during the extension, the Energy Department said, just three days before the company’s initial 10-year, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Friday formalized its decision to continue building the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., even as the agency complies with a federal court order to conduct an additional environmental review of the plant. The Department of Energy branch made the move official in an amended record […]

The Westerner Governors Association (WGA) said last week it is “disappointed” at not being asked to contribute to the U.S. Department of Energy’s update to the five-year strategic plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees the underground site for disposal of defense-related transuranic […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formally closed out a regulatory update to expand the scope of stakeholders who would be required to provide “complete and accurate information” in applying for a regulatory approval. The rulemaking was initiated by a petition filed in April 2013 by James Lieberman, a former NRC official who consults on […]