Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of Tuesday has placed a new branch in charge of oversight of the recently retired reactor Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pa. Oversight has been transferred from the agency’s operating power reactor inspection program to its decommissioning power reactor inspection program under […]

A regional group meant to promote communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government for up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of […]

The U.S. Energy Department is giving interested vendors four more days, until Tuesday, Oct. 8, to comment on a draft request for proposals on a nationwide deactivation, decommissioning, and removal services contract that could be worth $3 billion. The agency’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center announced the deadline extension Tuesday on the FidBizOpps website. The […]

New Jersey has established a panel of state officials to provide additional oversight of decommissioning at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced Wednesday. The Oyster Creek Safety Advisory Panel “will enhance existing oversight to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and provide assurances to the public that the proper protocols for […]

The No. 2 official at the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday briefed members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board on the “staggering goal” of swelling the nuclear-weapon steward’s workforce by about 20,000 heads over the next six years. Those hirings would be spread across the NNSA complex, including its national laboratories […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday unveiled details of how it will levy civil penalties against anyone who violates a federal authorization to export nuclear technology to foreign countries. The proposed rule, posted in the Federal Register, does not establish the civil penalties for violating an authorization under Section 810 of the Atomic Energy Act. Congress […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended work on a study of potential regulatory updates for disposal of very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW) while it considers other approaches to the matter. As recently as March, the agency said it expected to issue its findings before the end of spring. However, staff is now separately gearing […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday praised remediation at the Hanford Site in Washington state as he attended a celebration to commemorate the completion of the K-Basin sludge transfer. “Thanks to the expertise and perseverance of our dedicated men and women on the ground … the removal of sludge away from the Columbia River […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has appointed Phillip Strawbridge as its new chief financial officer. Strawbridge, 64 this year, was most recently an adviser for the mid-market investment firm Court Square Capital, in New York. He was also previously chief financial officer for nuclear services firm EnergySolutions,from 2006 to 2010, according to Centrus’ announcement. Strawbridge led […]

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday and then pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to federal insider trader charges, according to various national news outlets. Collins, 69, and his son, Cameron Collins, 26, had pleaded not guilty, but filed paperwork in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday saying they […]

NAC International is asking the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to waive $632,398 in fees from its review of the company’s new transportation package for spent reactor fuel. The Georgia-based used fuel management specialist said the costs were an unfair outcome of incorrect thermal modeling of the MAGNATRAN system by an unidentified contractor for the federal […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) aims to complete a new strategic plan in November, capping a yearlong drive to address the findings of a government-chartered fix-it group that in 2018 offered tips for improving morale at the independent federal nuclear-health-and-safety agency. That is according to a notice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) […]

Three Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee say the U.S. Energy Department should hold off on issuing a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to a vendor being sued by the United States under the False Claims Act. In a Sept. 27 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in August continued to spend little of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund – just $863, leaving it with an unobligated tranche of $407,176. The money was used for unspecified program planning and support, according to the agency’s latest spending report to Congress. As of Aug. 31, the […]

Vermont on Monday officially became the 39th agreement state to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It now assumes primary responsibility for regulatory oversight of radioactive materials within state borders, though that does not include the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant being decommissioned. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki signed the agreement on […]

The U.S. Supreme Court will next month mull whether to hear arguments that an appeals court illegally blocked South Carolina from trying to stop the Department of Energy from canceling the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site. The Supreme Court has scheduled the case for conference on Oct. 11, a […]

A federal jury on Friday ordered a contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site to pay nearly $1.5 million in damages and back pay to a former employee who said she was subjected to wrongful retaliation after she was laid off six years ago. Jurors who heard the case last week agreed race could not be […]

The Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) could be eligible for around $250 million in fees over three years, if the Department of Energy picks up the team’s options to manage the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., according to the text of a contract modification awarded over the summer. The modification, signed on July […]

The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear Tuesday morning whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for a list of committees […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group is picking up about $30 million worth of additional business in California from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Within the past week, the company received word of a $22 million award for services at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as a two-year extension, worth between […]

The U.S. Energy Department is again delaying issuance of a draft record of decision (ROD) for its proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The document had been due Monday. A DOE spokesman said by email Monday the ROD’s release was pushed back another month, until Oct. 31. It was […]

The U.S. Navy has exercised a $1 billion option for fiscal 2020 for Fluor Marine Propulsion, a subsidiary of the troubled engineering giant that is selling off its government contracting business, to continue work on nuclear propulsion systems for U.S. warships and submarines. Fluor Marine Propulsion has managed the joint Department of Energy-Navy Naval Nuclear […]

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the top-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Monday he will retire from Congress after 26 years. Thornberry will not stand for re-election in 2020, but will serve out the remainder of his term, slated to end Jan. 3, 2021, he announced on his website and Twitter. He will leave […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking capability statements from contractors ahead of an anticipated procurement for remediation services at the Luckey Site in Ohio under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The Army Corps issued a sources sought notice on Sept. 24. Capability statements are due by 10 a.m. Eastern time […]

After a final brief filed Friday, a federal judge will soon decide whether to dismiss Nevada’s lawsuit seeking to force the Department of Energy to remove half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Nevada in August sought permission to modify its 2018 lawsuit in U.S. District Court to […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday officially issued up to one-year contract extensions for waste tank and Central Plateau cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The previously announced extensions will be worth $665 million for AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions and $500 million to Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Plateau Remediation, DOE said. The […]