Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) confirmed Wednesday that Stephen Younger will retire as director of the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico effective Dec. 31, after two years managing the nation’s nuclear-weapon engineering laboratory. The local Albuquerque Journal reported the news first, on Tuesday. “I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Younger for his […]

Claire Chase, government affairs director for a New Mexico oil and gas company, intends to seek the Republican nomination to represent the congressional district that covers the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. If successful in a GOP primary for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, Chase would challenge Rep. Xochitl Torres […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s guidance on decommissioning of nuclear power plants has not kept up with an increasingly popular business model in the industry, the agency’s Inspector General’s Office said in a report this week. The “Audit of NRC’s Transition Process for Decommissioning Power Reactors” found generally that the federal agency effectively oversees sites […]

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is joining the board of directors for medical isotope manufacturers SHINE Medical Technologies. Ryan represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District for 20 years, until the beginning of this year. The district includes the city of Janesville, where SHINE is headquartered and Ryan has lived since leaving Congress (though he […]

An article in the Aug. 22 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing provided incorrect shifts for plutonium downblending operations at the Savannah River Site. Current operations cover one 12-hour shift per day, seven days a week. A scale-up that could come in fiscal 2020 would cover two 12-hour shifts per day, seven days a week. An article […]

Boston Government Services disclosed Tuesday it is partnering with Cincinnati-based Trinity Engineering Associates in the BTP Services joint venture that on July 31 won a potential $49.5 million technical support services contract from the Energy Department. Oak Ridge-based Boston Government Services previously said it is majority owner of the partnership. Headed by founder and President […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has received 117 questions from prospective bidders on the next remediation contract for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The office posted the latest tranche of questions Monday on the potential 10-year, $350 million successor award to the business held through January 2020 by Navarro Research and […]

The contractor that operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has mismanaged security incident reports over the past two years, with problems ranging from late submission of documents to the federal agency to providing incomplete information when they are delivered. In one instance, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was supposed to close out a report within 90 days. However, […]

The U.S. Energy Department expects in coming years to speed up its waste emplacement rate at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  in New Mexico to 14 shipments per week, according to the newly released draft five-year strategic plan. That would up from a current rate of less than 10 shipments per week during weeks of […]

A group of six scientists and nuclear waste experts on Monday renewed their call for Congress to fund the frozen federal licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. Advancing the licensing is both required by law and necessary to avoid extending the “financial liabilities” and potential environmental threats of keeping tens of thousands of […]

Merrick & Co. has opened a new office in Aiken, S.C., to get its foot in the door of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s expanding plutonium mission, the Greenwood, Colo., nuclear, defense, and infrastructure contractor said. Bill Taylor will manage the new Aiken office, the company said in a press release. Taylor spent the last […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Aug. 23 began the official procurement process for decommissioning of its long-retired SM-1 reactor on the ground of Fort Belvoir, Va. Prospective vendors have until 11 a.m. Nov. 4 Eastern time to submit bids. The Army Corps expects to select its contractor in the second half of 2020. […]

Entergy Corp. on Monday completed the sale of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts to Holtec International for an undisclosed amount of money. This follows the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval last Thursday of the transfer of Pilgrim’s federal operational and spent fuel storage licenses. “The successful Pilgrim transaction demonstrates continued progress on Entergy’s […]

Workers at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California have successfully moved the first two canisters of used reactor fuel to dry storage since restarting transfers on July 18. A third canister is on deck to begin movement this week. Officials with plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) on Thursday briefed the SONGS […]

Senate Democrats — led by a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Democratic presidential candidate — are calling on committee leaders to adopt several House-passed measures that would ban low-yield missiles deployment and extend the new START Treaty during future conference sessions over the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). […]

Bechtel National has settled litigation brought by a former worker at the Waste Treatment Plant the company is building at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “The parties have arrived at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the case,” Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West said by email Sunday. She declined to release any further […]

Holtec International said Friday it will complete its acquisition of the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts “as soon as practicable,” after receiving the necessary authorization from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The federal agency on Aug. 22 approved the transfer of Pilgrim’s operational and spent fuel storage licenses from plant owner Entergy to […]

More than a year after winning the contract the first time around, a Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) affiliate is again being tapped to provide the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) with technical support services. The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management announced Aug. 22 that Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) […]

The security provider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is expected to receive a four-month contract extension ahead of the end of its current deal on Oct. 7. Florida-based Centerra could also secure another eight months on the job. That would come via two more four-month extensions, keeping the […]

The Sierra Club will be allowed to argue one environmental contention against U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of a facility in West Texas for temporary storage of spent reactor fuel from nuclear power reactors. An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that the environmental organization had proved standing for intervention and an adjudicatory hearing […]

As expected, South Carolina on Friday said it is appealing a federal judge’s refusal to force the Department of Energy to pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the state. That is according to a notice of appeal filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The state had not […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has awarded its John S. Foster Medal to Linton Brooks, who led the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration during the George W. Bush administration. Brooks, a former submarine commander and arms-control ambassador, is only the fifth person to receive the award, which is named for the pioneering nuclear-weapon designer and fourth […]

The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission on Thursday approved reserving a set amount of disposal capacity at the compact facility for certain “small quantity” generators. The addition to the Texas Administrative Code passed unanimously without discussion by the commissioners present at a meeting in Austin, alongside an amendment redefining small-quantity generator. Texas and Vermont […]

The U.S. Energy Department and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico on Wednesday announced a $75 million award for a subcontractor to build a new underground utility shaft. The contract went to Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers Joint Venture, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office and AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership said in […]

Plutonium downblending at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has increased significantly following the addition of shifts in November 2018. Assuming things go well, another increase in shifts could come late in fiscal 2020, about a year sooner than the initial target date. Workers have downblended just over 17 kilograms […]

A soil sample with elevated levels of plutonium discovered in the vicinity of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility near Denver has drawn attention from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority on Aug. 16 informed the health department of the sample taken on the parkway’s right-of-way […]

A federal court on Tuesday declined to make the Department of Energy pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from South Carolina, depriving the state of some leverage in its ongoing court press to rid itself of the surplus nuclear material. “Under the circumstances of this case, plaintiff’s proper course to […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts is objecting to an upcoming U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff order allowing the license transfer for the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The order, expected as early as this week, would enable owner Entergy to sell the plant to Holtec International for decommissioning. The ruling could come even before the federal […]