Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has partnered with three private firms to manufacture and commission a novel system for coating spent nuclear fuel containers in copper as part of the program to prevent any release of radiation from an eventual underground disposal site. The nonprofit, utility-funded organization is in site selection and planning for […]

U.S. Energy Department contractor Fluor Idaho has finished repackaging radioactive sludge waste that was ejected from four overheated drums in April 2018 at the Idaho National Laboratory. The late-night accident spewed much of the sludge waste from the four 55-gallon drums onto the walls and ceiling of a room within a fabric filter building at […]

By the time it posted the terms of its contract to build a new uranium enrichment facility at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, Centrus Energy Corp. had already ticked off the first milestone on the $115 million pact with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Milestone 1 in the contract, the undefinitized version […]

Interim salt waste treatment at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been shut down, as the Department of Energy prepares to start up the larger-scale Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) in December. Since April 2017, workers at the 310-square-mile site have been operating the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU): two […]

In the latest turn in a nearly year-old legal battle, Nevada plans to ask a federal judge to force the Department of Energy to remove half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium shipped to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in 2018, according to court papers. The state revealed its plan in a procedural motion […]

The commonwealth of Massachusetts has signaled it will request a hold on the anticipated approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week of the license transfer application for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Staff at the federal regulator indicated in a filing last week that it was prepared around Aug. 21 to authorize the […]

Requiring comprehensive consent to build a nuclear waste disposal site is “an excuse to do nothing,” according to a leader in the Nevada county that would be home to the long-delayed repository under Yucca Mountain. “To believe that any controversial project in the 21st century will get consent from every level of government – state, […]

The AECOM-led incumbent vendor that is managing underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state expects its latest contract extension from the U.S. Energy Department could be worth $725 million. The business extension will keep Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) on the job for up to 12 months, from Oct. 1, 2019, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified Holtec International’s latest spent nuclear fuel transportation package. The Camden, N.J., energy technology company last week announced the approval following a review that began in February 2018, which will allow it to deploy the HI-STAR 100MB. Management expects it will be used to ship spent fuel from nuclear […]

Jacobs Engineering on Tuesday said it would pay £250 million ($302 million) to acquire the nuclear branch of the Scotland-based John Wood Group. The deal is expected to be sealed in the first quarter of 2020, pending regulatory approval in the United Kingdom according to the companies. “This acquisition brings deep technical expertise with unique […]

A measure introduced in the California State Senate calls on the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump to approve federal legislation that would prioritize removal of used fuel from power plants in the state. Senate Joint Resolution 11 was introduced on Aug. 12 by state Sens. Patricia Bates (R) and Bill Monning (D). It was […]

While there could be cheaper alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Energy Department should do more vetting before committing to one or more of those options, according to a new assessment from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. The fiscal 2017 National Defense […]

The U.S. Energy Department and contractor Bechtel National reached a key milestone this week toward operation of the $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The company and DOE’s Office of River Protection held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to mark the start of testing on equipment within an […]

Neile Miller, former principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), has joined Nevada National Security Site operating contractor Mission Support and Test Services as head of government affairs, the company announced Monday. Miller was No. 2 at the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency from August 2010 through June 2013, according […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is doing early planning for a new technical assistance contract for the office in southeastern New Mexico that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). On Monday, the federal agency issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice for interested businesses with the necessary expertise to serve […]