Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said late Wednesday it has shipped a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium out of South Carolina, as ordered by a federal court in 2017. The Department of Energy and its semiautonomous nuclear-weapon branch “have removed not less than one metric ton of defense plutonium or defense plutonium materials from the […]

Separate bills introduced in the House of Representatives would put the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) branch on the job of helping resolve the long impasse over disposition of the nation’s radioactive waste. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) submitted his “ARPA-E Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2019” on July 23, followed a week […]

Department of Energy contractor Longenecker & Associates has promoted Mike Briggs to the newly created post of group vice president for High-Hazard Operations support. Briggs joined the Las Vegas-based company last year and helped launch the business line that supports incident response and recovery at DOE sites, the company said in a Monday press release. […]

A “trace amount of plutonium” found inside a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 27 did not endanger any employees, a spokesman for the Department of Energy facility in New Mexico said Wednesday. Employees discovered an “unexpected powdery residue” underneath a brush in a material management room glove box at the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to start building the replacement for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) some time after Sept. 30, 2021, according to the agency’s latest annual report on its nonproliferation programs. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon branch formally terminated construction of the Savannah River Site facility in October, […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the ExchangeMonitor’s publishing recess in the second and third full weeks of August. The regular daily publishing schedule will resume on Monday, Aug. 26.

Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Thursday reported a 30.2% spike in its second-quarter revenue, from $13.2 million in 2018 to $17.1 million in 2019. That encompassed a 75.4% sales boost in the Atlanta-based company’s services business, from $4 million last year to $7 million in the latest reporting period, along with a more modest 10.4% revenue […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should disregard the commonwealth of Massachusetts’ request for a 90-day stay on its review of the license transfer application for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the plant’s owner and prospective buyer said Monday. “The Commission should deny this Motion because it is inconsistent with NRC rules and practice, unsupported by […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said Tuesday it has delayed by about three weeks releasing a request for proposals for decommissioning its SM-1 nuclear power reactor at Fort Belvoir, Va. The procurement notice, previously expected around July 29, is now scheduled to be issued during the week of Aug. 19, according to Brenda […]

As the calendar flipped to August, the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility delivered nearly 30 more layoff notices that will reduce the facility to a skeleton crew of around 350 employees, according to a recent post on a South Carolina government-affiliated website.  CB&I Project Services delivered 29 more pink slips on Aug. 2, according to […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June continued to spend next to nothing from its remaining balance from the federal fund intended to pay for a nuclear waste disposal facility. The agency spent only $479 from the Nuclear Waste Fund for unspecified “program planning and support,” according to its latest monthly report to Congress. “While […]

Executives with a couple companies hoping to win at least a share of the mega-dollar Tank Closure Contract at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington suggested this week the award will be delayed a few months. That was a shared message during quarterly earning calls Monday and Tuesday from senior executives at AECOM and […]

BWX Technologies is about halfway through repairing 12 submarine missile tubes it welded incorrectly in 2018, Rex Geveden, president and CEO of the Lynchburg, Va., nuclear-hardware and fuel provider told investors Tuesday. Under multiple subcontracts to Columbia- and Virginia-class submarine production prime General Dynamics Electric Boat, BWXT is on the hook to deliver tubes through 2021. […]

The U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday issued a sources sought/request for information for remediation of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Kesselring Site, both in New York state. The agency wants to gauge small business interest in a potential contract that includes tearing down and removing contaminated facilities, along with waste management services, at […]

The top brass at AECOM has received plenty of positive feedback since announcing June 17 that it would spin off the business segment that contracts with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies. “We are moving ahead of schedule” toward separating the Management Services line into its own publicly traded company, Chairman and CEO […]

The former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist indicted for lying about connections to a Chinese government-sponsored talent-recruiting program will be tried June 22, 2020, in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, N.M. Turab Lookman has pleaded not guilty to three counts of fraud and false statements for allegedly lying to the Department of Energy and the […]

After receiving no bids initially, the legacy cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is extending its search by two weeks for a subcontractor to provide background checks on job applicants. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) pushed back the proposal deadline from Monday until 3 p.m. Mountain time […]

The Richland Operations Office for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has extended the comment period on a cost and engineering report for hazard mitigation at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant until Aug. 17. The original comment deadline was Friday for the engineering evaluation/cost analysis (EE/CA). The federal agency announced the deadline […]

BWX Technologies said Monday it posted $471 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2019, 7.4% better than the $439 million recorded for the same period in 2018. Net income for the quarter dropped slightly to $58.9 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, from $60.7 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, a year earlier. […]

AECOM on Tuesday reported $4.98 billion in revenue for its third quarter of fiscal 2019, 3.3% less than the $5.15 billion it took in during the same period a year ago. Revenue at the Los Angeles-based government contractor was affected by lower than expected storm recovery work in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company’s net […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering hopes to win at least one of two Energy Department awards for potential 10-year, multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington state, including one where it is the incumbent vendor. Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said Monday he anticipates DOE will award the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract at Hanford soon, although […]

President Donald Trump on Friday signed H.R. 3877, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, into law after the bill passed the House July 25 and the Senate Aug. 1. The legislation suspends the debt limit through July 31, 2021, and sets defense spending toplines at $738 billion for fiscal 2020 and $741.5 billion in fiscal 2021. […]

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) joined three of his House colleagues on a trip to Yucca Mountain last week to argue his case against building a nuclear waste repository on the federal property in his state. “I visited Yucca Mountain today to ensure the information shared by the Department of Energy was as accurate as […]

Lt. Gen Anthony Cotton has been nominated to become the next deputy commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, serving under Commander Gen. Timothy Ray. Cotton currently serves as the as commander and president of Air University, part of Air Education and Training Command at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Prior to that assignment, he […]

One of three plaintiffs plans to continue mediation in hopes of reaching a settlement in a lawsuit against the New Mexico Environment Department over calculating underground waste volume at the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) filed the request for extended mediation Wednesday with the New Mexico […]

South Carolina wants the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to raid its defense nuclear nonproliferation budget to pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the state, according to the latest filing in a long-running federal lawsuit. The state claimed in last week’s filing in U.S. District Court that the NNSA’s own […]

US Ecology has largely restored treatment capabilities at a waste facility in Idaho following a November 2018 explosion that killed one employee and injured eight others, CEO and board Chairman Jeff Feeler said Friday. “In June, our Idaho operations regained a substantial — substantially all of its treatment capabilities,” Feeler said during the Boise, Idaho-based […]