Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) on Wednesday came closer to securing passage of a sought-after bailout bill for two struggling nuclear power plants in Ohio. But potential full passage of the state legislation is not expected until Aug. 1 at the earliest, which would be two weeks after the company’s Wednesday deadline. On Wednesday, the Ohio Senate […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the vast majority of Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of via a near-surface facility. The waste, under existing federal regulations, must be interred in a geologic repository unless the federal commission approves a request for another means of disposal. The United States […]

A federal appeals court ruled this week that Bechtel National is not due reimbursement from the U.S. government for $500,000 in legal fees the company incurred prior to settling discrimination litigation brought by two former employees at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. In an opinion issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Wednesday it has removed a breached cesium-137 source from a University of Washington medical research building in Seattle, clearing the way to begin remediation of the facility following its May 3 contamination.  The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency on Tuesday moved the cesium-137 source to the Pacific […]

The contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is working on a five-year strategic plan that should be submitted to the agency and made public in August or September. Workshops on the contents of the plan will be held in Carlsbad and Santa Fe, N.M., sometime in those two […]

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) joined with the state’s full congressional delegation on Wednesday to demand the Department of Energy further study the potential earthquake risk to the location of the planned nuclear waste disposal facility under Yucca Mountain. The letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry followed two earthquakes on July 4 and 5 in […]

The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it plans to award a contract sometime between July and September 2020 for production of the United States’ next nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. The service plans to buy more than 600 Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missiles, about 400 of which will go into silos starting around 2028 to replace […]

The U.S. Department of Energy is seeking a consultant to assist in developing investment strategies for the federal fund that would pay for licensing, construction, and operation of a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The agency on July 9 issued a request for quotes for consulting services to the Office of Standard Contract […]

Mark Esper, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, held strictly to nuclear orthodoxy in his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, boosting the Department of Energy’s stockpile stewardship program and urging continued funding for long-term modernization and maintenance of the nuclear arsenal. Esper, a former Raytheon lobbyist and current secretary of the Army, said in written testimony the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is concerned about the age and reliability of the electrical system in a historic building still used for interim storage of radioactive sludge at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The board, in a July 2 report submitted to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, suggested installation of […]

Managers at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., plan more training to help ensure no mislabeled or improperly packaged shipments reach the underground disposal site for defense transuranic waste. Some training is being developed and could be rolled out in the near future to minimize the chance of any shipments ending […]

A bill to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project Act was reported out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Tuesday. The measure was passed in a bloc of 20 bills considered at once by the panel, including committee Chair Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. […]

The University of California expects to bank some $22.5 million in fees in 2019 for its part in managing the two main U.S. nuclear-weapon design laboratories, the university’s Board of Regents estimated in a document published Wednesday. The University of California (UC) is a senior partner on Triad National Security, which has managed the Los […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal said Tuesday she hopes to consider whether reviving long-dormant U.S. recycling of spent nuclear fuel could provide a feasible alternative to the federal government’s current plan to bury it underground forever. “I don’t think we have a waste issue. We have a treasure […]

ESCO Technologies earlier this month said it acquired Globe Composite Solutions, LLC, a provider of composite-based products for the Navy and defense industry customers, including for the Virginia- and Columbia-class nuclear submarines. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Globe, which is based near Boston, is expected to have about $37 million in sales this year. Globe provides […]

A barrel of radioactively contaminated material at a Westinghouse Electric facility in Columbia, S.C., briefly ignited early Friday after becoming pressurized and popping off its lid, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported. The drum held mop heads, filters, and rags designated as “wet recoverable material,” along with laboratory waste, according to an NRC event notification […]

Centrus Energy expects the Department of Energy by Oct. 31 to finalize the company’s contract to build a new uranium enrichment cascade in Ohio, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A temporary DOE letter contract with the Bethesda, Md., nuclear fuel company’s American Centrifuge Operating Co. subsidiary authorizes $6.4 million […]

Marian Davis has resigned as chief financial officer of uranium fuel broker and enrichment technology company Centrus Energy Corp., according to a regulatory filing. Davis submitted her letter of resignation June 7 and was expected to leave the company after it filed its 10-Q report on quarterly earnings for the period ended June 30, according […]

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Tuesday it had issued a three-year extension for a partnership encompassing 17 companies performing cleanup activities at the Sellafield nuclear site. The Decommissioning Delivery Partnership, formed in 2016, will now remain on the job at least through 2026, according to an NDA press release. The partnership to date […]

Southern California Edison (SCE) on Monday resumed transferring used reactor fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) into dry storage. The restart follows a nearly yearlong recovery from a high-profile mishap in moving one spent-fuel canister. On Aug. 3, 2018, the container of fuel assemblies became lodged on the shield ring of its […]

AECOM on Monday named a senior executive with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to lead the international arm of the company’s Management Services nuclear and strategic environment branch. David Batters will join AECOM on Sept. 1 as senior vice president and international sector lead for the Management Services nuclear and environment unit. The […]

The U.S. Department of Energy wants negotiations to start soon with Washington state and the Environmental Protection Agency over updated plans for radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. At the same time, the Energy Department said in a July 11 letter to Washington state Department of Ecology […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has demanded the U.S. Supreme Court consider the case of South Carolina and the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), which the state’s senior senator says has turned the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., into a permanent plutonium dumping ground. Graham made his argument in an amicus curiae brief filed […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a July 23 meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., to discuss Exelon’s approach for decommissioning the Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear power reactor. The Chicago-based power company is scheduled by Sept. 30 to retire the pressurized-water reactor near the state capital. In a post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR) submitted […]

U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said he used a meeting last week with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Kristine Svinicki to renew his call for increased federal oversight at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). “As I told the chair, it is imperative that the NRC, Southern California Edison, and Holtec International take concrete […]

The head of corporate services for the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), Paul Bosco, is as of today back at his old job at the agency. Bosco, EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for corporate services for less than a year, has rejoined DOE’s Office of Project Management as director. The move […]