Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

A team of certified health physicists from the Energy Department spent the Memorial Day weekend in Piketon, Ohio, collecting air samples that will be analyzed for signs of radioactive contamination at a local middle school. Forty-four air samples were collected both inside and outside of Zahn’s Corner Middle School, about 2 miles from DOE’s Portsmouth […]

Staff at the California Coastal Commission are recommending approval of a permit needed for major decommissioning operations to begin at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County. However, approval of the coastal development permit would be dependent on SONGS’ owners agreeing to nearly 20 special conditions, if the staff recommendations are […]

A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he lied about contacts with the Chinese government-sponsored group Thousand Talents, which the Donald Trump administration says seeks to steal U.S. intellectual property. Some time between  2007 and 2018, Turab Lookman “had been recruited by, applied for, and been accepted to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) program to keep nuclear and radiological materials out of the hands of bad actors would be funded at or above the requested level for the fifth year in a row, if a fiscal 2020 spending bill the House Appropriations Committee passed last week becomes law. The spike in funding, […]

The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is expected to argue next month that race did not factor into its unwillingness to rehire a laid-off employee who sued the company over her termination. A court hearing for Adrienne Saulsberry’s lawsuit against her former employer, Savannah River Remediation (SRR), is scheduled for June 25 in Aiken, […]

A pair of contractors have started cleaning up a University of Washington building contaminated weeks ago by cesium-137, but there is no public timetable for finishing the job or reoccupying the facility. The contractors are International Isotopes, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Chase Environmental, of Louisville, Ky. They are assisting the Washington state Department of Health, […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding held a ceremony on May 23 for its first cut-of-steel event to mark the start of advance construction for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) program. HII noted this will be the first class of submarines that will be built using fully digital blueprints. The first steel plate will be used […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requesting more information about the Energy Department’s plan for closure of a radioactive waste storage tank farm at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The nuclear regulator will present the request at a DOE public meeting, scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. May 30 in Richland. The information request […]

A federal judge says he plans by the first week of June to rule on a Department of Justice lawsuit against the state of Washington over eased workers’ compensation requirements for workers at the Hanford Site. Judge Stanley Bastian, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, heard arguments May 22 from the parties. He reminded […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans in September to release a report on the Energy Department’s payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) to communities surrounding its national laboratories and cleanup sites. The report will analyze the differences in PILT payments across sites and how have they varied over time, according to the GAO. The […]

The U.S. Energy Department is conducting additional sampling to detect any radioactive contamination at a school near its Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, while local officials seek to be kept in the loop. Energy Secretary Rick Perry dispatched a technical team to do an assessment of the school, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Saturday. Energy […]

The Texas Legislature has approved a bill that would delay by two years certain charges and fees for Waste Control Specialists’ (WCS) radioactive waste disposal operations. Two amendments from Rep. Alfonso Nevárez (D) were attached to a state bill on domestic violence, which was passed in April in the Texas Senate and last week in […]

Face-to-face mediation is expected in June between public interest groups and the New Mexico Environment Department over changes to the way waste volume is calculated underground at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico Court of Appeals often encourages mediation in cases involving state agencies in hopes parties can bridge their […]

A startup based in Albuquerque, N.M., said Wednesday it has secured funding for construction of a 2-megawatt reactor facility for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. Eden Radioisotopes plans in four years to begin production at the reactor and processing complex in the city of Hobbs, in southeastern New Mexico. The funder is Abo Empire, […]

The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Please look for the issue in your inbox on Tuesday, May 28.

The Donald Trump administration this week lashed out at House appropriators for proposing to spend money the White House wanted for active Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs on cleanup of legacy nuclear-weapon sites. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved an energy and water funding bill that would provide $7.2 billion for remediation of shuttered […]

SHINE Medical Technologies said this week it has filled two newly established executive positions: chief strategy officer and general counsel. As chief strategy officer for the medical isotope producer, Harsh Singh will work directly with SHINE CEO Greg Piefer. His duties will encompass fundraising, sales, marketing, investor relations, and corporate development, according to a company […]

Bechtel National last week and early this week conducted sweeping drug and alcohol testing of workers at the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) the company is building at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The testing targeted all of the approximately 2,000 workers who have unescorted access to the plant’s job site. Four other major Hanford […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) does not anticipate initiating oversight of a planned plutonium nuclear-warhead core production plant in South Carolina until the National Nuclear Security Administration approves an official cost and schedule estimate for the expected multibillion-dollar facility — a milestone that could be years away. “I predict that oversight will begin […]

Officials in southern Ohio are scheduled to meet today to narrow the list of potential third-party contractors to sample for potential radioactive contamination at a middle school near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. The Pike County General Health District said Tuesday it is working with DOE, along with local and state agencies, to establish a […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday turned back a proposal to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository as it approved legislation to fund the Department of Energy and other agencies for fiscal 2020. The panel voted 31-21 to report the $46.6 billion energy and water development appropriations bill to the full House. […]

The House Appropriations Committee wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study what impact an Energy Department order on oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has on public and worker safety at nuclear weapons sites. The panel is concerned that DOE Order 140.1, enacted in May  2018, effectively restricts the DNFSB’s ability […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the green light Tuesday for resumption of loading used nuclear fuel into dry storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. The actual work will resume after plant majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) and fuel offloading contractor Holtec International review their readiness to restart operations.  […]

The Navy on Monday awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $497 million modification for a submarine industrial base development and expansion to support the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. According to the contract announcement, the award also covers the overall nuclear shipbuilding enterprise, which includes Virginia-class attack submarines and Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. This is part of the “integrated […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday affirmed a plan to keep Energy Department Office of Environmental Management funding at about $7.2 billion for fiscal 2020. The funding is included in the energy and water development appropriations legislation for the budget year starting Oct. 1, which the committee reported to the full House. The measure keeps […]

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would slow development of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with Department of Energy infrastructure that supports them. The next stop for the two bills — which passed essentially along party lines, and without any amendments directly affecting nuclear arms spending — is the House floor. […]