Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is setting terms on how it can start using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance nuclear safeguards “without undue risks.” The policy is laid out in a Dec. 29 directive that will apply “to all DNFSB personnel, it full-time employees, contractors, consultants, interns, and any individuals granted access […]

While old, an underground hoist at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is not unsafe, according to managers of the transuranic waste disposal site. “While all the WIPP hoists are experiencing reliability issues due to age and obsolescence, these reliability issues do not present safety risks to employees,” DOE’s […]

Constellation Energy’s Limerick Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania has been approved for a $167-million upgrade by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). According to Constellation’s Tuesday press release, NRC approved a license amendment that greenlights Limerick’s Digital Modernization Project. The upgrade is part of a $5.1 billion investment across Pennsylvania to preserve 5,100 megawatts of power […]

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) died early Tuesday at age 65 after a medical emergency Monday night caused him to go into emergency surgery, Butte County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The sheriff’s office said LaMalfa died during the medical procedure, but the office is conducting an investigation to determine the cause of death. […]

The Navy plans to award a sole source contract to the service’s two largest shipbuilders, General Dynamics (GD) Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding, for the Donald Trump administration’s new battleship design. In December, Trump and senior administration officials announced plans for a new class of battleships named after the president, […]

Terrestrial Energy has signed an agreement with the Department of Energy to support the deployment of its molten salt reactor under the DOE pilot reactor program. Formally called an “other transaction authority” contract, the deal is a flexible, non-traditional legal agreement between the government and industry used to bypass traditional, rigid contract rules to carry […]

Holly Harrington has retired as a senior level adviser with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) after a long career as a fed. “It’s been nearly 40 years of government service and it’s been a good run!” Harrington said via her LinkedIn page over the New Year’s weekend. “At the NRC, I was part of our […]

Technicians completed power line repairs near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with aid from a local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog’s Director General Rafael Grossi said Dec. 30. “I would like to thank both the Russian Federation and Ukraine for engaging constructively with us in making this possible […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it was awarding $2.7 billion total in task orders to three companies with the goal of strengthening domestic uranium enrichment over the next ten years. American Centrifuge Operating, a Centrus company, and General Matter are both receiving $900 million to create a domestic high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capacity. […]

Nuclear industry officials and the director of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory are scheduled to testify before a House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. House Energy & Commerce’s subcommittee on energy will convene a hearing at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday on “American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the […]

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) said Monday it has submitted the Initial Project Description for the Deep Geological Repository for Canada’s Used Nuclear Fuel Project. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are now seeking public comment from Indigenous Peoples and other community members on the project by Feb. 4, […]

Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank has been awarded $275,000 to install a nuclear control room simulator at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise (UVA Wise) in Wise, Va. According to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Dec. 18 press release, the installed nuclear control room simulation will be from NuScale’s Energy Exploration Centers. UVA Wise […]

A maintenance outage last year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina helped improve operations at the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), DOE said recently.  The DOE Office of Environmental Management contractor installed larger, higher-capacity cross flow filters at the SWPF during a planned system-wide operational outage in 2025 to […]

President Donald Trump wants to see deployment of a nuclear power reactor on the moon by 2030, according to a recent executive action. In the Dec. 18 executive order 14369, “Ensuring American Space Superiority”, the Trump White House called for Americans to return to the moon by 2028 through NASA’s Artemis Program, a program centered […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:    January 08: Webinar: :The Energy Communities Alliances hosts a webinar starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on nuclear generation and spent fuel storage sites.  26: Conference: Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit is set for Jan. 26 through 28 in Arlington, Va.  […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state have finished excavating a new landfill disposal cell, which should lengthen the lifespan of the radwaste facility by 15 years.  DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced just before Christmas that workers for contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company have finished digging out Super Cell 11 […]

New York Power Authority and Ontario Power Generation have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that establishes a framework for collaboration on the development of advanced nuclear technologies. The MOU, first announced Dec. 18, will explore large-scale and small modular reactors (SMRs) in an effort to decarbonize and strengthen energy reliability and affordability in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a hybrid public workshop on probabilistic risk assessment Wednesday at its headquarters in Rockville, Md. from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Probabilistic risk assessment is a tool NRC uses to assess plant safety by estimating the likelihood and consequences of potential accidents, according to NRC’s Dec. 19 […]

Charlotte, N.C.-based energy utility Duke Energy has submitted an early site permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a site near Stokes County, N.C. The site will be near Duke’s Belews Creek Station in Stokes County. The submission of the application comes after two years of environmental assessment and technical analysis, Duke said […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 23 it was renewing a $25 million grant for five more years to a consortium of nine universities for research and development in nuclear science, engineering and security. The Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) will fund $5 million every year for five years […]

As the anchors of a “Golden Fleet,” President Donald Trump pledged to build 20 to 25 gun and missile-equipped battleships named after himself that are to carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N). Flanking Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate Dec. 22 for his pledge were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary […]

In observance of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not publish again until Monday Jan. 5. Exchange Monitor staffers are off Dec. 25-26 as well as Jan. 1-2. The Monitor wishes you a happy and safe holiday season!

Doug Weaver was officially sworn in as a Nuclear Regulatory Commission member on Monday. Weaver, nominated in November by President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the full Senate last week in a 71-to-29 vote. He will now serve the remainder of former commissioner Annie Caputo’s term, set to expire on June 30, 2026. Weaver, a […]

As it has for major events in the past, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will make low-altitude helicopter flights over the Las Vegas Strip area leading up to New Year’s Eve celebrations in the desert city. The flights by NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) Aerial Measuring System aircraft will measure […]

Centrus Energy has started manufacturing centrifuges in Tennessee for the company’s advanced uranium enrichment plant at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. New enrichment capacity is expected to come online in 2029, according to Centrus’ Dec. 19 press release. The centrifuges are being made at the company’s manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, […]

The husband-and-wife team at the helm of Longenecker & Associates (L&A) have pledged to donate $500,000 over time to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas. Longenecker & Associates said in a Dec. 9 press release that L&A CEO John Longenecker and Founder/Board Chair Bonnie Longenecker have made an immediate grant of $250,000 to […]