Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest tranche of funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, could receive almost $7 billion under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2026. The final version of the NDAA was released Monday after a House and Senate Conference Committee harmonized differences between the earlier NDAA versions […]

Deep Fission has selected Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, Kan. as the site for its underground pilot reactor. Berkeley, Calif. nuclear reactor technology company Deep Fission will hold its groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, according to its Dec. 4 press release. The company has one of 11 projects selected under the Department of Energy’s advanced reactor […]

The Senate and House combined both versions of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into a version that would authorize $25.96 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That is the highest authorization limit yet for the agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and […]

After clearing regulatory review, the BWX Technologies-led Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada will take over as management contractor of Canadian National Laboratories this week. AECL selected the Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada to be the preferred bidder in June. Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada is composed of BWXT, Amentum and Kinectrics. Battelle Memorial Institute is […]

The Pentagon has completed its review of the trilateral AUKUS security agreement, top department spokesperson Sean Parnell has confirmed.  While the review has yet to be released publicly, Parnell in a statement affirmed the department concluded the security pact between the U.S., Australia and United Kingdom should move “full steam ahead” consistent with President Donald […]

BWXT Technologies said last week it has delivered its first full core of modern nuclear fuel for the Project Pele mobile microreactor prototype at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel, made of uranium, carbon and oxygen within small kernels, has been delivered to Project Pele, BWXT said. BWXT […]

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center is seeking responses  until Dec. 18 to its request for information for technical assistance contracts at certain nuclear complex sites. According to the procurement notice posted online Nov. 26, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is looking for a small business to provide technical assistance to field […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  December 09: Conference: The second South Carolina Nuclear Summit starts at 9 a.m. Eastern Time at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. 09: Public meeting: The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) holds a public meeting on tritium waste containers at […]

The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will hold a hybrid meeting on Thursday and hear a report from Waste Control Specialists (WCS) President David Carlson.  Calrson will present a report on recent site operations at Andrews, Texas-based WCS. The WCS report will include status and schedule of construction of additional capacity, according to […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will consider the nomination of Douglas Weaver to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a Wednesday business meeting.  The panel is expected to vote on the Weaver NRC nomination as well as the nomination of Lee Beaman to be a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) board of […]

Deep Isolation said Wednesday it has completed a three-year-long Department of Energy-funded project that advances the company’s Universal Canister System technology for nuclear waste disposal. Deep Isolation’s Universal Canister System is a triple-purpose canister designed to ensure the safe storage, transport and permanent disposal of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, according to its press […]

The Department of Energy and other agencies said Wednesday nearly half of the 33,000-plus acres at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee are suitable for reuse without any additional cleanup. Research by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) “show 16,377 of the […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently conducted an experiment on weapons-grade plutonium to assess how resilient a nuclear weapon will prove when it comes up against an adversary’s missile defenses.  The experiment was conducted at the lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), where fusion ignition, or the output of more energy than was input, was first achieved […]

Two nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) launch task area agreements were awarded to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, a division of the defense company, and Pacific Engineering. The award was announced on the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) contracting platform. It will be funded by the Strategic Systems Programs in partnership with NSWC Crane, a spokesperson […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is scheduled to visit the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site as well as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this week. That is according to an advisory released by the DOE communications office late Tuesday. The schedule shows Wright visiting the Ice Harbor Dam in Burbank, Wash., and answering questions from […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nuclear Regulatory Commission nominee Douglas Weaver told a Senate committee Wednesday if confirmed, he will prioritize safety and preserve NRC independence. “I’m not seeking to come back to the NRC to tear down the organization that’s done so much for me,” Weaver said in response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed the final safety evaluation for TerraPower’s Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyo. NRC, which completed the evaluation a month ahead of its accelerated schedule, concluded that there are no safety concerns that would prevent issuing TerraPower its construction permit, according to its Monday press release. The company filed its construction […]

Holtec and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will each receive $400 million from the Department of Energy to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs), DOE said Tuesday. The federal cost-shared funding will help advance early SMR projects in Tennessee and Michigan, DOE said in a press release. The financial support helps […]

After spending 40 years with the federal government, Daniel Ogg, currently executive director of U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), will retire effective Dec. 31. Ogg has headed NWTRB for more than three years and has been with the board, as a member of its professional staff, since 2014, according to a post Tuesday […]

North and South Dakota Sens. John Hoeven (R) and Mike Rounds (R), respectively, said the Northrop Grumman future intercontinental ballistic missile Sentinel will be under the Golden Dome project in upcoming defense bills. “The project itself, it will be a part of an Iron Dome project, or a Golden Dome Project,” Rounds told the Exchange […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued a request for information from “innovators” in artificial intelligence (AI) with aims to integrate AI into the agency’s critical operations, NNSA announced Monday. The request for information (RFI), entitled “Transformational AI Capabilities for National Security,” was released one week after President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on […]

Emily Burdick, a former Congressional staffer who also held jobs at the Department of Energy during the first Donald Trump administration, has become the new chief of staff to the acting undersecretary of energy, Alex Fitzsimmons. Burdick said this past week on her LinkedIn page that she accepted the new post in October. She worked […]

The bow section of the first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine arrived at General Dynamics’ Electric Boat South Yard assembly building in Groton, Conn. last week, where it will undergo final assembly. With this delivery, all of the major modules for the future USS District of Columbia (SSBN-826) are now at Electric Boat’s facility. The bow […]

A group that includes Deep Atomic and Parker Tide said this week it has submitted a proposal to the Department of Energy for a fully integrated nuclear-powered artificial intelligence (AI) data center at its Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Deep Atomic, the Austin-Texas-based small modular reactor (SMR) startup, proposes to initially start data center operations using […]

BWX Technologies has expanded its service offerings at Bulgaria’s New Build Kozloduy Nuclear Plant to help build units 7 and 8, the Virginia-based company said this week.  BWXT will provide owner’s engineer services at the Bulgarian plant as a part of a three-party consortium. The other parties are Laurentis Energy Partners and its subsidiary Canadian […]

In an email sent out to agency employees, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams warned of the consequences of disseminating classified or sensitive information. “It saddens me that this message is necessary,” Williams opened his Nov. 22 email viewed by Exchange Monitor, “but past actions by NNSA-affiliated personnel have undermined national leadership’s confidence […]