Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rescheduled its three-judge panel’s oral arguments until Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on challenges to Long Mott Energy’s construction permit application. The oral arguments, originally scheduled for Oct. 6, were previously postponed due to the government shutdown. NRC published a press release on Nov. 20 of the updated […]

Austal USA recently announced an agreement with Australia’s government-owned Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) to share its 3D printing and additive manufacturing technology in another move to aid Australia’s industry as the AUKUS agreement proceeds. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) specifically covers collaboration on additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and workforce development via training and upskilled in […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on Nov. 21 announced its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) Division has delivered the future USS Massachusetts (SSN-798) Virginia-class fast-attack submarine to the U.S. Navy.  The company noted this is the 12th Virginia-class boat NNS has delivered to the service. SSN-798 was first christened in May 2023 and is the fifth Navy […]

Cleanup crews at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio have started tearing down another of the sprawling process buildings once used in uranium enrichment work at the property. DOE announced Tuesday that demolition is underway at the mammoth X-333 Process Building. It is the second of three massive process buildings being taken […]

While much of the government was shut down, the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico stayed open and received 45 waste shipments in October based upon figures from DOE’s public website for the disposal site.  That’s a drop from the 61 shipments the plant received a month prior in September […]

The Department of Energy has approved the Nuclear Safety Design Agreement for Oklo’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The Nuclear Safety Design Agreement, the first under DOE’s nuclear fuel line pilot program, was approved by the Idaho Operations Office in under two weeks, according to Oklo’s Nov. 11 press release. The […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended its comment period on the draft environmental impact statement for TRISO-X’s special nuclear material license application for its proposed fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Public comments on the draft environmental review were initially due by Nov. 17, but will now be due on Dec. 8, according to […]

Lightbridge said Wednesday it has begun irradiation testing of its enriched uranium-zirconium alloy fuel at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The Reston, Va.-based nuclear fuel company said in its press release that this milestone is a step forward in its fuel development and testing program under its cooperative research and development […]

The U.S. Senate voted 66 to 32 to confirm Ho Nieh to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Wednesday afternoon. Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), John Fetterman (Penn.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Jack Reed […]

The Navy on Monday awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $2.28 billion cost-only modification covering additional advance procurement and advance construction of five more Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine hulls. The contract announcement noted this award also supports additional program execution in accordance with a Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement focused on “Obligations in Advance of […]

The Army and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) are requesting bids to provide nuclear power plant energy solutions that would be demonstrated on a military installation within the U.S. by 2030. The goal of the effort, named the Janus program, is to develop prototype Microreactor Power Plants (MPPs) to provide power to “installations and non-permanent operations” […]

Beyond Nuclear has filed suit in federal court in Michigan trying to slam the brakes on Holtec’s restart of the 800-megawatt Palisades nuclear power plant. Together with Don’t Waste Michigan and Michigan Safe Energy Future, Beyond Nuclear asked a U.S. District Court in the Western District of Michigan for an injunction blocking the restart approved […]

The U.S. Senate invoked cloture on the nomination of Ho Nieh to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a 65 – 32 vote Tuesday night. Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Mark […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has approved a $1-billion loan to help Constellation Energy restart the former Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear facility, recently renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. In a Tuesday press release, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the DOE Loan Programs Office closed on a loan “to lower […]

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) announced Monday that Brigham City, Utah was selected to host small modular reactors (SMR) and manufacturing and training facilities. Hi Tech Solutions and Holtec International have teamed up with Utah to make Brigham City “a hub for Utah’s nuclear renaissance,” according to their joint press release. The proposed project for Brigham […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded California-based defense technology company Anduril with a $140 million contract to procure counter uncrewed aircraft systems (CUAS) on four sites, a procurement notice site said last week. CUAS is a capability used to detect and neutralize hostile drone threats with airspace security and sensors, usually.  The indefinite delivery, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) could improve its supervision of decommissioning trust funds, the NRC’s Office of Inspector General recently reported. The report, dated in August but made public this month, said the nuclear regulator should focus on “creating policies and procedures, workflows, and other support to enhance the oversight of the use of decommissioning […]

Ken Rueter, top executive for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, will retire in March 2026, the Amentum-led joint venture said Tuesday. Rueter, the president and CEO of United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), will retire effective March 30, UCOR said in a press release. He will remain […]

Diana Toebbe, the wife in the husband-and-wife duo sentenced for conspiracy charges related to nuclear warships, has an appeal pending in a West Virginia federal district court, a document says. Diana and her husband Jonathan Toebbe, a naval nuclear engineer in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, are a Maryland couple sentenced in 2022 for allegedly […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will conduct an emergency preparedness test Wednesday at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn. TVA said in a press release the exercise is a part of an ongoing series required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure preparedness in case of an […]

More than three-dozen nuclear critics and environmental groups contend in a recent letter that President Donald Trump’s executive actions could weaken radiation protections and endanger public health. “The Trump White House has issued numerous executive orders (EO), including one directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revise its long-standing radiation rule, Standards for Protection Against […]

A new pro-nuclear group in New Mexico has emerged and seeks to play a role in the state’s transition towards clean energy with nuclear power. The New Mexico Nuclear Alliance, founded in July, is a non-partisan membership organization that operates out of Santa Fe, N.M. The new group has partnered with the Carlsbad N.M. Department […]

The Department of Energy told the Exchange Monitor Monday that, despite media outlets saying otherwise, President Donald Trump will not be meeting in the Oval Office with high-level nuclear weapons complex officials. News outlets such as CNN reported Friday that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams, and officials […]

The United Kingdom’s government has selected Wylfa on Anglesey in North Wales as the location for a set of Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs). The Wylfa site, home to a nuclear power plant being decommissioned, is expected to host three Rolls-Royce SMRs. There is potential the site could add five more such units in the […]

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the lawyers who successfully sued the Department of Energy over the Savannah River Site’s mismanaged Mixed Oxide (MOX) plutonium facility are entitled to $75 million of the $600 million settlement the state received.  The ruling was issued last Wednesday Nov. 12. South Carolina has litigation against DOE dating to […]

Jocelyn Brown-Saracino, who spent 15 years with the Department of Energy, has been selected to head the DOE Alumni Network, Tarak Shah, former DOE chief of staff during the Joe Biden administration, announced last week on LinkedIn. “Having gotten to know Jocelyn over this search process, I am SO excited that she is going to […]