Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in a report published Sep. 5, gave two recommendations for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to meet its goal to upgrade and repair its fusion facilities. The goal, the report said, is to meet a 10-year plan NNSA submitted to Congress in January 2023, requesting $492 million over six […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, praised the 214-to-213 passage of the fiscal 2026 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill. “The House has just sent a clear message about the role nuclear will play in the future of American energy,” Newhouse […]

President Donald Trump on Sept. 5 signed an executive order establishing the Pentagon’s “secondary” name as the “Department of War.”  The directive is an initial step in moving to officially change the Department of Defense’s title, which would require congressional approval.  “This is something we thought long and hard about. We’ve been talking about it […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office and a contractor are installing a new system meant to cut downtime at depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) plants The current DUF6 conversion process makes use of small vacuum pumps to take out residual uranium hexafluoride (UF6) from heated cylinders, DOE said in a Sept. 2 press release. […]

Constellation has appointed Chris Mudrick as its chief nuclear officer, effective Sept. 29.  Mudrick, who currently serves as Constellation’s senior vice president of generation growth, will replace Dave Rhoades, who is retiring at the end of the year after serving in the lead nuclear role since 2021. Rhoades has worked at Constellation for more than […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: September 10: Hybrid meeting: The DOE Site-Specific Advisory Board for the Nevada National Security Site meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106. 16: Meeting: The Portsmouth […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup field office at the Oak Ridge Site intends to modify its current deal with United Cleanup of Oak Ridge (UCOR) for more transuranic waste processing and treatment at the Tennessee complex. “The services include the safe, compliant, and cost-effective operations and maintenance of the Melton Valley Solid Waste Storage Facilities […]

Nuclear power reactors worldwide cranked out a record 2,667 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity during 2024, according to a report released this week by the World Nuclear Association. That is up slightly from the prior high of 2,660 TWh during 2006, according to the report released Monday Sept. 1. The global reactor fleet ran at […]

BWX Technologies and Kairos Power have agreed to work together to explore commercial production of tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel to supply Kairos and other customers. Under the agreement, the joint team will explore opportunities to use Kairos’s TRISO Development Lab at its Albuquerque, N.M. campus, BWXT Innovation Campus in Lynchburg, Va. and BWXT’s existing TRISO […]

The Department of Energy, including its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, has taken action to address weaknesses in its unclassified cybersecurity program, according to an August report by the Office of Inspector General. The report, which evaluated the program at 29 DOE locations from January 2024 through May 2025, said that programs and sites, after […]

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voiced concerns Wednesday on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s independence and its ability to ensure nuclear safety. In particular, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked if any commissioners feared being fired by President Donald Trump’s administration if they deemed a reactor design unsafe, or failed to make a […]

Five organizations are being tasked with developing missile prototype designs for the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile program, according to an emailed press release by the National Security Technology Accelerator. The contracting platform National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL), upon inquiry from the Exchange Monitor, said Leidos, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman were awarded as prime […]

The Senate voted Tuesday to proceed with floor debate on its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week, with the House to follow next week. The Senate voted 84-to-14 on the motion to invoke cloture, or to initiate the process for a debate on the bill, Tuesday evening. This means the […]

The House Rules Committee Tuesday started taking up rules for debating the House Energy & Water Appropriations bill for fiscal 2026. The measure (H.R. 4553) that passed the House Appropriations Committee in July would provide more than $25 billion for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with more money for weapons stockpile modernization and nuclear […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority and ENTRA 1 Energy have entered into an agreement to deploy new nuclear generation in the southeast. Under the agreement, ENTRA1 will deploy up to 6 gigawatts or 6,000 megawatts of new nuclear energy to TVA’s seven-state region by deploying six ENTRA1 Energy plants, according to TVA’s Tuesday press release. ENTRA1 […]

The Department of Energy said last week it will shop around for qualified small businesses capable of doing general support service work at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a sources sought notice Aug. 26 on Sam.gov and on the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website. The DOE […]

The Department of Energy’s current orders for national low-level and mixed low-level commercial waste treatment are scheduled to expire Dec. 3, according to a DOE Office of Environmental Management website. The nuclear cleanup office announced last week it has awarded five-year basic ordering agreements for five companies: EnergySolutions; Perma-Fix Environmental Services; Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal […]

Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will testify before a Senate oversight hearing Wednesday morning, amid an ongoing shakeup at the agency. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing, will be held at 10 a.m. Eastern Time in Room 562 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building, will feature Commissioners Bradley Crowell, Matthew Marzano […]

Laura Cooper, the former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, announced on her LinkedIn profile that she logged her last day in federal service this summer. “After 25 years, my last day of federal service was June 28,” Cooper said last week in her post to LinkedIn. “It’s still a lot […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:   September 10: Hybrid meeting: The DOE Site-Specific Advisory Board for the Nevada National Security Site meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106. 16: Meeting: The […]

Aalo Atomics announced it has broken ground for its experimental reactor in Idaho near the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The Austin, Texas-based startup nuclear company was selected as one of the 11 projects under DOE’s reactor pilot program and plans to reach by July 4, 2026, according to Aalo’s Aug. 28 press release. […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Venado supercomputer has started running a series of OpenAI models to complete national security research for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, the Department of Energy announced Aug. 28. The Venado supercomputer, which DOE says is the 19th fastest supercomputer in the world, moved to a classified network earlier this year, according […]

Two workers at the Department of Energy’s vitrification plant at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., were involved in a “near miss,” according to an August report more than a month after a jobsite evacuation triggered by a smoke alarm. According to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report dated Aug. 1, the Low-Activity […]

The Department of Energy said this week more than 1,000 cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) were converted into a more stable oxide form at two former gaseous diffusion plant sites during fiscal 2025. The work took place at DUF6 conversion plants located at the DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in […]

WASHINGTON, DC — Nuclear energy is being pushed by the Donald Trump administration, but the effort needs a strong workforce and policy behind it, authors of a new report said here Wednesday.  The working group held a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  to discuss the report “How America Can Achieve […]