Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Although the maintenance program at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site tank farms and liquid waste facilities is satisfactory, there are a couple of issues that demand attention, according to a recent DOE report. The facilities at the complex are overseen by BWX Technologies-led contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), which needs to […]

The United States Navy is in the mix of using advanced nuclear energy power naval installations, selecting Naval Weapons Station Crane in Indiana to be the first base to use the technology. The Department of Defense (DoD) said in its Wednesday press release the project will be completed in collaboration with the Army’s Janus program; […]

West Virginia has been selected as a finalist to host a nuclear campus under a high-profile Department of Energy program Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) announced in a Tuesday press conference. West Virginia is now the sixth state to be considered to host a nuclear lifecycle innovation campus, joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, which […]

Although the maintenance program at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site tank farms and liquid waste facilities is satisfactory, there are a couple of issues that demand attention, according to a recent DOE report. The facilities at the complex are overseen by BWX Technologies-led contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), which needs to […]

North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex capable of housing up to 28 centrifuge cascades, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an Aug. 28 report. The IAEA identified a new two-story building at Yongbyon as the site’s second uranium enrichment facility by comparing satellite imagery with […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has approved the next major phase for modernizing the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), allowing the project to advance into design for replacing aging accelerator systems. NNSA said in a Wednesday press release it approved Critical Decision 1 (CD-1) – meaning it gave the green light to proceed from […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory recently drilled a borehole more than 1,000-feet deep for a new groundwater monitoring well to help keep tabs on a hexavalent chromium plume. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced Sept. 1 that legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) had finished drilling […]

James Biggins, a longtime senior manager at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has started a new position as chief of staff and chief counsel at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Biggins joined the Government Ethics office this month, he announced in a LinkedIn post. Biggins has held various key DNFSB posts, including […]

Centrus Energy and Radiant Nuclear agreed to a long-term deal where Centrus will provide high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for Radiant’s incoming fuel needs following its Janus program selection. The Army’s Janus program awarded Radiant with $750 million to construct its Kaleidos microreactor at Fort Benning in Georgia and develop 15 microreactors across several military installations. […]

West Palm Beach, Fla.-based ONE Nuclear Energy said Tuesday it began the environmental evaluation process for its small modular reactor plans, Project Amberjack, in Louisiana. ONE Nuclear, a developer of natural gas and advanced nuclear technologies, said in its press release Project Amberjack would be a multi-unit SMR campus that could produce up to 1,000 […]

The Department of Energy has sent its first shipment of remote-handled transuranic waste since 2009 from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) using a new shipping container. Remote-handled waste is more radioactive than contact-handled transuranic (TRU) waste, which accounts for the vast majority of TRU waste disposed […]

The South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP) is demanding the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) conduct a public environmental review of plans to provide 19.7 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium to private nuclear companies. SCELP published the letter of demand Sept. 8 on behalf of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, […]

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.-Marine Systems has been awarded a $111.4 million contract to maintain, overhaul and repair ship service turbine generators aboard the Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine fleet. The firm-fixed-price and cost-only, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract was posted Sept. 4 by the Defense Department. The deal has a total potential value of $253.3 million if […]

Holtec is gearing up for a multi-billion-dollar valuation, announcing the launch of the roadshow for its initial public offering (IPO) in an amended Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Tuesday. After initially filing registration for an IPO in July, Holtec said in its press release it plans to offer 50 million shares at prices that […]

Lockheed Martin Space has received a $90.2 million contract modification for “advanced design and development” work supporting the Navy’s Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile life extension program, the Pentagon said. The $90,229,306 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification, posted by the Defense Department Sept. 4, supports the Trident II Life Extension 2 Strategic Systems Programs Alteration Advanced Design […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing issued a near $2 billion loan to NextEra Energy to help with efforts to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa. The $1.9 billion loan is the largest yet that DOE has issued to help revive a nuclear power plant. The former Three Mile Island […]

Virginia-based BWX Technologies (BWXT), which is involved in everything from supporting Naval nuclear reactors, to nuclear power to weapons cleanup, will hold an Investor Day presentation Sept. 29 in New York City. The event, featuring presentations from BWXT President and CEO Rex Geveden and other top executives, is by invitation only. However, the webcast audio […]

The United States and European allies are seeking an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution that would report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear safeguards obligations, news outlets said Friday. The U.S., Britain, France and Germany are lobbying members of the IAEA Board of Governors ahead of its upcoming meeting, seeking support for […]

A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) resident inspector watched an emergency drill at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state in August to see how crews might handle an earthquake that damaged facilities within the tank farms. “An RI [resident inspector] observed an emergency preparedness event-scene limited drill simulating a seismic event […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  September: 9: Meeting (hybrid): Nevada Site-Specific Advisory Board meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at the Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89106.  15: Workshop: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds its annual data […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host its seventh annual Artificial Intelligence (AI) Workshop on Sept. 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time at NRC’s headquarters in Rockville, Md.  This year’s workshop will be titled: “Navigating the AI Landscape: Regulator Transformation, Industry Innovation, and Global Collaboration.” According to the event’s agenda, it will heavily […]

NANO Nuclear and Enveniam signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to potentially collaborate on building out a nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure and deploying NANO’s microreactor technology.  Enveniam, based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is a project integration solutions company that works in various areas of the energy sector, including nuclear energy. New York-based NANO is an […]

BWX Technologies has received a contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop a conceptual design for the first module of a new Lithium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The first phase of the award is a four-month, $4 million contract that covers the conceptual design […]

Benton County, Wash., where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is located, is one of five counties in the state added this week to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s (D) wildfire emergency proclamation. The others are Columbia, Grant, Kittitas, and Whitman counties, according to Ferguson’s Aug. 31 press release. Altogether 12 counties and three tribal nations are […]

As the public comment period closed Monday for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) radiation standards rulemaking, NRC Chair Ho Nieh continues to back the agency’s move away from “as low as reasonably achievable,” or ALARA, in an op-ed.  The rulemaking, which is part of a series of changes mandated by Executive Order 14300, would move […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Syria was constructing an undeclared nuclear reactor at Deir al-Zor under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to published reports.  The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report viewed by some news outlets such as Al Jazeera its inspectors verified that cooling infrastructure uncovered at the site is […]

WASHINGTON – The scalability of advanced reactor technologies is the next milestone for the nuclear industry, multiple industry representatives and officials told a House Science subcommittee on Energy Wednesday. Joe Hoagland, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory associate director for fission and fusion science, said during the hearing that the DOE’s reactor pilot […]