Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The United States still leads the world in nuclear energy generation but China and Russia are seeing rapid growth in their respective nuclear fleets, according to a recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis. As of June 2025, the U.S. nuclear fleet of 94 operating reactors has a generating capacity of 97 gigawatts, which amounts to […]

Exchange Monitor is entering its annual August break that occurs while Congress is in recess. As a result, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published on Monday Aug. 11. It will only be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays between now and Aug. 25, at which time the schedule returns to normal. Thanks and stay […]

The state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is satisfied workers have successfully cleaned out the high-level liquid radioactive waste from Tank 8, DOE said this week. The milestone marks the sixth tank in 13 months to receive preliminary cease waste removal designation from the South Carolina Department of […]

Earnings rose at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the second quarter, which the national security and technology company attributed to controlling expenses in a time of “uncertainty” and some new contract awards.  For this year’s second quarter, Leidos reported a net margin of 9.2% and net income of $393 million on sales of $4.25 billion, up […]

A California Democrat and a New York Republican in areas with retired reactors are having another go at passing a House of Representatives bill aimed at increasing safety oversight at nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning. Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) recently said they would reintroduce the Increasing Nuclear Safety Protocols for Extended […]

Santa Clara, Calif. based advanced nuclear technology company Oklo will report its second quarter financial results on Aug. 11 in an earnings conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Oklo, which was the first company to receive a site use permit from the Department of Energy for a commercial advanced nuclear plant, will report its […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., during the past quarter, which the company attributed in part to the White House and congress prioritizing nuclear power and national defense.   Net earnings for the quarter ended June 27 were $10 million, or $0.04 a share, up from a $26 million loss, or a loss of $(0.29) a […]

The Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will deploy Cornelis Networks technology to power Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s high-performance computing cluster “Lynx.” The “Lynx” cluster is a supercomputer with 952 computer nodes that is part of NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing initiatives, which assesses the validity of the U.S. nuclear stockpile through […]

Chantilly, Va. Based Amentum will report quarterly financial results Wednesday conduct an earnings conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Amentum, one of the largest contractors in the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, will report results for the quarter ended around June 30. In May, Amentum reported net earnings of $4 million, or $0.02 a […]

X-Energy has awarded Clark Construction Group a $48.2-million contract for the building phase of its advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility, TX-1, in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The contract award, encompassing Phase 2A of the facility construction, will include the completion of the core and shell of the 214,812 square foot facility, according to X-Energy’s Tuesday press […]

The Department of Energy has signed a lease with a California-based nuclear startup for reuse of 100 acres of the Paducah Site in Kentucky for a new private-sector domestic uranium enrichment facility that could employ 140 people and be worth $1.5 billion. DOE and its Office of Environmental Management announced the deal with General Matter […]

Russia “no longer considers itself bound” to a self-imposed treaty between the United States and Moscow that prohibits deploying intermediate-range missiles, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was a pact made in 1987, during the Cold War, which banned ballistic and cruise missiles launched from land with […]

Transportation Secretary and Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy confirmed in a Tuesday press conference that NASA has expedited plans for deploying a nuclear reactor on the moon. The confirmation comes after several major news outlets reported on Monday of the space agency’s plans. The reactor directive would order NASA to seek industry proposals for a […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va. in the second quarter, which the company attributed to strong performances in government operations. “We had exceptionally strong second quarter 2025 financial results driven by solid operational performance and pacing of work, particularly in Government Operations, which was complemented by robust bookings in both segments, leading to record […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it has picked Standard Nuclear of Oak Ridge, Tenn., as the first company to participate in a Donald Trump administration pilot program to develop nuclear fuel production lines to support advanced reactors. In the Aug. 4 press release, DOE said Standard Nuclear has been “conditionally selected” as the first […]

A California-based environmental group wants Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent decisions to forgo additional seismic risk evaluation at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. Diablo Canyon is a two-unit nuclear plant based in San Obispo, Calif. and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric. The company submitted a license […]

While the Senate’s appropriations bill for the Department of Defense includes a $21.7 billion topline increase, many nuclear modernization programs in the DoD got a reduction. The Senate Appropriations Committee last Thursday voted to advance its $852.5 billion fiscal 2026 defense spending bill, approving a $21.7 billion topline increase that boosts funds for shipbuilding, munitions […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy will brief the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board later this month on DOE management of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. The hybrid summer meeting, announced recently by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), is scheduled Wednesday Aug. 27. The all-day session kicks off at 8 […]

After President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines moved near Russian waters, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded with a warning in the Russian state news agency Tass Monday. Trump’s submarine repositioning was in response to former Russian president and current Russian deputy chair of the security council Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev was responding to what […]

Mark Sautman, the acting deputy technical director of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has retired after 31 years with the agency. “I was really fortunate to spend 26 of those years as a resident inspector at the Savannah River Site, Hanford and Rocky Flats,” Sautman said July 31 on his LinkedIn page.

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: August 04: BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., will report its second quarter earnings on Aug. 4. BWXT plans to hold its conference call with analysts at 5 p.m. E.T.  05: Leidos, Reston, Va., will report earnings for the quarter ended July 4 on  […]

The Air Force has not divulged how much it reprogrammed in fiscal 2024 funds from the Sentinel to modify the Qatari jet for use as a stand-in Air Force One by President Donald Trump. The Qatari gift of a Boeing 747-8i luxury airliner to the U.S. for use as Air Force One was a gift […]

After being confirmed by the Senate on July 28, David Wright was sworn in as chairman of the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Friday afternoon. Wright’s prior term expired at the end of June.  In an Aug. 1 emailed statement to ExchangeMonitor from a NRC spokesperson, Wright said: “Earlier this afternoon, I was sworn in […]

The top nuclear cleanup official at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site Friday sought to ease public concern over radioactive wasp nests found last month at the federal complex near Aiken, S.C. “The U.S. Department of Energy is managing the discovery of four wasp nests with very low levels of radioactive contamination that have […]

A federal safety panel wants to know how the Department of Energy will ensure nuclear safety given reduced staffing and restructuring. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on July 25 formally requested DOE brief it within 30 days on continuing to ensure safety at the department’s nuclear cleanup and weapons stockpile branches. “Per statute, […]

New Mexico is citing the Department of Energy and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with violations and giving them until Sept. 24 to deliver a plan for fixing aging assets at the disposal site for transuranic waste. An order by a branch of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) gives […]