Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Access Intelligence office in Arlington, Virginia that Exchange Monitor shares with sister publication Defense Daily is closing effective July 31.  The office has not been used much since the pandemic. Reporters and editors largely work remotely anyway and subscribers should not notice any changes.  Going forward, any correspondence normally snail-mailed to Exchange Monitor at […]

RSI EnTech, based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., has acquired Albuquerque-based Sigma Science, another well-known small contractor with the Department of Energy nuclear complex, the companies announced Friday.  RSI EnTech, which is part of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) Industrial or AIS, an Alaska Native corporation, did not disclose the value of the transaction in the […]

Iran will meet with China and Russia Tuesday to discuss its nuclear program and potential snapback sanctions, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday in a briefing. The meeting will come ahead of a meeting in Istanbul between Iran and France, Germany and the United Kingdom, or the E3 nations, on Friday. The E3 nations, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings on July 31 and Aug. 6 to discuss the potential restart of Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly known as Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, in Middletown, Pa. The July 31 meeting will be held in-person at Capitol Union Building, on the Penn State Harrisburg campus, in […]

Holtec’s Palisades Nuclear Plant is inching closer to potential restart as ​the Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to approve six licensing actions this week for the Michigan plant.   In a July 17 notification of significant licensing action, NRC staff said it intends to green light key issues for plant restart. By July 24, staff will “issue […]

Jill Hruby, the most recent administrator of the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, recently joined the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, the organization announced last week. “I’m honored to join the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board at such a pivotal moment for nuclear affairs worldwide,” Hruby said in the […]

News outlets in Washington state reported recently Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose home district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has been advised to avoid public gatherings following a death threat. Threats have been made against Newhouse and his staff, according to various articles, including a July 17 report in the Spokane Spokesman-Review and […]

Dale Vines is starting a new job as vice president of business development at Utah-based EnergySolutions. Vines, started the new position this month, according to an update on his LinkedIn page. Vines for the past two years has been executive vice president of business development for Allied Power. An industry veteran, Vines has previously worked […]

Rolls-Royce SMR and ČEZ signed an early works agreement last week to initiate site work at the Temelin Nuclear Power Station in the Czech Republic. Rolls Royce SMR, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings, and ČEZ, a Czech utility, plan to deploy a small modular reactor at the Temelin site. Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a small agency charged with peer research for Department of Energy management of high-level radioactive waste, is down to one board member after a round of White House dismissals. Board Chair Peter Swift is the sole member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) as of last […]

The House late on Thursday voted 221-209 to pass its $831.5 billion fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill. The legislation was crafted by House appropriators before receiving full budget details from the Donald Trump administration and represents a flat spending level with fiscal 2025, although it aligns with the White House’s plan to factor in reconciliation […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: July: 22: Meeting: A meeting of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board, which will be livestreamed, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Eastern Time from the  Center for African American History, Art and Culture, 120 York Street NE, Aiken, South […]

Kairos Power has installed the reactor vessel for its third Engineering Test Unit at its campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the company announced on Tuesday. The third Engineering Test Unit vessel, which is 14-foot-tall, marks a construction milestone for its non-nuclear reactor mockup, Kairos said in its Tuesday press release. The third Engineering building is […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee released bill language for its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would set the spending cap for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at $26.87 billion. That is over $400 million more than the House Armed Services Committee authorized in its version of the NDAA that […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, recently concluded a 12-day mission to China where it conducted a full-scope review of all of China’s nuclear facilities, activities and safety framework. This review is the first of its kind in almost a decade, according to the Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) publication. The […]

Six environmental groups have sued the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over approval of a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a press release from the groups. The plaintiffs are […]

Westinghouse is targeting starting construction of 10 new AP1000 reactors by 2030, the company’s interim CEO Dan Sumner said at an energy summit in Pittsburgh. on Tuesday. At the first-ever Pennsylvania Energy Summit and Expo, hosted by U.S. Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.), Sumner said Westinghouse has taken a “call-to-action” under President Donald Trump’s executive order […]

The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency is monitoring 74 small modular reactors across the globe that are under active development and not merely paper projects, officials said Wednesday. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), a branch of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), used an online webinar and press conference to show off its new […]

The Department of Energy has announced a new pilot program to strengthen the U.S. supply chains for nuclear fuel and support the expedition of the development of new advanced reactors. The initiative is intended to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials, while allowing the private sector to invest […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has finished taking down a a 6,000-square-foot water treatment structure near the Columbia River that supported remediation work at the property. Crews from Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup carried out the work, DOE said in a Tuesday release. The facility provided water for firefighting […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) used a House Armed Services Committee hearing on a must-pass national defense policy bill Tuesday to bemoan proposed cuts to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) budget. The House Appropriations Committee last month advanced a fiscal 2026 funding bill that could cut GAO’s appropriation by nearly half. This is bad news for […]

Westinghouse has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to use artificial intelligence tools to expedite construction of advanced reactors and improve operations of existing power plants. Westinghouse will pair its HiVE and bertha nuclear AI solutions with Google Cloud technologies to streamline construction of new nuclear reactors into an efficient and replicable process, according to […]

The House Armed Services Committee Tuesday approved fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provisions to, among other things, create a new Rapid Capabilities Program within the National Nuclear Security Administration. The provision within the committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee segment of the markup, is meant “to enhance our ability to respond to growing nuclear threats […]

Oklo has selected Kiewit Nuclear Solutions to lead construction of its first commercial Aurora nuclear powerhouse at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Kiewit Nuclear Solutions., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, will support the design and construction of the Aurora powerhouse at INL under a master services agreement, according to Oklo’s Tuesday press […]

Terra Innovatum and GSR III Acquisition Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with Rock City Admiral Parkway Development for Rock City to host deployment of Terra’s SOLO micro-modular reactor in Illinois. Rock City is a six-million square foot industrial park located in Valmeyer, Ill. The MOU will grant Terra Innovatum, a micro reactor developer, dedicated […]

The House appropriations subcommittee on energy and water passed a fiscal 2026 appropriations bill 10-5 Monday that would give $25.317 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That’s around $1.182 billion above the fiscal 2025 levels, although the funding for the Department of Energy as a whole is $1.396 billion below 2025 levels at […]