Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

Robert (Bob) Alvarez, a former Senate staffer, 1990s Department of Energy official and nuclear watchdog, died July 1 following a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease, according to published reports. The Institute for Policy Studies and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published remembrances of Alvarez in recent days. “Bob won a Lifetime Achievement Award in […]

The House Appropriations’ Energy & Water subcommittee is proposing a $7.7-billion budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in fiscal 2026. That is according to the July 13 House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. A summary of the legislation is here and the bill text is here. The […]

Nuclear energy spending would receive a boost in fiscal 2026 legislation laid out July 13 by the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water subcommittee. In the proposed House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee bill, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy would receive $1.795 billion, which is $110 million more […]

Brian Vance, the Department of Energy’s former manager of nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state has reportedly accepted an executive position with the Framatome nuclear fuel plant in Richland, Wash. The Tri-City Herald reported Monday Vance started working as a manager for the Framatome fuel manufacturing plant July 9. The newspaper said […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently accepted for review the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  NRC told TVA in a July 9 letter it has completed the acceptance review for the second part of the construction permit application. The regulator previously completed the first half […]

The House Armed Service’s starting version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would authorize $25.4 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and establish a New Advanced Nuclear Energy Working Group. The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will mark up the bill at 10 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, July 15 in Rayburn House […]