Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Amentum-led Southern Ohio Cleanup Co. has unveiled a website laying out its transition to become remediation contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management awarded the contract, potentially worth about $5.9 billion over a decade, in June 2023. But it only greenlighted the start of transition this month following the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s executive director of operations, Mirela Gavrilas, has announced her retirement from the independent agency, effective June 28.   Gavrilas told the NRC staff of her retirement in an emailed statement, according to an NRC spokesperson. “Serving as your EDO [Executive Director of Operations] this last year has been the absolute highlight of […]

Waste Control Specialists (WCS) received a lot of radioactive waste by train at its West Texas site during 2024, company president David Carlson told Exchange Monitor’s Radwaste Summit last week in Savannah, Ga. During 2024, WCS received 600 shipments of waste by rail. This included 5,000 canisters and 3 million cubic feet of waste, according […]

The Government Accountability Office last week recommended the National Nuclear Security Administration formalize plans for transitioning responsibilities for radiological safety in Ukraine to Ukrainian partner organizations. “While NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] took steps to manage fraud risk at the individual contract level, it did not conduct a program-level fraud risk assessment tailored to its […]

On the heels of a controversial firing of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission member, President Donald Trump has renominated NRC Chairman David Wright to serve another term. The Wright nomination was sent to the Senate and referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Monday. Wright’s current term is due to end on June […]

BARKSDALE AFB, La.— Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) , told Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily he is working on approving three plans to replace Minuteman III silos for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. Bussiere, the head of AFGSC since December 2022, discussed the command’s modernization efforts in an […]

An article in the June 16 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing [Triso-X targeting December 2027 for startup of Oak Ridge plant] should have said Triso-X is developing a fuel fabrication facility.  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently released an 18-month review schedule for X-Energy’s construction permit application for its advanced nuclear project in Seadrift, Texas. The NRC provided estimated dates for the Rockville, Md. based nuclear technology company construction permit application’s safety review and environmental review on June 10. For the safety review milestones, the agency […]

Pipe modifications in a tank farm at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are winding down and should be complete in July, according to DOE.  The utility work at the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C., comes  during a planned outage, which began on April 28 and is on track to finish […]

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), an umbrella organization of citizen groups active on nuclear weapons, cleanup and energy issues, wants the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to have a quorum again. In a recent report, the alliance said Congress should protect the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), which is down to two members […]

The Senate Armed Services chairman last week argued the White House Naval budget request shortchanges regular annual appropriations by wrongly assuming gaps will be filled via reconciliation. “I must say, I am deeply disappointed with the administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Navy,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in his opening statement during […]

Kevin McCoy has been appointed as BWX Technologies’ newest chief nuclear officer, the Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear fuel company announced Monday. McCoy, formerly the company’s Government Operations president since 2022, will be responsible for supporting the Department of Defense and Navy in accelerating Columbia- and Virginia-class submarine production. As McCoy steps into his new role, Joseph […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Christopher Hanson was fired late Friday by President Donald Trump, according to Hanson’s Monday LinkedIn post. “Late on Friday, President Trump terminated my position with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission without cause, contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees,” Hanson said.  A NRC spokesperson confirmed the […]

Work crews using heavy equipment have torn down a 1960s era train shed at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, DOE announced last week. “We are pleased to get this structure to the ground as part of our long term cleanup mission,” DOE Office of Environmental Management Nevada Program Manager Robert Boehlecke said […]

SAVANNAH, GA. — Triso-X is targeting Dec. 6, 2027, for production of its first “pebble” of fabricated nuclear fuel at its facility located on land formerly owned by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a company executive told a conference here Thursday. The 215,000-square-foot fuel fabrication facility, called TX-1, will employ about […]

The U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center may hold an industry day in late August to gauge industry capacity to support a possible intercontinental ballistic missile Development, Operations, and Sustainment program for the Boeing Minuteman III (MMIII). The industry day would be held at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. Such a contract would “ensure […]

Nano Nuclear Energy has recently appointed former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry as its Chairman of its executive advisory board. The startup nuclear company headquartered in New York, N.Y. made the announcement on June 10 in a press release. Nano Nuclear’s executive advisory board is made up of various governmental, military and science experts from […]

The House Appropriations Committee voted 36-27 last week to pass its $831.5 billion defense spending bill, as lawmakers reiterated the uncertainty of advancing appropriations legislation without having received full budget details from the Trump administration.  According to the bill summary, the bill supports modernization for the nuclear triad, which includes the B-21 Raider, the Columbia-class […]

Amazon and Talen Energy have entered into a new power purchase agreement to provide 1,920 megawatts of electricity to Amazon from its Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Salem Township, Pa. Within the new deal, the Houston, Texas based power producing company will provide electricity to global tech company Amazon’s data center campus and operations that […]

SAVANNAH, GA.—With interest in nuclear energy the highest it has been in years, attaining public trust is vital to development of new reactors and waste disposal projects. That was a recurring theme here during Exchange Monitor’s 19th Radwaste Summit. Only a few years ago, state legislatures across the country would propose a handful of nuclear-related […]

The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum will hold a webinar on June 18 to discuss the Department of Energy’s High Burnup Research Cask project. The DOE’s High Burnup Research Cask (HBURC) project centers around a container of spent nuclear fuel that holds high burnup fuel. High burnup fuel comes from nuclear fuel kept in a nuclear […]

An article in the June 10 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing [Supreme Court decision looms as nuclear sector reviews Trump exec orders] should have reported Erica Bickford is director of the Office of Storage and Transportation within DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Marla Morales is director of Collaboration Based Siting at DOE Nuclear Energy. 

Centrus Energy executive Shahram Ghasemian will step down from the company later this month, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission Filing. In the June 6 SEC filing, Ghasemian, who is the company’s senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, has given notice to Centrus that he will resign from his […]

House defense appropriators on Tuesday advanced their $831.5 billion fiscal year 2026 spending bill, just hours after pressing senior Pentagon leaders on the lack of details regarding the administration’s budget plans. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered some insight into a few specific funding plans, he faced bipartisan pushback from the panel over having to […]

SAVANNAH, GA. –The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office will have three new contractor teams by early October, the deputy manager of the field office said here this week. Reinhard Knerr, who is deputy manager of the field office for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, discussed the contractor transition here on the sidelines […]

SAVANNAH, GA. — The Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina should receive a certificate of completion for the offsite Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative this summer, Edwin Deshong said Wednesday. During the Radwaste Summit, Deshong gave a brief update on the status of the new research and meeting facility being built a few […]