Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

The Department of Energy’s recent decision to cut the size of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Washington state by nearly half would bring the membership more in line with other nuclear cleanup site advisory panels, based on a review by Exchange Monitor. The DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced last month it would […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing not be published on Monday September 7 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. The next edition will be posted on Tuesday September 8. 

Submarine maintenance delays have cost the Navy $3.4 billion over the past decade and could add $3.1 billion more as it prepares to retire aging Los Angeles-class attack submarines, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds. In an analysis of attack submarine (SSN) data from fiscal years 2008 to 2025, GAO said it found […]

AtkinsRéalis has turned to a 32-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force with experience in the aerospace industry as a Canadian security vice president based in Ottawa. AtkinsRéalis said in an Aug. 26 press release it has appointed John Edelman as its vice president, Defence, Canada. In that role, Edelman will oversee the company’s […]

The Department of Energy’s national laboratories as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration have made use of uranium oxide produced by conversion plants at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. That was one of the takeaways from an Aug. 20 meeting of the Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, according to […]

The state of Tennessee Monday issued a fusion-specific byproduct material license forType One Energy to build a commercial fusion plant at the Bull Run site in Clinton, Tenn. This marks the first-ever fusion license to be issued by a state, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in a press release. This decision also […]

The House of Representatives voted 370-48 to pass a conferenced, short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through Dec. 11, but the House Appropriations chair still criticized the Senate for not working on its individual appropriations bills. The stopgap spending bill now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature to become […]

Sandia National Laboratories has completed a sounding rocket flight test designed to provide real-world reentry data that will inform development of nonnuclear components for the Navy’s W93 nuclear warhead. The Atrax test, conducted at Sandia’s Kauai Test Facility, collected data on the aerodynamic loads and vibrations a reentry vehicle experiences as it travels toward its […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reviewing an application from NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy that would indirectly transfer four Dominion-operated nuclear plant licenses to a NextEra subsidiary as part of the companies’ proposed merger. The public may request for a hearing about the indirect transfer of the licenses by Sept. 16. Comments about the […]

Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower awarded 12 supplier contracts Monday to further beef up its supply chain for its Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyo. According to TerraPower’s press release, the companies selected are: Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Merrick & Company was awarded two contracts: pin removal cell design and sodium cover gas monitoring skids design. Atlanta-based Mirion Technologies: […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to install two new ammunition storage magazines at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Outdoor Live Fire Range, replacing existing structures that no longer meet current security requirements. The project, detailed in an August floodplain assessment released by the Department of Energy, would take place at Technical Area 72, where […]

Paul Murray, who has spent decades working on nuclear-related issues in the government and private sectors, could retire soon from the Department of Energy, according to industry sources. Currently a senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, Murray has informed department brass about his plans to retire within days, according to an industry source. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report publicly issued last week it recommends the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) take steps to improve a system used to monitor contractor performance. A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act calls for GAO to “examine EM’s oversight of contractors’ assurance systems,” […]

Atlanta-based Perma-Fix Environmental Services reported a fall in revenue for the second quarter, which the company attributed to a decrease in revenue in its treatment segment. The revenue for the second quarter, which ended June 30, was nearly $12.9 million, down from nearly $14.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Factoring in the company’s operating expenses […]

The House Science Subcommittee on Energy will discuss the current state of the advanced nuclear reactor sector of the industry in a Wednesday morning hearing with a nuclear official and several industry representatives. The subcommittee hearing will be held in Room 2318 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. at 10 a.m. Eastern […]

The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant could face a station blackout within roughly 10 days if external power is not restored or additional diesel fuel is delivered, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. The plant has been without off-site power since Aug. 20, when military activity damaged its connection to the 330-kilovolt Ferosplavna-1 line, its […]

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.  15-16: Conference: The Department of Energy’s National Cleanup Workshop hosted […]

Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]

Fuel loading is underway at the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, marking one of the key final steps toward restarting the reactor that shut down in 2022, Holtec International announced Sunday. “We are thrilled to announce that Palisades began the process for loading nuclear fuel into the plant’s reactor vessel this morning, marking a historic […]

Borehole drilling is underway at Finland’s deep geological repository as Finnish nuclear waste management company Posiva Oy said last week it has begun drilling the first underground deposition hole. Posiva said in its Aug. 27 company update that the operation started the afternoon of Aug. 26, when the drill head of the Deposition Hole Boring […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Threat Reduction Agency removed a disused cobalt-60 source from Guatemala, transporting the material to secured storage in the United States. The operation, which started in May, involved the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and Guatemalan officials from the National Centre of Radioactive Wastes and Ministry of […]