Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee will hear from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Wednesday morning, while the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee will hear from the acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration Teresa Robbins later that day. Wright will testify in a budget hearing on the Department of Energy. The […]

Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, which recently completed its long run as tank farm contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, is looking for a subcontractor to help audit the books. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), a joint venture of Amentum and Atkins, said in a federal procurement notice it is […]

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) is urging House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) to retain tax credits for nuclear energy developments in the reconciliation bill. Federal tax incentives aimed to support investment in and operation of nuclear plants are important to a nuclear resurgence, Newhouse said in a letter sent on May […]

President Donald Trump’s administration signaled Friday it envisions moderate belt-tightening at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management during fiscal 2026. “The Budget maintains the Hanford site in Washington at the 2025 enacted level but reduces funding for various cleanup activities at other sites,” according to a topline or skinny budget request document rolled […]

Nuclear modernization, including the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future intercontinental ballistic missile, and space resilience are top Department of the Air Force challenges that Matthew Lohmeier, the nominee for undersecretary of the Air Force, said he plans to address. “If confirmed, I suspect that the modernization of the nuclear portfolio and ensuring the resilience of […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday favorably reported out two of President Donald Trump’s Department of Energy nominees. The committee endorsed Preston Wells Griffith to be undersecretary of energy and Dario Gil to be undersecretary of energy for science. Both nominations are being placed on the Senate executive calendar, one of the last […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: May:  05: Earnings call: BWX Technologies holds its earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.  06: Earnings call; Leidos Earnings call is at 8 a.m. Eastern time.  07: Earnings call by Amentum at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time,’ 07: Budget hearing: House Appropriations […]

Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory director John Foster died on April 25 at the age of 102, the lab announced Tuesday. Foster served as Lawrence Livermore’s fourth director from 1961-65, before becoming director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense from 1965-1973, under four defense secretaries and two presidents. However, his career […]

With Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance having resigned from the Department of Energy, longtime federal supervisor Brian Harkins is now the highest-ranking fed at the former plutonium production complex in Washington state, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. Acting deputy manager Brian Harkins is currently leading the site, after Vance’s departure last week, a DOE spokesperson said […]

Washington D.C. – President Donald Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy said Wednesday if confirmed he intends to focus on deployment of nuclear advanced reactors and addressing nuclear waste storage. Nominee Theodore (Ted) Garrish, who previously served in the role in the late 1980s, said in his prepared statement to the […]

Software company Govini on Wednesday said it has been tapped by the Navy to help identify issues across parts of the nuclear submarine industrial base. The company said this means the Navy will deploy their flagship Ark software product “to continuously identify vulnerabilities across its industrial base using factors such as financial health, production capacity, […]

The National Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board will discuss topics including the consequences of attacks on nuclear plants, during a two-day meeting starting May 15 in Washington, D.C. “The military threats to Ukrainian nuclear power plants as well as the Chernobyl shelter have raised renewed concerns about the vulnerability of these systems,” according to […]

The Department of Energy and Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) announced late Tuesday they have agreed to a “targeted waiver” of certain aspects of a 1995 settlement agreement designed to expedite removal of old spent nuclear fuel from Idaho National Laboratory. The agreement, which was later modified in 2019, calls for removal of most spent […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will brief the public Wednesday April 30 in Carlsbad, N.M., on issues affecting the nation’s only underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Bechtel National’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors will hold a hybrid community forum  on Waste Isolation Pilot […]

WASHINGTON, DC. – A reconciliation bill that would provide $150 billion in extra funding to defense passed 35-21 in the House Armed Services Committee, despite opposition from Democrats on programs like Sentinel. Sentinel, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) currently being built by Northrop Grumman, received $1.5 billion in “risk reduction” funding in the bill released […]

WASHINGTON, DC. — In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, Vice Admiral Scott Pappano, President Donald Trump’s pick for principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, was asked by Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) if he thought the agency’s workforce should increase. “What you’re going to be tasked with, you and others, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments May 15 on a petition by several organizations opposing the staff environmental assessment for restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan.  Joint petitioners Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Three Mile Island Alert and Nuclear Energy Information Service […]

Charles Smith, who headed a Department of Energy office dedicated to small and disadvantaged businesses during the first Donald Trump administration, is also running it the second time around. Smith was appointed director of the DOE Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization in late January, according to his LinkedIn post. Smith led the office basically […]

The U.S. Navy this week released a draft Request for Solution to design a prototype for a “survivable sea-based capability” for the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile flight system. Capability requirement responses are due by May 5 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. A planned nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) would be deployed on the Virginia-class submarines […]

U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), 75, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Monday he will not seek re-election, months after announcing his cancer diagnosis. “After grueling treatments, we’ve learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned,” Connolly said in a letter to constituents in Fairfax County […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear testimony Tuesday morning from President Donald Trump’s nominee for principal deputy administrator for the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Vice Admiral Scott Pappano, the administration’s nominee to be principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, is scheduled to testify alongside a defense nominee […]

While shipbuilding and Golden Dome are both receiving $59 billion in the $150 billion Department of Defense reconciliation bill, U.S. Air Force aircraft programs also see a significant jump, including $4.5 billion to accelerate the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber. The House Armed Services Committee will mark up the reconciliation bill, which specifies $13 […]

The Nuclear Company announced last week it is opening a primary engineering and construction office in Columbia, S.C. The private new nuclear deployment company is pursuing a “design once, build many” approach to accelerate deployment of a new fleet of nuclear energy units. The company took the approach as a response to the United States’s […]

Both chambers of congress released a $150 billion defense reconciliation bill over the weekend that includes $1.5 billion for Sentinel risk reduction and $500 million for Minuteman III improvements. The bill also includes $800 million for accelerated next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) deployment and development. Sentinel, an ICBM currently being built by Northrop Grumman, will […]

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) recently vetoed a bill that would have removed some of the oversight and regulations for small modular reactor deployment in Arizona. House Bill 2774, sponsored by state House Rep. Michael Carbone (R), would have permitted large industrial energy users to build a SMR in their facility without having a certificate […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a confirmation hearing Wednesday on the nomination of long-time Department of Energy hand Theodore (Ted) Garrish to become assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy. During the hearing at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the Senate panel is expected to hear testimony from Garrish as well as […]