Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States. would receive a “strong reciprocal blow” if it commits any military “mischief,” according to a statement Monday. Khamenei’s comments come after President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran if the Islamic Republic did not comply with a nuclear deal, as part of his “maximum pressure” […]

BWX Technologies, a Virginia-based company, is opening a 170,000 square-foot facility dedicated to advanced nuclear technology in Lynchburg, Virginia. The new labs and workspaces will be used for NASA, the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, national research labs, state government and commercial use, according to the company’s March 26 press release. BWXT has worked […]

John (Jay) Mullis finished his federal career last week as the Department of Energy’s manager for nuclear cleanup at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, with deputy Eric Olds stepping in as the acting boss. The transition was confirmed via email Monday by a spokesperson for DOE. Exchange Monitor first reported the Mullis retirement plans […]

Former Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), a defender of nuclear energy and former chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, died March 25 at age 92.. Johnston was a moderate Democrat that served in the Senate from 1972 to 1997. He started in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1964, and then the Louisiana Senate […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: April  02 – Webinar: The Energy Communities Alliance will hold an online session on New Nuclear Opportunities starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. 

Secretary of the Air Force-nominee Troy Meink says that the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile by Northrop Grumman is needed for deterrence.  “The ground leg of the nuclear triad–Minuteman III and, over time, Sentinel–are foundational to strategic deterrence and defense of the homeland,” he wrote in written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee […]

The pending departure of the Department of Energy’s top manager for nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state as well as federal layoffs at site, concern the head of the advocacy group Hanford Challenge. In a Friday email response to Exchange Monitor the executive director of Seattle-based Hanford Challenge said he was caught […]

Tennessee Valley Authority board member Michelle Moore was removed from her role on March 27, at the direction of President Donald Trump, according to a Securities and Exchange Commissions filing.  The firing of Moore comes a week after Tennessee Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty criticized the direction of TVA in an op-ed piece. […]

Secretary of Energy Chis Wright told Fox Business News last week that deleting diversity language from a federal request for proposals, could attract more interest in new small modular reactor technology funds. The Department of Energy last week issued a $900-million solicitation for small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The DOE press release from March 24 […]

The manager of the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property announced Wednesday he is leaving the department. “After much consideration, I have made the very difficult decision to resign as Hanford Field Office manager, effective on April 24, 2025,” said Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager in a Wednesday memo to site […]

The Indiana state Senate and House of Representatives have passed Senate Bill 424 on nuclear financing, which now awaits the signature of Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R). The bill would allow public utilities to petition before or during the construction of a small modular reactor to recover pre-construction costs from customers prior to receiving certificates […]

President Donald Trump has nominated a trio of officials to lead key Department of Energy branches serving the weapons complex, although as of mid-week Senate committees had not scheduled confirmation hearings on any of them. All three would report to the already confirmed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Exchange Monitor will update the nominees’ progress […]

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) Wednesday told the commander of the Strategic Command Gen. Anthony Cotton that he thinks adding a nuclear warhead to the nation’s submarines could be “disruptive” to the maritime program. A planned nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) would be deployed on the Virginia-class submarines and would include a variant of the W80-4 […]

Connecticut has sent in a request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to become what is known as an agreement state, picking up certain responsibilities for radioactive materials.  An agreement state enters into a deal  with the NRC to assume regulatory authority over particular radioactive materials and do inspections within the respective state borders. The state […]

A Department of Energy advisory board on nuclear cleanup at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week welcomed Edwin DeShong III as interim manager of the remediation field office. . Phyllis Britt, who chairs the Savannah River Site (SRS) Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), acknowledged DeShong’s promotion from deputy manager of the Environmental Management […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments between now and April 23 on plans to grout some of the less-radioactive waste from the 200 West Area. The draft analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act looks at DOE’s plans to pretreat tank waste from the 200 West Area and […]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, told Naval witnesses at a hearing Tuesday that the U.S. needs to “reciprocate” the commitment Australia made to the shipbuilding workforce. “I’m very pro-AUKUS,” Kaine said at the hearing on the state of conventional surface shipbuilding at the Capitol, […]

Texas A&M University professor Satish Bukkapatnam believes that nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source is “a decade or more” away from being feasible. Nuclear fusion is a source of clean energy that involves fusing light nuclei to create energy and helium. In 2022, a Texas A&M University team led by Bukkapatnam and researchers from […]

Oklo, Inc., an advanced nuclear energy company, said Monday that it plans to have its first commercial Aurora Powerhouse deployed in late 2027 to early 2028. Oklo released its fiscal year 2024 financial results and business update presentation on Monday. Last week, the company finalized an agreement with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory […]

The Citizen Task Force for the West Valley Demonstration Project holds a hybrid meeting Wednesday starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time at Ashford, N.Y. Registration information is available online for those seeking to watch remotely via Zoom.   A report on the ongoing remediation by the current contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley will be presented […]

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is shopping around for industry partners to invest between $5 million and $10 million in an “incubator” for startup businesses aimed at areas such as nuclear energy and cyber security. In exchange for the seed investment, the startups would gain access to Idaho National Laboratory’s “world-class facilities and […]

A bipartisan group of Congressional representatives want to expand the National Nuclear Security Administration’s authority to develop counter drone technology, according to a press release by Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.).  The Nuclear Ecosystem Drone Defense Act (NEDD) was introduced by: Reps. Lee and Mark Amodei (R) from Nevada, Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), […]

Twenty attorneys general filed a motion with a U.S. District Court in Maryland Monday seeking a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Department of Energy and other federal agencies blocking mass firing of probationary employees without due process. It is part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Maryland Attorney General […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a solicitation that makes $900 million available through federal funds to support the deployment of small modular reactors (SMR). Originally issued in October 2024, the DOE announced the reissue of the solicitation on Monday as the agency works to better align with the Donald Trump administration’s agenda to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, in an online procurement notice, indicated it will stick with Germantown, Md.-based Project Enhancement Corporation to continue its enterprise-wide strategic planning for the agency. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning posted a limited-sources justification on sam.gov March 20 for a contractor to support document development […]

Two former high-ranking members of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch who took some variant of the White House’s buyout program say on social media they are open to new professional opportunities. Candice Roberston, the recent former head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), as well as Mike Budney, former EM operations boss […]