Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Parsons has secured two task orders from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  to design and deploy counter-nuclear smuggling systems across the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East Region 3 and Africa Region 2 task orders cover counter-nuclear smuggling initiatives in 25 countries, according to an Aug. 27 company announcement. NNSA is a semiautonomous […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group recently announced the death of its President and CEO Richard Driggs followed by the appointment of an interim CEO, John Bukowski. “It is with profound sadness that North Wind Group shares the passing of our President and CEO, Rich Driggs,” North Wind Group announced online Aug. 18. “Rich was a valued […]

Almost a year after the Janus program was announced in October 2025, the United States Army selected five nuclear companies and awarded a collective of $2.2 billion to them to build over 20 microreactors across several military installations. According to the Army’s Wednesday press release, the five companies are Antares Nuclear, BWX Technologies, General Atomics, […]

WASHINGTON – The United States’ civil nuclear cooperation agreement, or 123 agreement, with Saudi Arabia has been sent to Congress for review, Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed Wednesday to reporters at a press conference. Wright spoke with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi at IAEA’s Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea, […]

The Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) selected 13 new reactor projects this week to participate in DOE’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative. According to a Monday DOE Idaho National Laboratory (INL) press release, NRIC, which is located at INL, announced these 12 reactor companies as the following participants to complete 13 projects: […]

Sandia National Laboratories has completed the second and final full-scale crash test of a next-generation transporter designed to carry U.S. nuclear weapons and other sensitive materials. The Mobile Guardian Transporter (MGT), being developed for the Department of Energy’s Office of Secure Transportation, was propelled by rocket motors down Sandia’s sled track before being slammed into […]

WASHINGTON – The next potential nuclear growth sector is moving commercial ships across the ocean, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the head of an international organization said here Wednesday.  Kicking off the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS) initiative, Wright, along with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, said […]

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), who is serving out the unexpired term of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), will run for a full term this November after winning a special GOP runoff Tuesday over a member of the House of Representatives. According to preliminary results from the state of South Carolina, Graham defeated Rep. […]

The Department of Energy and a handful of its contractors are gearing up to receive a high burnup research cask shipment at the Idaho National Laboratory in the coming year. The high burnup research cask will be shipped out of Dominion Energy’s North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va. DOE said last June it will […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) who chairs a key House Appropriations subcommittee and is a vocal advocate for the Oak Ridge Site and the Department of Energy, took to X Tuesday afternoon to cite the death of country music superstar and entrepreneur Dolly Parton at age 80. “Tennessee has lost a true icon with the passing […]

Fremont, Calif.-based Pacific Fusion broke ground in Albuquerque, N.M. for its $1 billion fusion research and manufacturing campus Tuesday morning. The fusion company plans to build a fusion facility at the campus that will contain its demonstration fusion system, which is hoped to achieve net facility gain by 2030, according to Pacific Fusion’s Tuesday press […]

The Department of Energy and the environmental cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., have started certifying containers of transuranic waste in preparation for eventual shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Tuesday announcement that it is working with Amentum-led contractor […]

Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) “generally met” Department of Energy requirements for site access and security badging, but an audit identified a gap involving substance abuse testing. The DOE Office of Inspector General found that SRNS, which is the prime that manages and operates the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, generally complied with […]

The Navy said Aug. 17 it completed shakedown trials on the USS Massachusetts (SSN-798) and the submarine is ready for fleet tasking after the service waived the boat’s post-shakedown availability due to its “superb material condition and combat readiness.”  The Navy said waiving the period was made possible due to the operational quality of the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding an uncontested hearing on Sept. 22 at 5:30 p.m. Central Time in Port Lavaca, Texas for X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactor (SMR) project in Seadrift, Texas. The uncontested hearing, or mandatory hearing, will give public members an opportunity to discuss and ask questions about X-energy’s construction permit application, according […]

While the Department of Energy is doing an adequate job of detecting improper payments or overpayments to contractors, there is still need for improvement, DOE’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said recently. During fiscal 2025, DOE’s vetting turned up $53.6 million “of improper payments and unknown payments, which resulted in an improper payment rate of […]

Carlsbad and Eddy County, N.M., the area where the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is located, is facing a week of high temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. The high Monday was expected to reach 106 degrees with a heat advisory in effect, according to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is planning roughly $140 billion in uranium enrichment efforts through 2105, but has not provided Congress with required cost information, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. NNSA’s current inventory of low-enriched uranium and highly enriched uranium is expected to meet national security requirements into the 2040s, GAO […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has promoted Mindy Toothman to be deputy manager at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. In the new role, Toothman will assist DOE Carlsbad Manager Mark Bollinger in overseeing operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is the nation’s only deep disposal site for […]

The White House’s new science and technology strategy elevates nuclear energy to a critical technology for national security, while also emphasizing the need for a survivable and credible nuclear deterrent. The August 2026 National Security Science and Technology Strategy identifies nuclear energy as one of 12 “key enabling technologies” that the White House says agencies […]

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas agreed to partner up to explore small modular reactors (SMRs) for maritime purposes. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Maritime Administrator Stephen Carmel and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) from the House Appropriations’ Energy and Water subcommittee were all in attendance for the signing […]

Bechtel will oversee development of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, according to a press release this month from  Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), the Polish company behind the project  PEJ said in an Aug. 6 press release it handed over the leading role to Bechtel, its general contractor, as construction for the site begins. In this […]

Lynchburg, Va., -based BWX Technologies (BWXT) has tapped industry executive Suzanne Maddux as its senior vice president for operations, reporting directly to CEO Rex Geveden, the company said last week. In this role, Maddux “will support the company’s continued growth in nuclear national security and commercial nuclear power markets,” BWXT said in an Aug. 20 […]

The Australian government’s naval shipbuilding infrastructure manager selected an Amentum-Laing O’Rourke joint venture to deliver a new nuclear-powered submarine construction shipyard in Australia, Amentum announced last week. Amentum said in a press release that under this long-term contract as a “Capability Partner,” it and Laing O’Rourke will “play a central role in developing the new […]

The first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) could cost more than $23 billion, with the 15-ship class totaling $275 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report published this month. The most recent 30-year shipbuilding plan released in May said the Navy plans for the BBG(X) to reach a 15-ship class by 2056 and showed the Navy […]

Indianapolis-based First American Nuclear Company (FANCO) has submitted what it calls a “regulatory engagement plan” with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility. FANCO said in its Aug. 17 press release that it plans to make its own fuel, using high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), for its 240-megawatt EAGL-1 lead-bismuth eutectic-cooled fast […]