Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The House on Tuesday evening narrowly passed a budget resolution that sets a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities via the reconciliation process, to include spending $100 billion on defense over four years. The 217-215 vote along party lines to pass the measure followed uncertainty in the House over Republican holdouts who sought deeper spending […]

The Leidos-led landlord contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is looking for a subcontractor to build a new fire station at the former plutonium production complex site. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, which acts as a city manager for the Hanford Site, posted an online request for proposals Feb. 18 seeking […]

The Huntington Ingalls-led Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediating legacy waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has finished excavating and cutting down to size corrugated metal pipes long buried at Technical Area 54. That is according to an update this week from Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) […]

Holtec and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Tuesday announced another step in their plans to develop new small modular reactors at the currently-closed Palisade nuclear plant site in Covert, Mich. Holtec and the South Korea-based construction company said in a Tuesday press release they are making headway in their effort to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) […]

Duke Energy management has doubled down on plans to invest in small modular reactors, and intends to submit an early permit application this year to use one of its North Carolina sites for the nuclear technology.  Duke’s pursuit of small modular reactors (SMRs) includes seeking Department of Energy backing to help defray some of the […]

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), whose district abuts Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said Tuesday the nuclear enterprise was facing a “workforce shortage.” Fleischmann, who chairs a House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy & Water, also told the Exchange Monitor Tuesday recent layoffs at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee were […]

WASHINGTON — Teresa Robbins, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told the Exchange Monitor Tuesday that everyone whose firing was rescinded at the agency was successfully contacted and has returned to work. Robbins spoke to the Monitor on the sidelines of a panel on Capitol Hill hosted by Washington forum Advanced Nuclear Weapons […]

The Congressional Research Service sent and updated a report to Congress Feb. 12 on the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile. “Despite the [Joe Biden] Administration’s objections, Congress has provided continued funding for the missile and the associated warhead,” the “In Focus” report said.  The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the National Nuclear Security […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Pantex nuclear weapons plant near Amarillo, Texas is in the market for a subcontractor to provide three “canine detection teams” capable of sniffing out explosives, according to an online procurement notice. BWX Technologies-led PanTeXas Deterrence, the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) management contractor, posted the notice […]

Chantilly, Va.-based Parsons said recently it has bought TRS Group, an environmental remediation firm, in a cash deal valued at $36 million. Parsons, a major contractor for the Department of Energy and other agencies, announced the deal in a press release dated Feb. 4. TRS was formed in 2000 and is considered a leader in […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recently welcomed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to the weapons complex with a summary of safety issues including waste drums and transportation. “On behalf of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), I extend our warmest congratulations and welcome you to this pivotal role,” DNFSB Acting Chair Thomas Summers […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the fourth quarter, and 2024 as a whole, which the company chalked up partly to Department of Energy contracts and rising interest in commercial nuclear power. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $71.1 million, or $ 0.77 a share up from $ 66.3 […]

The B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb’s life extension program has “fully transitioned into the stockpile” after its last production unit was produced in December, Sandia National Laboratories announced Monday in a press release. With production complete for the B61-12 life extension program, the gravity bomb can now enter the stockpile for “sustainment,” the press release said, […]

Jennifer Granholm, former secretary of energy for President Joe Biden, is joining the boards of directors for Edison International and its regulated electric utility, Southern California Edison, the companies said last week in a press release. Granholm, who is also a former governor of Michigan (D), will join the boards for both companies effective April […]

A plant built to solidify sodium-bearing liquid radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is offline for maintenance until June, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). According to a DNFSB staff report dated Feb. 7 and recently posted on the board’s website, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) started […]

The congressional nuclear security working group, chaired by Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.), will host a panel discussion with Bechtel and the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center on the Capitol Tuesday. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., will give the […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has advised Department of Energy employees to “please pause” on responding directly to an email from the Office of Personnel Management entitled, “What did you do last week?” “The Department of Energy is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: February 24: Earnings call: BWX Technologies will discuss quarterly financial results in a conference call with Wall Street analysts starting at 5 p.m. E.T.  27: Earnings call: NuScale Power will discuss quarterly financial results in a conference call with analysts […]

Effective this week, BWX Technologies-led Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) is taking over as the contractor in charge of about 56 million gallons of liquid radioactive and chemical waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “H2C leads the nation’s largest and most complex radioactive waste cleanup, including closure of the […]

The Defense Department last week said it expects to cut its civilian workforce between 5-8%, adding that beginning this week it will start to lay off 5,400 probationary workers followed by a hiring freeze.  The department is “re-evaluating our probationary workforce” as it complies with President Donald Trump’s direction for a more efficient and productive […]

The Senate early on Feb. 21 voted 52-48 to pass a budget resolution that sets a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities via the reconciliation process, to include spending $150 billion on defense over four years.  “This budget resolution directs other Senate committees to find spending cuts to fully pay for the much-needed funding for […]

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who represent the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, Friday sought details on recent terminations of personnel at DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Nevada lawmakers issued a statement and letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and acting National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator […]

Soon-to-retire Department of Energy senior executive Jim Owendoff is not worried about there being enough management talent around the nuclear cleanup complex to make up for seasoned hands departing in the near future. In a Friday afternoon telephone interview with Exchange Monitor  Owendoff confirmed he plans to leave government, after about a half-century of combined […]

Jeffrey Baran, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who more recently worked at the Department of Energy, has taken a deferred resignation offer from the Office of Personnel Management and is leaving the federal government. Baran joined DOE last September as deputy assistant secretary for waste and materials management at the Office of […]

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command said Wednesday it conducted a routine reliability flight test of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile at 1 a.m. Pacific time from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. As in previous tests, the reentry vehicle traveled about 4,200 miles to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald […]