Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET), a nonprofit organization dedicated to repurposing older Department of Energy facilities at the Oak Ridge Site, has begun the first phase of turning a uranium enrichment area into a private park. The organization will conduct road improvement projects, lighting and landscaping as part of a closure plan […]

AtkinsRéalis has appointed Jeff Kendall as president of the company’s US nuclear business, the engineering services and nuclear company announced Wednesday. According to the company’s press release, Kendall had been with AtkinsRéalis for seven years, with his most recent position being interim president for the US business. In the seven years he also served as […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has finished commissioning the long-anticipated new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The roughly $500-million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) is designed to more than triple underground airflow to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to 540-,000 cubic feet per minute, […]

To listen to U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments Wednesday on whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authority to license private spent fuel storage facilities, go to this high court webpage about 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Then click on the live audio icon. A recording and transcript will subsequently be posted on this website by […]

President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress is not technically a State of the Union address. 

The House of Representatives member whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant expressed alarm Monday at reports the Donald Trump administration might pull the plug on the building housing DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) is “deeply concerned about reports indicating that the General Services Administration (GSA) is planning […]

Dae Chung, a long-serving Department of Energy executive, has been tapped by the Donald Trump administration to serve as the acting head of DOE’s multi-billion-dollar nuclear cleanup branch. A status change in Chung’s LinkedIn profile Tuesday now lists him as acting principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Environmental Management. Chung takes over the […]

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill last week with the aim of safeguarding and securing radioactive materials, and reducing the risk of bad actors developing a so-called “dirty bomb.”  The Securing our Radioactive Materials Act, would mandate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to implement recommendations on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from September, […]

The House Financial Services Committee will mark up legislation Wednesday morning promoting international funding for nuclear power projects. The International Nuclear Energy Financing Act (H.R. 1474) would set up a nuclear trust fund at the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other financial entities. With dozens of nations planning or studying […]

Chantilly, Va.,-based Amentum has appointed Michele St. Mary as its chief legal officer and general counsel, the government contractor said Feb. 17. In her role, St. Mary will oversee a wide array of legal issues ranging from ethics to contracts to litigation, according to the press release. Before Amentum, St. Mary served as the vice […]

Outlays at the Department of Energy as well as the Department of Defense are two areas that remain among the federal government’s “high-risk areas needing significant attention,” Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said last week in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. On the other hand, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is […]

Following the tense meeting with the leader of Ukraine last week, President Donald Trump could touch upon Ukraine policy Tuesday night during a address to both chambers of Congress. The address to the joint session of Congress is set for 9 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday and will give the president an opportunity to speak about […]

The Virginia-class submarine USS Minnesota arrived at HMAS Stirling, Australia on Feb. 25 for the first of several SSN routine port visits to Australia set to occur this year.  This visit is also the first of two planned U.S. submarine (SSN) visits to that base in 2025. The visits are part of increasing experience and […]

As Congress faces a March 14 shutdown deadline, President Donald Trump has endorsed taking up a “clean” stopgap funding measure that would keep the government open through the end of September.  “The Budget from last YEAR is still not done,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday night.”We are working very hard with […]

The 97th Academy Awards ceremony was held last night in Los Angeles and while no nuclear power or nuclear weapon-themed movies were among the front runners for the 2025 Oscars, here are a few of the more memorable ones from past years. This list was curated by Exchange Monitor. Your list may vary. Oppenheimer is […]

The Department of Energy issued a memo dated Thursday Feb. 27 saying telework and remote work agreements will be terminated, with exceptions, and all employees will return to in-person work. The memo, obtained by the Exchange Monitor on Friday, said DOE was pursuing President Donald Trump’s executive order from his first full day in office, […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 05: U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments: NRC V. Texas  23-1312) Interim Storage Partners LLC V. TEXAS. 9 a.m. Eastern Time in Washington, D.C.  05: Permit public meeting for Storm Water at Los Alamos National Laboratory starts at 4 p.m. Mountain […]

Carrie Meyer, who heads communications and stakeholder engagement for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, has left the agency. “After 18 years with the US Department of Energy, I’ve officially checked out for the last time,” Meyer said over the weekend on her LinkedIn profile page. “Excited for new opportunities on the horizon!” […]

Two Department of Energy nuclear cleanup offices in New Mexico could be hard hit by the White House deferred-resignation program, according to a list viewed by Exchange Monitor. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management field offices at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Carlsbad, N.M., office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant […]

A company called Last Energy announced Friday it hopes to build up to 30 micro-reactors on a 200-acre site in Northern Texas to help power data centers. The company, which bills itself as a technology developer for 20-megawatt reactors, said in a press release it has already applied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas […]

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 […]