Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

A federal district judge in Massachusetts will continue to hold up the White House’s planned deferred resignation program for federal employees. CNN and other news outlets reported Monday evening that U.S. District judge George O’Toole, Jr. said from the bench he plans to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the latest deadline for President Donald […]

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s subcommittee on energy will hear from four Department of Energy lab directors on the labs’ ongoing research programs. The subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2318.  The witnesses include: Kim Budil, director of […]

The area around the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio is under a winter weather advisory, while the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is under a flood watch, according to the National Weather Service forecasts. Upwards of two inches of snow could fall around Piketon, Ohio on Tuesday and Tuesday night, according to the […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services has hired Troy Eshleman, who has more than 34 years of experience in managing radioactive waste and decommissioning projects, to the newly-created position of chief operating officer. Eshleman was previously president of Oakleaf Environmental and held numerous senior management roles at EnergySolutions, Perma-Fix said in a Jan. 30 press release. “We’re looking […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 10: Hearing: A federal district judge in Massachusetts will hear arguments on a White House plan to offer deferred resignations to certain federal employees.  11: Earnings call:  Leidos will discuss its quarterly financial results during an earnings call starting at […]

The Piketon, Ohio Village Council has for now at least called off a plan, vehemently opposed by local union members, to annex 3,500 acres of land at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. The council abandoned the proposal after a Monday night meeting where perhaps 200 people showed up, according to coverage in the Scioto […]

The BWX Technologies-led contractor soon to be in charge of the 56 million gallons of liquid tank waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has already lined up most of its rank-and-file workforce. Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) had already secured commitments from 92% of the workforce at Amentum-led Washington River Protection […]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Friday President Donald Trump would support the AUKUS agreement with Australia. The defense secretary made the remarks while meeting his Australian counterpart, Defense Minister Richard Marles, at the Pentagon. Hegseth said this after Australia made its first payment of $500 million last week toward the $3 billion investment promised […]

Senate Republicans on Friday unveiled a budget resolution that sets a blueprint for passing President Donald Trump’s policy priorities via the reconciliation process, to include adding $150 billion in defense funds over four years. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, detailed the proposal that also calls for $175 billion in homeland […]

Northrop Grumman expects its B-21 stealth bomber and the Sentinel next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile “to be less than 10 percent of sales in the company, but continuing to gradually increase from ’24 into ’25,” CEO Kathy Warden said in a quarterly earnings call last week. Northrop Grumman introduced guidance for 2025, with sales projected to […]

Alex Fitzsimmons, who previously held executive jobs at the Department of Energy and the private sector has been appointed DOE chief of staff under Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Fitzsimmons announced his chief of staff job last week on his LinkedIn page and introduced Wright Wednesday morning when the energy secretary gave his first address […]

Centrus Energy signed a long-term agreement to supply Korea’s nuclear reactor fleet with low-enriched uranium from the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, the company announced Wednesday. Amir Vexler, president and CEO of Centrus, met with Whang Jooho, president and CEO of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, to sign the contract, according to a LinkedIn […]

The day after being sworn in as secretary of energy, self-described nerd Chris Wright said updating the U.S. nuclear arsenal, increasing civilian nuclear power and cleaning up Manhattan Project sites are among his priorities at the Department of Energy. It is vital to “modernize America’s nuclear stockpile,” Wright told DOE staffers during a Wednesday introductory […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which the company that recently combined with the government contracting wing of Jacobs attributed to strong core businesses linked with national security. In response to questions from Wall Street analysts during a Wednesday morning conference call, CEO John Heller said Amentum management […]

Crews at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina are continuing a program started in 2016 to save storage space by double-stacking canisters of vitrified high-level waste. Employees started the latest double-stacking phase, inside Glass Waste Storage Building 2 in December 2024. Crews have already modified 150 positions there so far, […]

President Donald Trump has tapped Scott Pappano and Matthew Napoli to be the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator and deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, respectively. The nominations require Senate confirmation.  Both Pappano and Napoli were received by the Senate Armed Services Committee Monday. A date for a confirmation hearing for either has […]

Texas A&M University announced Tuesday it would offer land to four advanced nuclear reactor companies to build small modular reactors. According to a press release by the university, reactor manufacturers have been looking for a piece of land large enough to build clusters of reactors to generate a power supply “needed for artificial intelligence endeavors, […]

President Donald Trump has nominated a veteran federal executive Theodore (Ted) Garrish to be the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy. Garrish has been assistant secretary for nuclear power previously, and has generally been a fixture around DOE and the nuclear energy circuit for more than three decades, according to his bio. His […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has found no big environmental harm should result from Holtec International’s proposed restart of the 800-megawatt Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Mich. Between now and March 3, the NRC is taking public comment on its draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact, according to a Federal Register […]

The Senate voted 59-to-38 Monday evening to confirm Chris Wright as the 17th secretary of energy. Wright is CEO and founder of Liberty Energy, a publicly-traded company that provides services and technology to the oil and natural gas industry. Wright’s confirmation was expected given he was not considered one of the more controversial picks so […]

With the retirement of chair Joyce Connery on Friday, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is down to two members and no longer has a quorum. The five-member panel with a mission to provide independent safety analysis and advice to the Department of Energy, now has only two members: Acting Chair Thomas Summers and […]

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is visiting the Kyivska substation this week in his 11th visit to Ukraine since its war with Russia began. The visit to the substation and to the capital of Ukraine will begin Tuesday Feb. 4, according to the agency’s website. “I’m heading to Kyivska substation, […]

Lockheed Martin won a modification to a previously=awarded contract to work on advanced design and development for the Trident II Life Extension 2 Alteration, the Department of Defense said Friday. The cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to the existing contract for the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad was awarded on a sole source basis, according […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 03: Vote: The Senate is expected to vote on Chris Wright nomination to be secretary of energy. Vote expected after 5:30 p.m. E.T.  06: Deadline; The White House has set close of business today as its deadline for federal employees […]

The U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s intercontinental ballistic missile directorate has awarded BAE Systems a more than two-year $1.2-billion contract extension, keeping BAE on the project through July 2027.  The award came the day before BAE Systems’ nearly 12-year,  $1.9 billion support contract was set to expire.  The award comes as the Air Force […]