Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

As the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration awaits its marching orders from the President Donald Trump administration, the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now saying it will get to an annual plutonium pit production goal of 30 “ASAP.” Such pits are the triggers for thermonuclear weapons. David Dooley, the associate laboratory director for […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Dennis Carr, the president and CEO of the prime contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina says he is not seeking to head the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy, although “if asked I would consider it.” “People keep coming up and asking me that,” Carr told Exchange Monitor Tuesday […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — James Peery, director of the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories, told the Exchange Monitor Monday that the W80-4 had its first flight test on the Long Range Standoff Missile last week. Peery spoke with the Monitor after speaking at a panel at the Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit with Kim […]

Jeff Avery, the No. 2 officer at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is moving over to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and a corporate official who worked at DOE during the first Donald Trump administration is being detailed to the nuclear cleanup branch in a senior adviser role, according to a […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is “clear-eyed about the work ahead” with its two-site strategy for plutonium pit production, NNSA’s acting administrator Teresa Robbins told the opening of the 17th annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday. Much work remains over the next decade for NNSA to achieve its goal of […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The scheduled rebaselining process is done at the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., an agency official told the Exchange Monitor here Monday. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages. Audrey Beldio, principal assistant deputy […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — There will likely be a 15 year minimum overlap in silos between the Sentinel and the last Minuteman III, an Air Force Global Strike Command leader said here Monday. “I think 15 years is probably an ambitious estimate,” Maj. Gen. Stacy Jo Huser, commander of the 20th Air Force in the Air […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are reintroducing a bill to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation (RECA) Act (RECA). A similar bill passed the Senate last session but never made it to a vote in the House of Representatives. On Thursday, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced he and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) […]

The Senate on Friday evening narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth as the new secretary of defense with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie breaking vote. Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon was approved largely along party lines while three Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), joined all Democrats in […]

Arlington, Va. — Gen. Anthony Cotton, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command is expected to give a fireside chat on the weapons complex during the annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit that begins Monday morning in Arlington, Va. Cotton is one of many players in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the nuclear weapons enterprise […]

Florida-based NextEra Energy said during its fourth quarter earnings report Friday it is shooting for a 2028 restart of its Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa. “Recently, the company filed notice with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to request a licensing change—an important first step in establishing the regulatory pathway to restore the facility’s operating […]

Joel Spangenberg, a career fed who logged several years as a manager around the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, has retired from the federal government and accepted a post with the U.S. branch of a nuclear company based in the United Kingdom. “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Vice President […]

The Donald Trump administration is replacing most members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, sources told Exchange Monitor late last week. Two sources within the Department of Energy weapons complex told the Monitor the White House asked for the resignation of nearly all members of the 11-member board charged with independent scientific peer reviews […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 27 – 29: 17th Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Exchange Monitor. Crystal Gateway Marriott. Arlington, Va. Register online. 27-28: Meeting: The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Citizens Advisory Board for the Savannah River Site meets starting at 9 a.m. E.T. at […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to advance to the full Senate President Donald Trump’s nominees to head the Department of Energy and the Department of Interior. The committee vote on the nominations of Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to be secretary of energy and former North […]

The Department of Energy has posted the times and coordinates for a pair of February public scoping meetings on soil cleanup plans at the Energy Technology Engineering Center section of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Site in Simi Valley, California. An online or virtual meeting regarding a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on cleanup of contaminated […]

Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said Tuesday that the lab cannot rely on wind and solar power for its capabilities or to power its supercomputers. “That was part of a pretty extensive analysis on how to get more power on site,” Mason said in response to a question about the Electric Power […]

The Department of Energy is putting the breaks on most contract solicitations, reports and personnel moves, Acting Secretary of Energy Ingrid Kolb said this week. In a Monday memo, viewed by Exchange Monitor, Kolb said most contract procurements of $100,000 or more were to be put on hold as were most loan guarantees, hiring, promotions […]

WASHINGTON — While unclear how President Donald Trump (R) will approach AUKUS, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says there are ‘positive bits of evidence’ that it will be sustained in the new administration. “The president is very focused on shipbuilding, okay?” Kaine told the Monitor at the Capitol on Wednesday. “So that’s good. And I think […]

President Donald Trump’s (R) return-to-office mandate for federal workers did not affect Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel, who already work mainly on site, the lab’s director said on a virtual town hall Tuesday. “Nobody’s making pits in their garage,” Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said on the zoom call. “Everything has to […]

Among the flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump signed Monday after being sworn in are measures to implement a federal hiring freeze and telling government staff to return to in-person work. “Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate […]

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tuesday that President Donald Trump must return to the table and reach “an understanding” with Iran on its nuclear program. “There was an agreement that existed before President Trump decided that it was not the path he wanted to follow,” Grossi said, referring to […]

WASHINGTON — Ahead of President Donald Trump’s (R) swearing-in, Jill Hruby, now former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, advised the Trump administration to look at the agency’s enterprise blueprint. “I want to be clear that the blueprint is not a wish list,” Hruby said last week at a tell-all at Washington think tank […]

President Donald Trump (R) on Monday ordered federal agencies to pause distribution of funds appropriated by his predecessor’s signature stimulus bills, including funds intended to jumpstart a domestic uranium refining industry. “All agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment […]

President Donald Trump (R) on Monday made David Wright the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Wright was one of a large number of designations the White House announced in a statement mere hours after Trump took the oath of office for the second time. Wright succeeds Christopher Hanson, who had been chairman for much […]