Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

El Segundo, Calif.-based microreactor developer Radiant Nuclear has signed a long-term nuclear fuel agreement with Standard Nuclear, the company said Aug. 20. Under the deal Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Standard Nuclear will  fabricate and supply tristructural isotropic – or TRISO fuel for Radiant’s Kaleidos microreactors through the early 2030s, according to Radiant’s press release. The agreement […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  August: September: 9: Meeting (hybrid): Nevada Site-Specific Advisory Board meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at the Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89106.  15-16: Conference: The Department of Energy’s National Cleanup Workshop […]

The Department of Energy surprised the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Richland, Wash., this month when it unveiled plans to shrink the number of board members and shift appointment authority to the federal government. In an Aug 12 press release, DOE announced plans to “strengthen” and “modernize” the HAB, partly by cutting the federal advisory […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 although its near-term revenue dipped from contract protest delays and other factors. That is according to Amentum’s Aug. 10 earnings release. Net earnings for the quarter ended July 3 were $66 million, or $0.27 a share, up from $10 million, or $0.04 […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 17 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in July, after shipments were paused in May due to issues with the plant’s underground hoists.  For comparison, WIPP received 48 TRU waste shipments in July 2025. The facility received 23 shipments in May 2026, before the […]

Two environmental organizations filed appeals to two U.S. Courts of Appeals in pursuit of continuing its challenge to Holtec International’s Palisade Nuclear Generating Station restart in Michigan. The coalition of environmental organizations Don’t Waste Michigan and Michigan Safe Energy Future filed its first appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S.  Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio […]

Urenco USA held a groundbreaking ceremony, attended by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, for the planned expansion of its National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, N.M. Tuesday. The company announced multi-billion-dollar plans in June to expand its New Mexico enrichment facility by almost 50% to meet growing domestic enrichment needs. Urenco USA, an affiliate of the European […]

A bipartisan House bill introduced this week would substantially expand the federal government’s radiation compensation program, adding communities and workers exposed to nuclear testing and extending the program for another 15 years. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act of 2026 – introduced by Guam Delegate James Moylan (R) and co-led by Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández […]

Leonardo DRS on Aug. 4 said it signed an agreement to build a new facility in Brookfield, Conn., to expand and consolidate operations for its Naval Power Systems businesses and  ultimately help increase throughput.  The new site will provide 141,087 square feet of space and combine operations currently spread across three locations in Danbury and […]

The Navy said this month it will reclassify 19 planned Virginia-class attack submarines equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) as guided missile submarines (SSGNs).  The Virginia-class submarine is expected to deploy the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile and include a variant of the W80-4 warhead, something the National Nuclear Security Administration is already working on. […]

Thomas Mooney, a manager experienced in the public and private sectors, joined Amentum in August as a vice president for business development, according to his LinkedIn profile. Mooney comes to Amentum from Parsons Corp., where he was a business development director since January 2023. Before that he was a strategic account manager for Leidos. Prior […]

The five-state shortlist for nuclear hubs was driven by the Department of Energy’s search for host sites  focused on managing waste, DOE’s Marla Morales said in a webinar Monday. In a webinar hosted by the American Nuclear Society, Morales, DOE’s acting deputy assistant for spent fuel and high-level waste disposition, said that the Nuclear Lifecycle […]

A year after a new off-site research center opened, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) management is planning to put robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies into motion to reduce the Department of Energy’s $500 billion environmental cleanup projection. In an interview with Exchange Monitor, SRNL Director Johney Green said the first year of operation […]

The technology company Nvidia said Monday it has reached a lease agreement for “land, power and shell” or LPS facilities for an artificial intelligence (AI) data center at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. “Today, we are partnering with SB Energy to secure LPS capacity at the exceptional PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in […]

The Department of Energy has released the first set of revised and canceled directives under an initiative aimed at reducing burdensome processes at its national laboratories, plants and sites. DOE and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Institutional Contractor Assurance Office said Aug. 13 that the Modernizing DOE Operating Directives Initiative, formerly known as Project Velocity, revised […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office told a federal advisory committee last week that the potential annexation of several hundred acres by the city of Richland, Wash., would not slow nuclear cleanup at the former plutonium production site. “Absolutely not,” DOE Hanford Field Office Manager Ray Geimer said in response to […]

The Department of Energy and state of Washington plan a public meeting Sept. 2 on expanding cesium-removal facilities for liquid tank waste at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management kicked off a 60-day public comment period Aug. 14 on the planned Advanced Modular Pretreatment System (AMPS), which would double the […]

The Department of Energy has awarded Pacific Gas & Electric a $271 million award to help the company keep California-based Diablo Canyon Power Plant in operation, the department said last week.  The award was granted under DOE’s Civil Nuclear Credit Program, a $6 billion investment fund to support the continued operation of the existing nuclear […]

Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) is exploring the use of digital high frequency (DHF) nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) for the future Sentinel missile by Northrop Grumman. DHF would avoid electronic jamming and use of satellites and have high data rate transmission, according to an Air Force notice on its market research.  This […]

Former Department of Energy legal counsel official Seth Cohen joined Standard Nuclear’s board of directors, the company said Aug. 14 in a LinkedIn post. Cohen’s appointment comes after he left the federal government in June. When in the government, Cohen was DOE’s chief counsel for nuclear policy, a senior advisor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]

Fluor selected retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Caldwell to its board of directors as the engineering and construction company expands its work across nuclear energy and government markets. Caldwell, who joined the board Aug. 4, served as director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program from 2015 until his retirement from the Navy in January 2024, […]

Earnings rose at Centrus Energy, Bethesda, Md., in the second quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed to the timing and mix of nuclear fuel sales and continued progress on its uranium enrichment expansion. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were approximately $16.8 million, or about $0.85 a share, […]

A new report, commissioned by Deep Isolation, found that a growing number of Americans believe that finding a permanent disposal solution for high-level radioactive waste is a national priority.  The United States’ lack of a permanent waste repository has been a looming problem for decades. According to the 25-page report, 81% of the people surveyed […]

The BWX Technologies-led joint venture leading the liquid waste cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site awarded three subcontracts Tuesday that will handle future tank-side treated waste. EnergySolutions, PermaFix and Waste Control Specialists were the three companies selected for the subcontracts, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) said in its press release. The […]