Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The Department of Energy’s cleanup office has resumed its efforts to control a longstanding hexavalent chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, local managers said last week. Partial resumption of what DOE calls its “interim measure” started Sept. 30 with up to to 3 injection wells and 3 extraction wells, Jessica […]

KNOXVILLE — Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) told the Monitor here Tuesday that “regardless” of what happens election night Congress needs to get the budget done by Dec. 20. “It’s my hope that we can conference our appropriations bills with the Senate and get a budget passed by Dec. 20,” Fleischmann told the Monitor. “I think […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has removed cesium and solids from about 2,000 gallons of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state in preparation in connection with the Test Bed Initiative demonstration project. In a news release, DOE said Hanford tank contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has pretreated the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s in-house legal advisors this month recommended tweaking the agency’s mission statement to clarify that regulation does not unnecessarily limit beneficial civilian use of nuclear energy. Separately, NRC’s Office of the Executive Director, helmed by the agency’s top civil servant, recommended a slightly different change to the mission statement. NRC’s Office of […]

Residents of South Bruce, Ontario, Canada, on Monday voted to become a potential host site of a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste. The difference between consenting to the repository and not came down to fewer than 100 votes, according to official results dated Tuesday. Consent carried the day though, with 1,604 voters for the […]

A documentary film, the “Half-life of Memory — the hidden legacy of Rocky Flats, America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” opens in Denver soon. As part of the Denver Film Festival, the film by Jeff Gipe whose father worked at the plant, has showings set between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8 at the Sie Film Center, […]

While the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Eddy County, N.M., received 490 shipments during fiscal 2024, DOE envisions a more modest 425 shipments during fiscal 2025, top managers said during a public meeting last week. For the short term at least, the rate of defense-related transuranic waste shipments is “probably going to […]

Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., had a net loss in the third quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed in part to costs associated with a Department of Energy uranium contract. Centrus lost about $5 million, or $0.30 a share, in the third quarter, compared with earnings of about $8.2 million or […]

Community members from Santa Fe, N.M., marched Friday to protest a project by Los Alamos National Laboratory that would build a power line through the Caja del Rio Plateau, local media reported. Pueblo tribe members and other community members walked through Santa Fe, from the County Administration Building to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

Vehicle mishaps at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory complex continue to worry the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, according to a staff report dated Oct.4 and posted on the board’s website. There were four onsite wrecks during September, including one involving an overturned dump truck, although no one was injured, according to the […]

Judge rejects motion to reconsider ruling on Hanford liquid waste contract A federal judge recently rejected a motion to reconsider a September ruling upholding the Department of Energy’s award of a liquid waste contract, potentially worth $45-billion, to a team led by BWX Technologies. Judge Marian Horn in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rejected […]

Dan Brouillette, who served as secretary of energy under President Donald Trump, announced Monday he intends to leave as president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, the advocacy group for investor-owned utilities in the United States. Brouillette, who was chosen to lead the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) a little more than a year ago, […]

The Department of Energy is on track to start operation of a major new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico in 2026, managers for DOE and the disposal site contractor said last week. Construction and integrated system testing is complete for the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) at […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for it transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., will release a report soon to help define what constitutes legacy transuranic waste, site managers said last week at a public meeting. The legacy waste disposal plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be out around […]

The 25th annual Business Opportunities and Technical Conference, a yearly gathering of contractors in energy and defense sectors sharing opportunities, will occur in Knoxville, Tenn. starting Tuesday. The annual gathering is hosted by the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association (ETEBA), a non-profit based in Oak Ridge, Tenn. representing the interests of companies involved with […]

Over the weekend, Israel attacked two Iranian military bases, one of which the International Atomic Energy Agency suspected is linked to Tehran’s nuclear program, media reported. Iran’s Parchin military base southeast of the capital in Tehran was used to test high explosives for use in nuclear weapons, the Washington-based nonprofit Institute for Science and International […]

The BWX Technologies-led team taking over the Hanford Site on Wednesday made public introductions of five senior leaders. After getting the go-ahead from the Department of Energy last week, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) began the four-month process of formally taking over management of Hanford’s liquid-waste programs from the Amentum-led incumbent, Washington River […]

Ty Blackford, the president and project manager of the Department of Energy’s Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory, told an advisory board Wednesday that he is leaving. At a meeting of the Idaho Cleanup Project’s Citizens Advisory Board, Blackford said this would be his last time meeting with the panel. “I will be […]

NextEra Energy is still considering, but not committed to, restarting Iowa’s only nuclear power plant, which shut down in 2020, the head of the company told investors Tuesday. “We are currently evaluating the recommissioning of our Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa,” John Ketchum, chief executive officer of NextEra Energy said Tuesday in prepared remarks […]

Since it resumed operations in late August, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has treated more sodium-bearing waste than it did during its first year of operations, an advisory board heard Wednesday. Since exiting a long-running outage this summer the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) has solidified about […]

An attempt to wrench back $260 million in aid from Holtec International effectively ended last week when New Jersey’s Supreme Court declined to hear a state appeal of the company’s successful lawsuit. In an order dated Oct. 15, filed Oct. 18 and distributed to media Tuesday, the highest court in New Jersey on said it […]

The U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington state asked a federal district judge to accept a plea agreement from a subcontractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site accused of fraud in connection with a COVID-19 relief program. In an Oct. 15 legal filing, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref asked that U.S. District Judge Stanley  Bastian accept […]

“Funding needs to happen” for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the State Department’s undersecretary for arms control said Tuesday at a think-tank event about nuclear power.  “People hear the word energy, I mean nuclear, and they kind of run. A lot of people run for the hills,” Bonnie Jenkins, the undersecretary of state for arms […]

Although the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received little rain from the weather system that caused serious flooding in Roswell, N.M., it did cause road damage prompting DOE to alter this week’s shipment plans for defense-related transuranic waste. Due to the flooding that occurred Sunday in Roswell, and some resulting […]

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said it indefinitely reopened a public comment period on the Department of Energy’s July request to expand the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. “A request for an extension to the comment period was received from several stakeholders, most recently at the Agency’s informal public meetings held in […]