Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The city of Oak Ridge, Tenn., could delay development of a long-sought airport on remediated Department of Energy land after Orano-USA selected Oak Ridge as its preferred site for a new uranium enrichment plant. The September announcement by Orano means the city could pause development of the general aviation airstrip and reconsider the proposed location, […]

The Department of Energy last week awarded six contracts for turning future stocks of government-owned, high-assay low-enriched uranium into forms suitable for use as nuclear reactor fuel. DOE made the awards a little less than a year after soliciting bids for the work. The six contracts combined are worth up to $800 million over 10 […]

A judge Monday granted an extension for parties involved in a three year-old lawsuit against the Department of Energy to reach a compromise, a court document shows. The new due date for a joint proposal by both parties is Oct. 25, according to a filing in the case. Judge Mary Lewis last week ruled that […]

Andrii Korotkyi, head of security at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general Monday. “Any targeting of employees of nuclear power plants would constitute a blatant violation of this pillar fundamental for overall nuclear safety and security,” International Atomic […]

Savannah River Site returned to its normal operations Monday after the site was limited to essential personnel in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a spokesperson told the ExchangeMonitor. “Phased resumption of workers returning back to the site began [in the] middle of last week,” the spokesperson told the Monitor in an email. “During the storm […]

A little over a week into becoming publicly traded over the New York Stock Exchange, common shares of Amentum Holdings were trading at less than $25 at market close Tuesday afternoon. Amentum Holding shares were trading at $24.76 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, according to Yahoo Finance. The Amentum stock opened the day […]

The Department of Energy believes the winner of a fiercely litigated, $45-billion Hanford Site liquid waste contract trumped its rival’s technical approach to a decade-spanning cleanup program and picked better people to do the job, a legal opinion unsealed this week shows. The opinion by Judge Marian Horn in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims […]

As part of a review of its new responsibilities under a bill passed this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission might create a new branch focused on exports, or it might not, the agency’s head told media Tuesday. “We may do that, but that’s a discussion that we’re still taking a look at,” Christopher Hanson, chair […]

Former Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio), who as a leader of the House Appropriations Committee helped shape Department of Energy nuclear programs for nearly 20 years, died Sunday at 87, media reported this week. Ohio Gov. Mark DeWine (R) released a statement about Hobson’s death on Sunday. Hobson retired in 2008 after nine terms in the […]

Two years after a St. Louis-area school was closed following reports of radioactive contamination, Missouri lawmakers are laying groundwork for new state laws about risks from legacy nuclear-weapons. Missouri House Speaker Rep. Dean Plocher (R) announced the formation of the committee in a statement dated Oct. 3. The eight-member Special Interim Committee on the Impact […]

A federal judge last week did not reinstate an Iranian-born ex-professor to the University of Toledo in Ohio after the former faculty member sued the university on multiple counts of discrimination. Judge Jeffrey Helmick in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, western division, dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims on Sept. […]

The West Virginia Senate this week was to take up a bill passed last week by the state House of Representatives that would let Charleston regulate nuclear materials in cooperation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The House approved the bipartisan bill on Sept. 30 by a vote of 73-18, with nine members not voting. Rep. […]

A Wyoming lawmaker on Tuesday planned to introduce a bill that would allow for the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in the state, according to the legislature’s website.  A draft of the bill was posted online ahead of this week’s planned session of the The Wyoming state legislature’s joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development […]

Here are some events related to defense nuclear matters that ExchangeMonitor staff are tracking this week. October 08 – Wyoming lawmaker planned to introduce a bill concerning the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in the state. Legislative business was scheduled to begin in Cheyenne at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. Proceedings were to stream online. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s office of radiological security hosted a workshop in Thessaloniki, Greece, to showcase technologies aimed at reducing terrorism risks, the agency said Friday. Representatives and regulators from Algeria, Greece and Italy attended the workshop on Sept. 17-18 to listen to and network with experts from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost connection to the only remaining backup powerline needed to cool its six reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general. According to a statement by the agency Thursday, the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) disconnected Tuesday morning from its backup 330 kilovolt line, forcing it to be […]

The Amentum-led nuclear cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee had yet to reply to a recent federal lawsuit by a former heavy equipment operator who claims he was unfairly fired in November 2021 for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Friday, United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) had […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Tuesday finished its First Production Unit of a plutonium pit for the planned W87-1 warhead, an agency press release said. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) verified, or “diamond stamped,” the pit, the fissile core of a warhead first stage, after it met the requirements for readiness to be […]

Vice presidential candidates and nonprofits discussed Iran’s nuclear program Tuesday and Wednesday, including the possibility of destroying it in response to a ballistic missile attack on Israel. On Wednesday, after the candidates traded barbs over Tehran in a debate, one hawkish, former national security official at the Washington-based Atlantic Institute called for destroying Iran’s nuclear […]

A woman driving westbound on the main thoroughfare through Los Alamos left her lane and ran head-on into an SUV driven by Charles McMillan, killing him, the Los Alamos Police Department said. Charles McMillan, 69, was the only person to die in the crash in Los Alamos, N.M. Sept. 6. His wife Janet McMillan, and […]

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge will hear oral arguments Oct. 10 at the request of an AtkinsRéalis-led team that the judge ruled against last month in a $45-billion legal dispute over award of the Department of Energy’s liquid waste contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Senior Claims Court Judge Marian Blank […]

The Department of Energy has awarded a Knoxville business a $1.6-million contract to make upgrades to a pond on former uranium enrichment plant land at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to a recent online procurement notice. SES Constructors LLC was awarded the contract to repair or replace the P1 Pond Weir Dam and […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site should again consider reclassifying high-level radioactive wastes into something that existing technology can legally treat, a recent Government Accountability Office report recommended. The recommendation was part of a Sept. 26 report by Congress’ investigative arm, titled “Hanford Cleanup: Alternatives for Treating and Disposing of High-Level Waste Could Save Billions […]

For the first time in a while, the Department of Energy and its contractor have reached full operation of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facilities in Ohio and Kentucky, the agency said Tuesday. The Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio recently completed a planned maintenance outage, during which plant upgrades were made, including upgraded control systems to […]

Mark Rutte, NATO’s new secretary general, said in a press conference Tuesday that despite “reckless and irresponsible” rhetoric from the Kremlin, he does not see an impending nuclear threat from Russia. “We should just acknowledge the fact that clearly, there is no imminent threat of nuclear weapons being used,” Rutte said at the press conference […]