Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Belarus and its nuclear power plant in Ostrovets Tuesday to conduct meetings, the agency said in a press release. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), traveled with a team of experts to assess the situation and ensure “nuclear safety and […]

Amentum, which last week absorbed Jacobs Solutions’ government service business, is eyeing business opportunities at U.S. nuclear-weapon sites and in nuclear energy, its CEO told the ExchangeMonitor Tuesday. Prior to Friday’s merger, Amentum, spun off from Aecom in 2020, was part of three big nuclear-weapons-cleanup contractors serving the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. […]

The Department of Energy did not adequately study the environmental effects of producing nuclear-weapon cores in two states, a federal judge ruled Monday in a three year-old lawsuit. But the judge in the case declined to halt construction of the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., as requested […]

The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration was set to become landlord of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina effective Tuesday, Oct. 1. The nuclear-weapons agency will take over management of the 310-square-mile federal complex near the Georgia line from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which cleans up shuttered nuclear-weapons production sites. […]

Steven Becker, Allen Croff, Tissa Illangasekare and Kenneth Peddicord left the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Friday as part of a major membership facelift finalized last week by President Joe Biden. A board spokesperson confirmed the four people had left in an email sent Tuesday to the Exchange Monitor. The White House on Friday said […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and other senior officials from President Joe Biden’s (D) administration were to tour the Palisades Training Center in Covert County, Mich., on Monday, the Department of Energy said. The training center, operated by Holtec International, supports the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, which the Jupiter, Fla.-based company is trying to restart […]

The new Amentum Holdings, comprising the former privately-held Amentum and the Critical Mission Solutions and cyber businesses spun off by Dallas-based Jacobs, will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday Sept. 30.  As expected, the combined company on Friday announced it had completed its merger.  The new company will trade under the […]

The Department of Energy gave $5.65 million to the National Nuclear Security Administration for 11 research projects in using plasmas to simulate nuclear explosions, a press release said. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would collaborate with the DOE Office of Science to study plasmas created in a lab to create the conditions found in […]

President Joe Biden (D) on Friday said he would nominate six people to serve on the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The board is a sort of technical consultant and peer reviewer for Department of Energy programs related to both high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants. Members serve four-year terms […]

Defense ministers from the U.K. and Australia last week said they will negotiate a new treaty related to Australian-made nuclear-powered submarines to be developed under the AUKUS agreement. During a press conference following a trilateral AUKUS defense ministerial meeting in London, British defense secretary John Healey announced that he and Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime […]

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) visited Aiken County, home of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, on Sunday to view damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene, a local newspaper reported. McMaster and top state transportation and law enforcement officials were expected to fly over the damaged areas around the county before they hosted […]

With less than a month of legislative work days remaining in the 118th Congress, lawmakers from California and Texas on Tuesday introduced a bill that would create a Nuclear Waste Administration. Sponsored by a bipartisan pair whose districts contain or border large nuclear constituencies, it was the latest show of support for an old idea […]

New cleanup rules for the Los Alamos National Laboratory will go into effect by next week, but the Department of Energy and New Mexico do not have to agree on new cleanup deadlines by then. DOE and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) must sign a revised consent order governing Los Alamos cleanup within 30 […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said Wednesday the federation changed its nuclear doctrine, specifically by adding new adversary actions to the list of things that warrant a nuclear response from the Kremlin, according to a video posted by state media. “Aggression by a non-nuclear-weapon state, but with participation or support of a nuclear state, would […]

WASHINGTON — After passing the House and being rushed to the Senate, a three-month continuing resolution was agreed to by both chambers days before the end of fiscal year 2024. The bill, voted on Wednesday as Congress prepared to leave town until November, passed 341-82 in the House, with unanimous Democratic approval, 132 Republicans for […]

A Department of Energy report to Congress about cleaning up excess nuclear weapons facilities will be a few months late next year, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday. DOE’s report will arrive by June 30 instead of March 31 as required by law, according to an attachment to a letter signed by Candice Robertson, senior […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday recommended that the Senate vote on William “Ike” White’s nomination to join the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The approval by the committee, which received White’s nomination in May, clears the way for the full Senate Senate to send the former head of the Department of Energy’s Office […]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told a room of Navajo Nation members Tuesday that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act would pass by supermajority, but that the House speaker hadn’t “committed” to giving it a vote. “’l just thank Speaker Johnson for being very involved,” Hawley said at a press conference on Capitol Hill […]

President Joe Biden (D) would pass a funding bill that would freeze federal budgets at 2024 levels through Dec. 20, a White House statement said Tuesday. “The Administration calls for swift passage of this bill in both chambers of the Congress to avoid a costly,  unnecessary Government shutdown and to ensure there is adequate time […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday said it established an Atomic Safety Licensing Board to hear a local man’s arguments against granting regulatory relief for the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan. In a Federal Register filing, NRC said it last week established the board to preside over a hearing sought by […]

WASHINGTON — Construction on the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex is about 70% complete and ahead of the current schedule, the site manager told the Exchange Monitor recently. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages.  “So the current baseline schedule, and […]

The Department of Energy on Oct. 2 will host a webinar for people interested in shaping a request for information about conducting a series of violent tests on a container being developed to transport spent nuclear fuel.  DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced the webinar on Monday in a press release. On Friday, the office […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said it planned to vote in November on whether Matthew Marzano should join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The vote was set for the top of a committee business meeting scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Nov. 13 in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in […]

The mega-merger of Amentum Services, Chantilly, and the government and cyber businesses of Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, was scheduled to close Friday and begin Monday. Jacobs announced Sept. 13 that the close of business today, Monday, Sept. 23, would be “the record date for the spin-off distribution of its Critical Mission Solutions and Cyber & Intelligence […]