Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

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 […]

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 […]