Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

There is “no imminent safety concern” of earthquakes severely damaging the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will review the possibility, staff told environmental groups last week. Commission staff will conduct their review “within a reasonable time,” according to a letter sent Aug. 27 to attorneys representing three environmental groups from Michael […]

Legal provisions “made up” by a mineral rights group helped get privately operated interim storage sites banned and created a split among lower courts about whether the ban is legal, a would-be storage company told the U.S. Supreme Court Friday. Both factors, but especially the discord among the lower courts, mean the Supreme Court, an […]

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will travel this week to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine to assess developments and “precarious” safety conditions, the U.N. agency said in a statement. “The IAEA acts promptly and decisively whenever and wherever there are threats to nuclear safety and security,” Rafael Grossi, director […]

State media quoted a Russian foreign minister saying Russia would make changes to its nuclear weapons doctrine in response to Western escalation in Ukraine, Reuters said. “The work is at an advanced stage, and there is a clear intent to make corrections,” state news agency TASS quoted deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov saying Sunday. The […]

Adding Panels 11 and 12 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico should not heighten radiological risk at the underground disposal site, the Department of Energy said during a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public meeting Wednesday in Santa Fe. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a request by DOE’s Office of Environmental […]

Iran’s supreme leader told the country’s government Tuesday he was open to nuclear talks with the U.S., but that Iran should not “trust the enemy.” “Don’t place your hopes in the enemy,” Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a post on the website X, reiterating what he said in a video message on […]

Beyond Nuclear on Tuesday filed a petition to intervene in a license transfer needed to reopen the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station near Covert, Mich. The group filed its petition on the last day to do so. Beyond Nuclear seeks to stop the transfer of Palisades’ operating license to Palisades Energy LLC from Holtec Decommissioning International. […]

The Department of Energy cannot pass the buck to localities when accidents happen at old nuclear weapons sites post-cleanup, an advocacy group for municipalities bordering DOE installations said. In a letter to Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said DOE’s response to a request for clearer protocols “for site emergencies […]

Federal judges on Tuesday ruled against environmental groups who said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission illegally licensed Holtec International to store spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico. The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed in 2021 in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and is separate from a case pending […]

The Environmental Protection Agency planned meetings Wednesday about plans for more disposal panels for defense-related transuranic waste at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The agency has two hybrid public meetings set Wednesday Aug. 28 in Santa Fe, N.M., to discuss DOE’s planned change request for the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit this month ruled against the environmental prime at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site, saying it lacks sovereign immunity from a lawsuit filed by a radiation technician who was fired after refusing a COVID-19 vaccination. Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) argued it is shielded […]

The Russian federation informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that drone remains were found near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, the agency said in a press release. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he would assess the situation when he visits the site this week, and that he would […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced Monday it awarded a BWX Technologies subsidiary a contract to evaluate options for a pilot plant for domestically enriched uranium. Nuclear Fuel Services, the BWX Technologies (BWXT) subsidiary that manufactures fuel material for naval nuclear reactors in Erwin, Tenn., would complete the yearlong engineering study as part of the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission relied on the wrong law when it licensed private long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel, Texas and a mineral rights-group headquartered there told the U.S. Supreme Court last week. It is essentially the same argument that the state and Fasken Land and Minerals successfully used to convince the U.S. Fifth Circuit […]

From Paducah, Ky., to a section of the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico, Department of Energy weapons complex workers are coping with daytime high temperatures this week exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, or in the case of Paducah, 100 degrees.  The DOE’s Paducah Site is expected to see daytime highs Tuesday through Thursday ranging from 100 […]

A weekend wildland fire that threatened thousands of acres at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site is 100% contained, site management said in a social media post Sunday. Fire and rescue teams for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) “have achieved 100% containment of the Ribbon Fire,” according to a Sunday post on […]

In another step in the trilateral AUKUS agreement, the USS Hawaii attack submarine arrived in Australia on Aug. 22 following submarine tender USS Emory S. Land to conduct maintenance work with Australian participants. The Emory S. Land is expected to start several executive maintenance activities in a submarine tendered maintenance period (STMP) aboard the nuclear-powered […]

On Aug. 12, the U.S. Air Force told the Government Accountability Office that the service is canceling the potentially $12 billion Integrated Support Contract 2.0 for the Minuteman III and future nuclear-tipped, silo-based Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles. The service may re-examine intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) support requirements for a future contract. The Integrated Support Contract […]

A federal claims court judge plans a closed- door hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday Aug. 28 with litigants in a dispute over a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian Blank Horn set the hearing for 11 a.m. Eastern Time […]

During a time of much political division in the United States, Democrats and Republicans both support nuclear energy, but lack concensus on nuclear weapons, according to their 2024 party platforms. Now that the Democrats and GOP have concluded their respective national conventions in Chicago and Milwaukee, Exchange Monitor scanned their policy platforms with an eye […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has entered into a new business deal, worth up to $19.7 million over three years, with an existing provider of technology support. DOE said in an Aug. 21 press release the department’s business support office for the chief information officer has signed a blanket purchasing agreement with […]

President Joe Biden approved an unprecedented nuclear strategy in March that would alter the country’s deterrent with aims to focus on China’s expanding nuclear arsenal, the New York Times said. The document, named “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” is currently classified, though the Times said it might be unclassified before the end of the Biden administration. According […]

The Department of Energy is shopping for more qualified developers for large-scale carbon-free energy projects at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. DOE said in a Wednesday press release it is issuing another request for qualifications (RFQ) for utility-scale projects at the 310-mile federal complex as part of the Cleanup to Clean Energy Initiative […]

A Department of Energy assessment during April and May found longstanding concerns over fire suppression systems at the Hanford Site in Washington state have still not been fixed, according to a recent report. Oversight of technical safety measures “are not adequate to ensure that safety significant FSSs [fire suppression systems] at the Central Waste Complex […]

The story “Don’t ‘break the NNSA’ with unrealistic expectations, Pentagon official says” in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, August 14, 2024, should have said “Vipin Narang, former Department of Defense acting assistant secretary of defense for space policy.”