Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Carrie Meyer, acting director of communications for the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, has been promoted to be permanent head of communications and stakeholder engagement, DOE said Tuesday. Meyer has been with Environmental Management for 17 years, much of it at the largest cleanup property, the Hanford Site in Washington state, DOE […]

OMAHA — The U.S. should focus on the air- and sea-based legs of the nuclear triad rather than the land-based leg, a California member of the House Armed Services Committee said last week. “Should we spend $170-80 million on the triad, on the ground based ICBM system, or could we better achieve deterrence using the […]

Small reactor startup Nano Nuclear Energy anticipates litigation over a critical July report from the publishing arm of a New York-based investment firm, the company wrote in a letter last week to Hunterbrook Media. In its letter, Nano Nuclear, New York, demanded that Hunterbrook Media, an affiliate of Hunterbrook Capital, take down an article and […]

The Department of Energy expects a batch of specially engineered replacement parts should help curb maintenance downtime at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a press release. The shipment of 16 replacement centrifugal contactors by Office of Environmental Management cleanup prime Savannah River Mission Completion should […]

Federal judges in August decided not to let environmentalists opposed to the restart of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant reargue their case before an entire appeals court. The judges did not give a reason for their ruling in a decision published Aug. 5 on the online docket for the case in the U.S. Ninth […]

Amentum and branches of Jacobs Solutions specializing in government and cyber-related work are poised to launch a new publicly-traded Amentum next month with deep footprints in nuclear, space exploration and defense work for the U.S. and its allies, executives said last week. “Following the combination, Amentum will generate revenues of approximately $14 billion. And importantly, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 45 shipments of transuranic waste during July, according to DOE’s public website. As usual, the Idaho National Laboratory accounted for the majority of shipments, sending 33. Los Alamos National Laboratory sent four, and the Savannah River Site accounts for the remaining eight shipments […]

The State Department on Thursday submitted a determination to Congress that the Australian and United Kingdom export control systems are compatible with the U.S., a step in smoothing the process for AUKUS nuclear technology sharing. The 2021 AUKUS agreement aims to have the U.K. and U.S. help Australia build and maintain nuclear-powered attack submarines by […]

OMAHA, Neb. — Lawrence Livermore National Securities is negotiating a five-year extension for the management contract of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the director told the Monitor last week. “We’re in the midst of negotiations now,” Kim Budil, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, Calif., told the […]

The Department of Energy has issued a final solicitation for a new landlord contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, business currently held by Swift & Staley. On Aug. 13, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management published the final request for proposals (RFP) for the new Infrastructure Support Services contract at the former gaseous diffusion plant […]

The Department of Energy confirmed Thursday that “more likely than not” another underground tank at the Hanford Site in Washington state is leaking radioactive waste. “Based on conservative estimates, it has been determined that T-101 is more likely than not leaking a small amount of contamination to the soil beneath the tank,” DOE managers at […]

A transformer fire was put out Tuesday afternoon at the Vogtle nuclear complex in Waynesboro, Ga., Southern Co. utility Georgia Power said in a news release, saying the incident did not threaten public safety. The alert was declared around noon Tuesday, which prompted notification of the both state agencies and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]

OMAHA — Uploading land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles would not push the National Nuclear Security Administration past its limits, the head of the U.S. Strategic Command told the Exchange Monitor here Tuesday. “We’ve been actually studying that for a couple of years now to see if that is something that would actually perturb what the NNSA […]

Collecting more reliable information on the condition of decades-old facilities around the nuclear weapons complex and sharing the data with Congress could improve the Department of Energy’s management of its aging infrastructure, a federal panel heard Wednesday. Government auditors and executives from the American Nuclear Society, NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Army Corps […]

OMAHA — The U.S. “cannot add additional stress” to the National Nuclear Security Administration to up its strategic capabilities, a former Department of Defense official said at a strategic command symposium in Omaha, Neb. Tuesday. “We have a nuclear enterprise that is sized for a post Cold War era,” Vipin Narang, former Department of Defense […]

The Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the 800-megawatt Cooper nuclear plant, finished its first phase of research last week into potential new sites for advanced modular reactors.  Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) and the state’s Department of Economic Development identified 16 potential sites for small modular reactors. That is according to a study issued […]

The Department of Energy and its contractor in charge of the Hanford’s Site’s 222-S Laboratory in Washington state have not determined the source of a mysterious odor that prompted workers to take cover Monday, according to a DOE spokesperson. Around 11 a.m. Pacific Time Monday, workers at the laboratory and its support facilities, were told […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental prime at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has removed the lower reactor vessel from Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Building 3042, the department said Tuesday. The facility is also known as the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, which was built in the mid-1950s and used for isotope production before Oak Ridge […]

The Department of Energy’s tank waste contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state is installing gear for the planned Test Bed Initiative where about 2,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste will be shipped out of state for disposal in a concrete-like grout form. DOE contractor Washington River Protection Solutions  is installing in-tank pretreatment equipment, […]

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is holding its annual potassium iodide tablet distribution event on Aug.  22 in Harrisburg for individuals who live or work within 10 miles of the four active nuclear power plants in the commonwealth.  As part of the department’s routine preventative efforts, there will also be distribution in Chester and Montgomery […]

Australia, the United Kingdom., and the U.S. signed an agreement last week allowing all three countries to share submarine naval nuclear propulsion information and equipment, according to the U.S. State Department. The agreement was signed Aug. 5 in Washington. The State Department said in a statement that the agreement will allow the U.K. and U.S. […]

As Ukraine and Russia blame each other for events at their respective nuclear power plants, the International Atomic Energy Agency director general asked that the “physical integrity of a nuclear power plant” be ensured by both sides. Last week, Ukrainian forces crossed the border into the Kursk region of Russia, around the vicinity of the […]

Here are some events related to defense nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 13: Conference: The U.S. Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium kicks off its two-day event at 8 a.m. Central Time at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, NE. 14: Hybrid meeting: The Oak Ridge Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board holds […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published on Tuesday and Thursday only during the weeks of Aug. 12, 2024 and Aug. 19, 2024, as part of the Exchange Monitor’s annual August recess.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is starting its preliminary market research into the next phase of legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In a Tuesday procurement notice, the Environmental Management office issued a sources sought/request for information on Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract II. “No solicitation exists […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is inviting the public to request hearings on Holtec International’s ongoing efforts to reopen the shuttered Palisades Nuclear in Michigan. In a Wednesday press release, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced opportunities for stakeholders to request hearings on aspects of the restart. There is an Oct. 7 deadline for the public […]