Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

AtkinsRéalis has appointed Jeff Kendall as president of the company’s US nuclear business, the engineering services and nuclear company announced Wednesday. According to the company’s press release, Kendall had been with AtkinsRéalis for seven years, with his most recent position being interim president for the US business. In the seven years he also served as […]

The government of Canada announced this week it is entering into a four-year contract worth up to C$304 million with AtkinsRéalis to support the development and modernization of a new, large-scale, natural uranium–fuelled Canadian deuterium uranium (CANDU) nuclear reactor. The contract with AtkinsRéalis is meant to finance half of the design project, according to the […]

Kevin Dressman, a longtime federal manager who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Health and Safety, said this week he has accepted a deferred resignation buyout and will leave government after more than 30 years. Dressman announced his departure Tuesday on his LinkedIn profile page. “After 33 years of federal service, I have elected […]

Whether Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals Co. waited too late to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license interim offsite private facilities for spent fuel, took up much of a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. During the Wednesday NRC versus Texas hearing webcast from Washington, D.C., Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart argued […]

The Department of Energy issued a memo dated Thursday Feb. 27 saying telework and remote work agreements will be terminated, with exceptions, and all employees will return to in-person work. The memo, obtained by the Exchange Monitor on Feb. 28, said DOE was pursuing President Donald Trump’s executive order from his first full day in […]

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill last week with the aim of safeguarding and securing radioactive materials, and reducing the risk of bad actors developing a so-called “dirty bomb.”  The Securing our Radioactive Materials Act, would mandate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to implement recommendations on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from September, […]

The House Financial Services Committee passed legislation Wednesday morning promoting international funding for nuclear power projects by a vote of 39 to 10.  The International Nuclear Energy Financing Act (H.R. 1474) would set up a nuclear trust fund at the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other financial entities. With dozens […]

A company called Last Energy announced Friday it hopes to build up to 30 micro-reactors on a 200-acre site in Northern Texas to help power data centers. The company, which bills itself as a technology developer for 20-megawatt reactors, said in a press release it has already applied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas […]

Investigations, including whistleblower cases, at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Investigations increased during fiscal 2024, according to a recent report, cited this week by a Washington, D.C.,-based law firm. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) investigation office’s case inventory in fiscal 2024, ended Sept. 30, 2024, was 129, up from 119 in fiscal 2023, the […]

The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management released a joint memo Wednesday detailing how federal agencies should develop agency reorganization plans to reduce their work force. The memo also said President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency directed agencies to draft the plans by March 13 and to […]

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the energy and water appropriations subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor Tuesday that he put “unique and robust funding” for nuclear power in the House budget proposal that passed that evening. “If you take a look at the energy and water bill, which I wrote for the House […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has advised Department of Energy employees to “please pause” on responding directly to an email from the Office of Personnel Management entitled, “What did you do last week?” “The Department of Energy is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the fourth quarter, and 2024 as a whole, which the company chalked up partly to Department of Energy contracts and rising interest in commercial nuclear power. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $71.1 million, or $ 0.77 a share up from $ 66.3 […]

Duke Energy management has doubled down on plans to invest in small modular reactors, and intends to submit an early permit application this year to use one of its North Carolina sites for the nuclear technology.  Duke’s pursuit of small modular reactors (SMRs) includes seeking Department of Energy backing to help defray some of the […]

Holtec and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Tuesday announced another step in their plans to develop new small modular reactors at the currently-closed Palisade nuclear plant site in Covert, Mich. Holtec and the South Korea-based construction company said in a Tuesday press release they are making headway in their effort to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) […]

The stakes will be high when the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments soon on whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authority to license private fuel storage facilities proposed in Texas and New Mexico, according to an analysis by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “A ruling favoring the NRC would help the nuclear waste […]

Earnings rose at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the fourth quarter as well as for the full year ended Dec. 31, 2024, which the company attributed Tuesday to projects ranging from data centers to Department of Energy nuclear cleanup. The numbers were also affected by the “equity method” of accounting for Fluor’s investment and “de-consolidation” from […]

Earnings rose at Parsons, Chantilly, Va., in the fourth quarter and the full year of 2024, the company reported early Wednesday. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $54 million or $ $0.49 a share, up from $49 million, or $ $0.39a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $1.7 billion […]

The Energy Communities Alliance Wednesday urged the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to advance the nomination of longtime Department of Energy hand Theodore (Ted) Garrish to lead the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy. “ECA has worked with Mr. Garrish for over 30 years,” said the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), which represents local governments where […]

Texas-based Fluor announced early Tuesday it is promoting chief operating officer Jim Breuer to chief executive officer while the current CEO and board chair David Constable will become executive chair effective May 1. Fluor, a publicly-traded company, which has a large footprint in nuclear power as well as government contracts with the Department of Energy […]

Jeffrey Baran, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who more recently worked at the Department of Energy, has taken a deferred resignation offer from the Office of Personnel Management and is leaving the federal government. Baran joined DOE last September as deputy assistant secretary for waste and materials management at the Office of […]

Ohio-based American Electric Power (AEP) is seeking Department of Energy financial support to explore small modular reactor (SMR) projects in Indiana and Virginia. AEP hopes to secure DOE grant money for early site permits through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in Spencer County, Ind., as well as Campbell County, Va., the company said in a […]

Various citizen groups and some local landowners this week urged a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) panel to reject a request from Holtec to revive the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. “Holtec’s proposal to resurrect Palisades on the basis of incomplete and outdated documentation—along with an unsupported request for exemptions—does not satisfy the standards,” according to […]

The U.S. government is appealing a Court of Federal Claims ruling that it should pay a combined $145 million to the operators of a trio of retired nuclear power plants in New England for the Department of Energy’s failure to remove spent fuel from the reactors. Lawyers with the U.S. attorney general’s office filed a […]

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) proposed plans this week for his state to spend $50 million to support the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Clinch River small modular reactor project Lee’s proposal during Monday’s State of the State address comes about a month after a TVA-led coalition submitted an $800 million grant proposal to the Department […]

On the same day a federal district judge in Massachusetts lifted his earlier restraining  order against the Donald Trump administration’s deferred retirement program for government workers, the Office of Personnel Management closed out the program. “The Deferred Resignation Program is now closed,” according to a notice Wednesday on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website. […]