Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Department of Energy said Wednesday it will resume uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, utilizing the H-Canyon facility. The uranium recovery work will help recover key isotopes that are currently hard to obtain in the United States and support scientific research as well as medical applications and commercial uses, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy this week tapped longtime nuclear complex supervisor Josh Jarrell to become deputy assistant secretary for nuclear fuel cycle. Separately two industry sources have told Exchange Monitor in the past week that Office of Nuclear Energy executive, Paul Murray, is moving over to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.  […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday a California-based company that plans a major enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., will use a longtime nuclear facility at the Hanford Site in Washington state as part of its efforts.  In a Tuesday press release, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said it has teamed up with the nuclear fuel […]

ARLINGTON, VA – For sites in the Department of Energy’s nuclear complex recruiting electricians and skilled craftspeople is a big task – and keeping them can be another. This was a key theme to emerge during a Tuesday Jan. 27 panel discussion here at Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit.  Senior managers from National Nuclear […]

The Department of Justice recently launched an online portal for radioactive waste survivors to submit claims for assistance through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). “GREAT NEWS – the DOJ has launched the online portal for radioactive waste survivors to submit their RECA claims,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of the bipartisan advocates for RECA, […]

The Department of Energy issued a request for information (RFI) Wednesday seeking states interested in hosting Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. The proposed campuses must support capabilities of the full nuclear fuel cycle, such as fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and disposal of waste, according to DOE’s press release. The approach could be more […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management has selected David Brunnert  as its new chief operating officer. Brunnert is vice president of operations of Black Knight Energy LLC and a co-founder and board member at Confluence Energy Consolidated. California-based Black Knight is devoted to acquiring and developing valuable oil and gas properties in […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Proposals are being assessed for contractors looking to build and power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers at the De[artment of Energy’s Savannah River Site, the site’s field manager said in a panel on a snowy first day of Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit. In September 2025, DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

The Huntington Ingalls Industries-led legacy waste contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico won 95% of its total available fee from the Department of Energy in fiscal 2025. Newport News Nuclear BWXT)-Los Alamos (N3B) earned more than $15.8 million out of a potential $16.7 million in fee for its 12 months of […]

After New Mexico again in November suspended certain Department of Energy efforts to control a hexavalent chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the manager of federal legacy cleanup there said last week the parties are looking for solutions. On Nov. 18, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) withdrew its temporary authorization for continuation […]

ARLINGTON, VA -The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its contractors must modernize key infrastructure quickly, a Kiewit Nuclear executive said here Monday. “We are at an inflection point,” Mike Rinehart, president of Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, told Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday afternoon. “The nuclear security enterprise is expected […]

ARLINGTON, VA –The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) solidified 40,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste into glass form and filled 26 canisters during the facility’s first quarter of operation at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. This is one of the chief takeaways from an Exchange Monitor conversation with Brian Hartman Wednesday Jan. […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Centrus Energy has signed contracts worth $2.3 billion to provide low-enriched uranium to electric utilities and virtually all of it involves traditional LEU rather than the high-assay-low-enriched uranium (HALEU) Centrus CEO Amir Vexler said here Tuesday. “The existing market is LEU,” Vexler told Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit, “There is no existing […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Tuesday issued the much-anticipated draft solution for management and operation of the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The draft request for proposals (RFP) said bidders will be encouraged to offer updated technical approaches to making plutonium pits at the complex. According to a Jan. 27 procurement document, […]

AtkinsRéalis US Nuclear has appointed Jack Craig to serve as its senior vice president of energy and environment. In Craig’s new role, he will oversee AtkinsRéalis’ major projects portfolio and work with current and prospective partners to expand AtkinsRéalis footprint with the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration, according to […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site have successfully moved the first batch of cesium and strontium capsules from wet to dry storage, the Washington state Department of Ecology said Thursday. Within the next few years, all 1,936 of the highly-radioactive capsules, which make up a third of the total radioactivity at the Hanford […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received fewer shipments of transuranic waste (TRU) in 2025 than it did during 2024, according to data from the facility’s public website. WIPP took in 33 shipments in December, to cap off the 2025 calendar year with 441 shipments, which is down from […]

A Jan. 16 Weapons Complex Monitor article on Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve), included a spelling error in the headline. 

The Department of Energy last week denied it has done away with long-time radiation safety standards as reported by a Washington, D.C.-based publication earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week it is continuing to review its radiation standards as directed by the White House.  In a Friday Jan. 16 email reply […]

Despite its dwindling number of board members, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) kept busy as a safety watchdog for the Department of Energy during fiscal 2025, according to a recent report. Set up 35 years ago by Congress as a five-member panel, DNFSB is down to a single member, Patricia Lee. Nevertheless, work continues […]

Salas O’Brien, an international employee-owned engineering and technical services firm, announced Wednesday it is purchasing Los Alamos-based TechSource, a government contractor that does work with the Department of Energy. “Salas O’Brien has strengthened its ability to deliver solutions for the most complex federal government and infrastructure challenges with the addition of TechSource, a leading scientific […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico will start demolition of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) old Ion Beam Facility this year, a DOE cleanup manager said Wednesday. “We are going to tear down the ion beam and remove the slab” starting in 2026, Jessica Kunkle, who […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied a petition by the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear seeking to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license approval for a Holtec International Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF). Beyond Nuclear hoped the high court would invalidate an NRC license that would allow Holtec to construct an interim waste storage in […]

The Senate Thursday passed a minibus bill 82-15 that includes appropriations for Energy and Water development, which would provide more than $8.4 billion to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and $25.4 billion in funds to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The measure includes $3.2 billion for ongoing remediation of DOE’s Hanford […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management kicked off its 2026  procurement activity Wednesday by seeking proposals on a new five-year Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services contract in Ohio.  The final  request for proposals (RFPs) issued for the Portsmouth landlord contract includes overseeing roads, grounds and other day-to-day infrastructure essential services at the former […]

A bipartisan panel of radioactive waste experts issued a study Thursday urging formation of a corporation of nuclear reactor owners to manage disposal of spent nuclear fuel from power plants and high-level waste from weapons production. The NuCorp, or Nuclear Corporation, would be required by federal legislation and set up by reactor owners, according to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has agreed to give the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office a 90-day extension to answer board questions about welding issues for containers at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. As a result, the DOE Office of Environmental Management will have until March 16 to address DNFSB questions […]