Department of Energy

Tim Walsh, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), said this week DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state remains the program’s biggest nuclear cleanup challenge. But at the same time Hanford, which accounts for about 40% of EM’s budget, is primed for a “breakout year,” Walsh told a Senate Armed Forces […]

Centrus Energy said this week it has selected Geiger Brothers as its construction contractor for the multi-billion expansion project for the Centrus uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, a deal potentially worth $900 million. According to a Centrus Securities and Exchange Commission Monday filing, the time-and-materials contract signed by the two companies runs through Jan. […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Tuesday Senate hearing, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright offered a briefing to an Arizona Democrat on what the Department of Energy is doing to fast-track reactor deployment. In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee fiscal 2027 budget hearing, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said there have been concerns about a […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a Senate panel Wednesday the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy fiscal 2027 budget request is pretty flat once the big picture is considered.  Wright talked about the request from the Donald Trump White House In a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development subcommittee […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy kicked off a new initiative Thursday centered around bolstering the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain by 2033. The new initiative “Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33” has the federal government working with industry to build up the many aspects of the nuclear supply chain, including uranium enrichment, […]

The Department of Energy’s Offices of Environmental Management (EM) and Nuclear Energy released request for applications (RFAs) Wednesday seeking partners to start recycling some of the country’s spent nuclear fuel. Submissions for the two solicitations are both due by June 19, while questions surrounding the RFAs are due by May 19. DOE EM will sponsor […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright disagreed Tuesday over the severity of reduced funding for the Hanford Site in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2027 budget request. The following day, Cantwell’s Democratic colleague Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would also challenge the adequacy of the DOE request for Hanford.  Wright told Cantwell during […]

In a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, lawmakers wrote this week that Congress is investigating “recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive U.S. scientific information.” As of April 17, 10 scientists were recently reported either dead or missing. All 10 were involved in researching and […]

In the latest sign of friction between the state of New Mexico and the Department of Energy, a state agency Thursday proposed restrictive changes to the hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. Among other things the draft permit changes announced by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) would set […]

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — The Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management is reassessing its reliance on natural attenuation at some uranium legacy sites after monitoring showed the approach is not meeting cleanup targets, a senior official said. William “Bill” Frazier, a program manager with DOE Legacy Management (LM), said the office is evaluating […]

In a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, lawmakers wrote this week that Congress is investigating “recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive U.S. scientific information.” As of April 17, 10 scientists were recently reported either dead or missing. All 10 were involved in researching and […]

The Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) should reach full speed for turning less radioactive waste into solid glass form by October 2028, Department of Energy officials told the Hanford Advisory Board Wednesday in Richland, Wash. By that point, the plant should be  converting about 2 million gallons of low-level tank waste into glass form […]

The Department of Energy’s Offices of Environmental Management (EM) and Nuclear Energy released request for applications (RFAs) Wednesday seeking partners to start recycling some of the country’s spent nuclear fuel. Submissions for the two solicitations are both due by June 19, while questions surrounding the RFAs are due by May 19. DOE EM will sponsor […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a Senate panel Wednesday the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy fiscal 2027 budget request is pretty flat once the big picture is considered.  Wright talked about the request from the Donald Trump White House in a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development subcommittee […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright disagreed Tuesday over the severity of reduced funding for the Hanford Site in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2027 budget request. Wright told Cantwell during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing that he considers the proposed Hanford cuts “modest.” Further, Wright said the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Tuesday Senate hearing, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright offered a briefing to an Arizona Democrat on what the Department of Energy is doing to fast-track reactor deployment. In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee fiscal 2027 budget hearing, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said there have been concerns about a […]

Department of Energy contractor BWX Technologies (BWXT) is expanding its heavy-manufacturing footprint by signing a deal to acquire Precision Components Group (PCG) and two of its subsidiaries. The privately-held PCG had $125 million for 2025 revenue and a workforce of roughly 400 people, Lynchburg, Va.-based BWXT said in a Monday press release. BWXT did not […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear remediation contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is preparing to accept used fuel from Penn State University that could assist with both energy and medical research, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said recently. INL can accept Training, Research, Isotope, General Atomics (TRIGA-) fuel for the first time in decades […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  APRIL: 20: Conference: The Nuclear in New Mexico Conference presented by the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico gets underway starting at 9 a.m. Mountain Time at the Hyatt Regency Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.  21: Conference: The Energy Communities Alliance sponsors […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Wednesday the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has received 28 responses from states following DOE’s request for information for the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus program.  During a House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee hearing on DOE’s fiscal 2027 budget request, Wright said the nuclear […]

Officials in Grand County, Utah joined Department of Energy representatives April 9 to celebrate removal of 16 million tons of tailings from a site next to the Colorado River as part of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project. DOE said. Commemorative plaques now honor the Moab Project that started in 2009, according to […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a House hearing this week that the Department of Energy will lean on its Office of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing once again to help fund new advanced nuclear projects. During a Wednesday House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee hearing on DOE’s fiscal 2027 […]

The Department of Energy has completed construction of its National Research Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed, located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the agency said last week. DOME is a first-of-a-kind facility that will allow private nuclear companies to test their microreactor technologies. The test bed facility serves to accelerate development, […]

The Department of Energy wants $10 million to fund the standalone Office of Fusion in fiscal 2027, according to DOE’s recent budget justification document. DOE said the $10 million request will support the office by providing funding for personnel, travel, advisory and start up assistance. The Office of Fusion will lead DOE in advancing “a […]

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled in a Tuesday memorandum a new initiative focused on the use of nuclear power in space. Within 30 days of the memorandum, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will create a program to develop a mid-power space reactor with a lunar fission surface power […]

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Dave McCormick (R-Penn.) have introduced a bill this week that looks to expand the Department of Energy’s ability to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology The bill, Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment Act, was introduced to the Senate on Tuesday. The senators said in the press release that the […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy mishandled the funding and overall development of the Carbon-Free Power Project based near DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the DOE Office of Inspector General (OIG) found in a recent audit. In October 2020, the Office of Nuclear Energy issued a 10-year, $1.36 billion award to Carbon-Free Power Project […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recorded 25 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in March, following an annual maintenance outage that kept it offline since January.  The 25 shipments are the first since the facility accepted 33 shipments in December, and an uptick from March 2024 when WIPP received 13 shipments, according to […]

In a Sunday editorial, the Tri-City Herald newspaper in Richland, Wash., blasted the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 request that would cut by more than $390-million the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup budget for the Hanford Site. While Hanford would still receive around $2.9 billion, more than a third of the budget for the DOE […]

The recent trend of nuclear sector consolidation is continuing as Salt Lake-based EnergySolutions said Thursday it has bought WMG, a provider of engineering services and software. WMG was founded in 1979 and is known in part for its trademarked RADMAN software program for radioactive shipments, EnergySolutions said in a Thursday press release. Over time, WMG […]