Department of Energy

Tim Walsh, the head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, will headline the Feb. 10 House Cleanup Caucus session at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Walsh, who became assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, in October, will make a presentation titled “Remediation to Redevelopment.” DOE nuclear cleanup properties […]

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), ranking member of the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor last week the most recent bipartisan spending minibus shows lawmakers “making progress” with more work still to do. On Jan. 8, a three-bill minibus appropriations package that included fiscal 2026 funds for Energy and Water development, including […]

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed an executive order Jan. 5 to establish a state nuclear energy task force. The Iowa Nuclear Energy Task Force will advise Reynolds,  the state government and relevant agencies on the development of nuclear energy technologies in the state, according to the press release. The task force will also explore […]

A three-bill minibus appropriations bill with fiscal 2026 funds for Energy and Water development, including $8.5 billion for nuclear cleanup and $25.4 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), passed the House floor 397-28 Thursday. The bill was released by top appropriators in the Senate and House Monday on both sides of the aisle. […]

This week, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) has signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which among other things would lift the Illinois moratorium on large new nuclear reactors.  The act, Senate Bill 25, was passed by the state House by a 70 – 37 vote and the state Senate by a 37 – […]

Terrestrial Energy has signed an agreement with the Department of Energy to support the deployment of its molten salt reactor under the DOE pilot reactor program. Formally called an “other transaction authority” contract, the deal is a flexible, non-traditional legal agreement between the government and industry used to bypass traditional, rigid contract rules to carry […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it was awarding $2.7 billion total in task orders to three companies with the goal of strengthening domestic uranium enrichment over the next ten years. American Centrifuge Operating, a Centrus company, and General Matter are both receiving $900 million to create a domestic high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capacity. […]

A three-bill minibus appropriations bill that includes fiscal 2026 funds for Energy and Water development, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy passed the House floor 397-28 Thursday. The bill was released by top appropriators in the Senate and House Monday on both sides of the aisle. Congress has until Jan. 30 to […]

Two senior Democrats in the House of Representatives, one in Maryland and one in California, have announced plans to retire once their current term is up. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the member of House Democratic leadership who has served in Congress for 45 years, announced this week he would not seek re-election. Meanwhile, Rep. Julia […]

A maintenance outage last year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina helped improve operations at the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), DOE said recently.  The DOE Office of Environmental Management contractor installed larger, higher-capacity cross flow filters at the SWPF during a planned system-wide operational outage in 2025 to […]

The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new […]

While old, an underground hoist at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is not unsafe, according to managers of the transuranic waste disposal site. “While all the WIPP hoists are experiencing reliability issues due to age and obsolescence, these reliability issues do not present safety risks to employees,” DOE’s […]

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site had filled 26 containers with glass converted from some of the site’s less-radioactive tank waste. “DOE’s Hanford Site “has processed/poured 113 metric tons of glass,” a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Ecology, the state regulator, […]

  The Department of Energy said Monday it was awarding $2.7 billion total in task orders to three companies with the goal of strengthening domestic uranium enrichment over the next ten years. American Centrifuge Operating, a Centrus company, and General Matter are both receiving $900 million to create a domestic high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment […]

The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new […]

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site had filled 26 containers with glass converted from some of the site’s less-radioactive tank waste. DOE’s Hanford Site “has processed/poured 113 metric tons of glass,” a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Ecology, the state regulator, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nuclear power’s expansion in the United States hinges upon a strong and independent regulator, witnesses told a House subcommittee Wednesday morning. Democratic lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy expressed misgivings about nuclear safety and the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under President Donald Trump’s White House.  […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is setting terms on how it can start using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance nuclear safeguards “without undue risks.” The policy is laid out in a Dec. 29 directive that will apply “to all DNFSB personnel, it full-time employees, contractors, consultants, interns, and any individuals granted access […]

While old, an underground hoist at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is not unsafe, according to managers of the transuranic waste disposal site. “While all the WIPP hoists are experiencing reliability issues due to age and obsolescence, these reliability issues do not present safety risks to employees,” DOE’s […]

Terrestrial Energy has signed an agreement with the Department of Energy to support the deployment of its molten salt reactor under the DOE pilot reactor program. Formally called an “other transaction authority” contract, the deal is a flexible, non-traditional legal agreement between the government and industry used to bypass traditional, rigid contract rules to carry […]

Nuclear industry officials and the director of the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory are scheduled to testify before a House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. House Energy & Commerce’s subcommittee on energy will convene a hearing at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday on “American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the […]

A maintenance outage last year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina helped improve operations at the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), DOE said recently.  The DOE Office of Environmental Management contractor installed larger, higher-capacity cross flow filters at the SWPF during a planned system-wide operational outage in 2025 to […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:    January 08: Webinar: :The Energy Communities Alliances hosts a webinar starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on nuclear generation and spent fuel storage sites.  26: Conference: Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit is set for Jan. 26 through 28 in Arlington, Va.  […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state have finished excavating a new landfill disposal cell, which should lengthen the lifespan of the radwaste facility by 15 years.  DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced just before Christmas that workers for contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company have finished digging out Super Cell 11 […]

After decades of work, the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., finally converted some liquid radioactive waste into glass – and some of the most senior people in DOE’s weapons complex left government service this year. These are a couple of the big stories of 2025 affecting DOE’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management […]

Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA), a New Mexico-based Department of Energy contractor, turns 50 on Jan. 1, the woman-owned small business announced this week. Founded in 1976, the company headquartered in Albuquerque now provides services to not only DOE and the Department of Defense but to other agencies including Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of […]

Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company won 96% of its potential overall fee, $18.6 million out of a potential $19.3 million, for its remediation at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. All five Hanford contractors that had fee scorecards released Tuesday have cost-plus contracts that allows them to make a profit on top […]

In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration, he established himself as an unabashed nuclear energy advocate – both promoting new projects and remaking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in an effort to speed up approvals. While history will tell if 2025 spawns a full-scale nuclear resurgence, it is indisputable that there have […]

The Department of Energy has revealed its first selections for its Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear’s (GAIN)nuclear energy voucher program. According to DOE GAIN’s Dec. 18 press release, the first round of recipients for fiscal 2026 are: BWX Technologies Advanced Technologies, based in Lynchburg, Va.  NuScale Power, in Corvallis, Ore. Orbia Fluor and Energy […]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) wrote a letter Dec. 16 to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright asking DOE to review the need and scope of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) pit production program. Warren and Garamendi are both members of their respective chambers’ Armed Services Committees and of the bicameral […]