Department of Energy

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 53 defense-related transuranic waste shipments in May, based on revised figures. DOE revised the figures on its public website for WIPP around June 27 after learning the website initially failed to update and record the 24 shipments that took place between May […]

A dozen universities, two developers of small modular reactors and some national laboratories, have landed Rapid Turnaround Experiment projects with Nuclear Science User Facilities, from the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. The 23 award winners were announced June 26 and DOE said their work would support advanced nuclear deployment and nuclear materials. Rapid […]

A Centrus Energy subsidiary American-Centrifuge Operating has delivered 900 kilograms, or 1,984 pounds, of high-assay low-enriched uranium to the Department of Energy, Centrus said last week. The Bethesda, Md.-based nuclear energy company has now achieved phase two of its DOE contract, which called for it to produce the 900 kilograms of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) […]

The Department of Energy has released its fourth loan reimbursement to Holtec for about $100 million to support efforts to restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan.  Secretary of Energy Chris Wright made the announcement this past Friday, saying that the efforts to restart the Palisades plant further align with one of President Donald Trump’s […]

The Department of Energy set out the basics of its test reactor pilot program at its 2025 Industry Day on Wednesday. On June 18 DOE announced a test pilot program to expedite testing advanced nuclear reactors under DOE authority, with the objective to have “at least three reactors” reach criticality by July 4, 2026. DOE […]

Numerous Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex sites are sweltering under heat advisories due to what television weather forecasters are calling a “heat dome.” “Extreme HeatRisk impacts will expand from the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast today,” the National Weather Service said on its website Monday. Localities with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit and […]

Paul Dabbar, a Department of Energy executive during the first Donald Trump administration, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate 56-to-40 Wednesday as Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Dabbar was undersecretary of energy for science during the first Trump administration. As part of that position during the first term, Dabbar had authority over the Office of Environmental […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch has awarded a potential five-year $85-million technical services contract to a team led by South Carolina-based Catawba Engineering and Environmental Services. The consolidated Technical Support Services contract for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has been won by Catawba TEAPEC, a small business venture made up of Catawba and […]

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license consolidated interim storage, clears the way for Holtec to move forward on a spent fuel storage site in New Mexico, according to the company. At the same time, however, Holtec said last week major issues remain to be worked out both […]

Energy Secretary Chris Wright used an appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week to plead for the upper chamber to confirm more DOE nominees. “If I can ask one thing for the whole senate is please help confirm my people,” Wright said during a hearing last week on the DOE budget […]

Nobody was hurt last month when a four-foot broken slab of concrete fell 1,400-feet down a utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., according to a safety board report. Likewise, no equipment was damaged in the May 27 incident that happened while a subcontractor crew from Harrison […]

Half of the key assets the Department of Energy needs to dispose of defense-related transuranic waste in a New Mexico salt mine were in “substandard or inadequate condition in 2023,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Tuesday. In a report to congressional committees, GAO said DOE’s Office of Environmental Management should do a better job […]

A BWX Technologies-led joint venture took over this week as the new remediation contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in Western New York. The four-month management transition started in February and ended Tuesday for West Valley Cleanup Alliance (WCVA), Jason Casper, the president and project manager of the alliance said during a Citizens Task […]

The Department of Energy’s former tank waste contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state this week agreed to pay $6.5 million to the feds to settle a fraud case brought by a whistleblower. The Justice Department settlement with Amentum-led contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) was announced Tuesday in a press release by Acting […]

Holtec International, known for decommissioning reactors and developing nuclear power projects, could become a publicly-traded company within the next year. In a Monday interview with Barrons, Holtec CEO Kris Singh said the company was looking at an initial public offering sometime in the January through April 2026 time period, a Holtec spokesperson confirmed Wednesday via […]

The Idaho National Laboratory has concluded a first-of-a-kind safety experiment with high burnup fuel the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced on Tuesday. Text results should provide data that could help boost performance and lower the amount of waste generated at nuclear plants, the Office of Nuclear Energy said in its press release. […]

Half of the key assets the Department of Energy needs to dispose of defense-related transuranic waste in a New Mexico salt mine were in “substandard or inadequate condition in 2023,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Tuesday. In a report to congressional committees, GAO said DOE’s Office of Environmental Management should do a better job […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup office posted a new organizational chart earlier this month, reflecting that longtime fed Steve Trischman is now heading the office of corporate services. With the May 30 retirement of 32-year federal supervisor Dae Chung, Trischman  is now officially the acting associate principal deputy assistant secretary for the DOE […]

Numerous Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex sites are sweltering under heat advisories due to what television weather forecasters are calling a “heat dome.” “Extreme HeatRisk impacts will expand from the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast today,” the National Weather Service said on its website Monday. Localities with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit and […]

Nobody was hurt last month when a four-foot broken slab of concrete fell 1,400-feet down a utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., according to a safety board report. Likewise, no equipment was damaged in the May 27 incident that happened while a subcontractor crew from Harrison […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said June 18 it has decided three policy matters designed to hasten deployment of microreactors. Microreactors are small nuclear reactors capable of producing electricity from a range of 1 to 20 megawatts. These reactors also can be fabricated in a factory and then shipped to the final location. First, NRC decided […]

The Department of Energy has released its fourth loan reimbursement to Holtec for about $100 million to support efforts to restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan.  Secretary of Energy Chris Wright made the announcement this past Friday, saying that the efforts to restart the Palisades plant further align with one of President Donald Trump’s […]

Energy Secretary Chris Wright used an appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week to plead for the upper chamber to confirm more DOE nominees. “If I can ask one thing for the whole senate is please help confirm my people,” Wright said during a hearing last week on the DOE budget […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: June 25: Hearing: Senate Environment & Public Works Committee meets at 10 a.m. E.T. to consider the re-nomination of David Wright to another term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  25: Industry Day Online Program: DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program starting at 3 p.m. […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee expressed their disapproval Wednesday to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on a proposed 11% cut in the Department of Energy’s budget for the labs. The hearing did not produce much conversation on the $8.1 billion budget request for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, […]

Centrus Energy, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., has been awarded an extended contract with the Department of Energy, worth about $110 million, to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium through June 30, 2026. In 2022, Centrus was awarded a three-phase follow-on contract to bring the cascade into production and produce HALEU for DOE’s use. DOE has exercised its […]

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), an umbrella organization of citizen groups active on nuclear weapons, cleanup and energy issues, wants the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to have a quorum again. In a recent report, the alliance said Congress should protect the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), which is down to two members […]

Pipe modifications in a tank farm at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are winding down and should be complete in July, according to DOE.  The utility work at the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C., comes  during a planned outage, which began on April 28 and is on track to finish […]

Centrus Energy, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., has been awarded an extended contract with the Department of Energy, worth about $110 million, to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium through June 30, 2026. In 2022, Centrus was awarded a three-phase follow-on contract to bring the cascade into production and produce HALEU for DOE’s use. DOE has exercised its […]

The Department of Energy has announced a new pilot program to expedite the testing of advanced nuclear reactor designs at DOE’s national laboratories. The DOE intends to streamline the nuclear reactor testing and hopes to have “at least three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026,” according to its Wednesday press release. Created in accordance […]