Office of Nuclear Energy

ARLINGTON, VA – Within weeks the Department of Energy could announce potential winners of a solicitation to set up a nuclear fuel recycling demonstration at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the department’s head of nuclear cleanup said here last week. Tim Walsh, the head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, said Sept. 15 at the […]

WASHINGTON – The Department of Energy could consider using the Nuclear Waste Fund to help fund waste management-related facilities to go online at Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. During the House Energy and Commerce’s Energy subcommittee hearing Tuesday, DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish told the panel that the department and Congress need to […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – Legislation challenges, particularly the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), could pose a potential roadblock to the full implementation of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, a Department of Energy official said. During Wednesday’s session at the National Cleanup Workshop, several panels discussed the early progress of the innovation campuses. Marla […]

The Department of Energy and a handful of its contractors are gearing up to receive a high burnup research cask shipment at the Idaho National Laboratory in the coming year. The high burnup research cask will be shipped out of Dominion Energy’s North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va. DOE said last June it will […]

The Donald Trump White House has drafted a memo to Congress, pushing for legislation to remove Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the sole site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The 1987 amendments of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established Yucca Mountain as the sole repository for high-level waste. However, plans for Yucca were […]

After two days of debate, the House’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the House floor mainly on party lines at 216-212. The defense policy bill, which also sets spending caps for certain defense-related appropriations, would authorize $32.76 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration […]

ROCKVILLE, Md. – With the completion of the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program on July 4, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission turns its attention to creating a formulaic pathway for reactor designs authorized by other agencies. In April, NRC published a proposed rulemaking that would create an additional licensing pathway for reactors authorized by DOE […]

A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel is set to consider six nuclear power-related bills Tuesday morning, according to the committee’s website. The Energy Subcommittee will convene at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time to markup bills on topics ranging from uranium enrichment to Nuclear Regulatory Commission pay to nuclear transparency at the Department of Energy. The […]

Centrus Energy will join the S&P SmallCap 600 Index before markets open July 14, a move the company said reflects its growing role in rebuilding the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain and expanding domestic uranium enrichment capacity. “Our invitation into the S&P SmallCap 600 reflects the progress our team has made and the expanding role […]

Plenty of nuclear amendments proposed for House 2027 energy & water bill As of Monday afternoon, it appears no date has been set for the full House of Representatives to take up the House Appropriations Committee version of the fiscal 2027 Energy & Water Development bill, which was considered by the House Rules Committee last […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is making headway on its solicitation for a venture that would demonstrate recycling of defense-related spent fuel to extract high-assay-low-enriched-uranium (HALEU) fuel for advanced reactors. DOE announced the request for applications (RFA) in April for the demo project at the Idaho National Laboratory. An Industry Day […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy expects another test reactor to reach criticality imminently, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Acting Chief Operating Officer Lauren Joyce said Wednesday. “I anticipate that you will hear very very soon that a second reactor will go critical, so please stay tuned for that,” Joyce told the annual […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) expects the full House of Representatives to take up the fiscal 2027 Energy & Water Development appropriations bill next week. “We will go to the floor next week.” Fleischmann told the annual meeting of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The lawmaker, whose district adjoins the Department […]

The House Armed Services Committee passed the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would authorize $160 million for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy in a 44-12 vote Thursday night. The $160 million is level to what the NDAA authorized the Office of Nuclear Energy last fiscal year. On May 20, […]

The Department of Energy is not yet sharing specifics about the states underserious consideration for its Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus program,  The DOE program seeks federal-state partnerships to increase the nation’s fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment and waste disposal efforts. The program was announced in January, and in April, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said 28 states […]

The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) recently identified four potential sites for a new advanced reactor to be built in Nebraska. In a May 20 press release, NPPD said that Beatrice, Brownville, Norfolk and Sutherland were the top four communities suited for a new reactor.  The four sites identified were as a part of the […]

The wildfire-prone New Mexico county where the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory is located has entered “stage 1 fire restrictions,” according to a recent post from the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities. “Fire Marshal Colorado Cordova of the Los Alamos Fire Department (LAFD) has enacted fire restrictions to Stage 1, effective […]

The House Appropriations Committee passed 34-25 its version of a bill on Wednesday that would give $1.8 billion to the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and $892.3 million to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. For the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, this would be more than President Donald Trump’s White House request of $1.53 […]

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is in jeopardy of ceasing operations due to its aging facility and spent fuel storage nearing its capacity, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a May 7 report. The GAO recommended that DOE complete its evaluation of the Idaho Operations Office’s research and test reactor spent […]

Bechtel and an organized labor group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to revamp apprenticeship programs supporting nuclear power projects. Bechtel and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) announced the MOU in a Tuesday press release. The longtime builder of nuclear infrastructure and NABTU, a large confederation of construction unions, will look to modernize […]

The foray into spent fuel recycling by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will take advantage of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from a test reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. That is according to material issued with the request for applications (RFA) announced April 22.  DOE’s Environmental Management and Nuclear Energy (NE) […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  APRIL: 28: Meeting: The Department of Energy and its Bechtel-led prime for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) host a community meeting starting at noon Mountain Time at the Skeen-Whitlock Building, Wendell Weart Auditorium, 4021 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM.  27-29: Conference: […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Nuclear power, as a percentage of electric generation, is expected to remain relatively flat despite the Donald Trump administration’s push to reach 400 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050, according to an April report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2026 report, published April 8, provides projections of what the agency […]

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, […]