Wrap Up: EM not hit by Chinese hack; Portsmouth gets more landfill cells; BWXT working on Pele and TRISO; Vote looms on Wright; Hruby joins Bulletin; Newhouse gets threats; more

While the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA),  was one of hundreds of organizations affected by a massive SharePoint hack, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) was not. 

“It was not,” a DOE headquarters spokesperson said Thursday in response to an Exchange Monitor question While the bug was discovered last week, Microsoft said in a blog post Tuesday that three Chinese actors were exploiting vulnerabilities in SharePoint as early as July 7: Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and Storm-2603. Microsoft said investigations into other actors are still ongoing.

The exploited vulnerability supposedly allows hackers to run a software code on its victims’ servers from remote locations, and then potentially install malicious software and steal data. Bloomberg reported no sensitive information appears to have been stolen in the NNSA hack. “The department was minimally impacted due to its widespread use of the Microsoft M365 cloud and very capable cybersecurity systems,” a DOE spokesperson said in the article.

The final layer of dirt is in place for the foundation of two new landfill cells at the Department of Energy’s On-Site Waste Disposal Facility at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio.

DOE said in a Tuesday press release the final backfill soil is in place for the foundation of the two new cell. The facility, overseen by contractor, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, already has four active cells and it will eventually have a total of 10.

In the first half of next year, the two most recent cells could taking taking debris from demolition of the X-333 Process Building at Portsmouth. 

BWX Technologies has begun manufacturing the reactor core of Project Pele’s microreactor at its Innovation Campus  in Lynchburg, Va., the company announced Thursday, in a press release.

Pele is a mobile gas-cooled demonstration microreactor with the ability to produce 1.5 megawatts. The microreactor, which will be used by the Department of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office, is expected to produce electricity by 2028.

The reactor and its systems will be placed in four 20-foot-long shipping containers allowing it to be transported to military bases and other installations. It can provide electricity for up to three years without refueling, according to the press release. TRISO fuel will be used in the microreactor. BWXT has completed fabrication for the reactor’s TRISO fuel and will ship it to the Idaho National Laboratory in the coming months, according to the press release.

BWX Technologies, a Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear company, announced Tuesday that its subsidiary installed and tested a furnace to manufacture TRISO nuclear fuel for advanced reactor technology.

TRISO fuel comprises a uranium fuel core surrounded by carbon and silicone layers. The furnace solidifies molds for TRISO particles before the ingredients become an advanced form of fuel for an advanced reactor or a microreactor.

This piece of equipment is the final piece necessary for BWXT’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) its subsidiary Advanced Technologies is conducting with the Department of Energy, according to a company release. 

The Senate appears headed toward a Monday July 28 confirmation vote on David Wright’s reappointment as a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Next Monday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Wright to be a NRC commissioner for a five-year term that would expire on June 30, 2030. The Senate then could vote on Wright’s confirmation by 8 p.m.

Wright previously made it through the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in a slim 10 – 9 vote on July 9. President Donald Trump re-nominated Wright to the NRC on June 16, only days after firing then commissioner and former NRC chair Christopher Hanson. Wright was originally appointed by Trump in 2018.

Jill Hruby, the most recent administrator of the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, recently joined the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, the organization announced last week.

“I’m honored to join the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board at such a pivotal moment for nuclear affairs worldwide,” Hruby said in the release from July 16. “I hope to help sustain a vital community of experts focused on these complex challenges—and to foster deeper public understanding of the risks that shape our global security.”

News outlets in Washington state reported recently Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose home district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has been advised to avoid public gatherings following a death threat.

Threats have been made against Newhouse and his staff, according to various articles, including a July 17 report in the Spokane Spokesman-Review and other outlets. 

Threats against elected officials have been increasing in recent years, according to multiple media reports. 

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