“House of Dynamite,” a major motion picture about a potential nuclear strike on a major U.S. city, has opened in theatres and streams on Netflix Oct. 24.
The thriller, directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, known for movies “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” centers around the U.S. Strategic Command, the White House Situation Room and other relevant government officials as radar picks up a potential nuclear missile headed for Chicago. Difficult decisions must be made – and quickly.
The movie stars Idris Alba as the president of the United States who must decide in 19 minutes whether to commence a nuclear retaliation. Rebecca Ferguson plays a captain in the White House Situation Room. The film was released in select theatres in the United Kingdom on Oct. 3 and was released in global theatres Oct. 10. The trailer can be viewed here.
Undersecretary of Energy Preston Wells Griffith III is no longer on the job at the Department of Energy, Politico reported this week.
The publication reported that Griffith had been placed on leave following a spat inside DOE over cancellation of billions of dollars of renewable energy and climate chage projects, including several in Republican-leaning districts. DOE did not immediately respond to an Exchange Monitor request for comment.
Allison Finelli, a 10-year Department of Energy manager who left federal service earlier this year amid government cutbacks, has taken a post with Longenecker & Associates as a strategic specialist and communications expert.
Finelli and the Las Vegas-based DOE subcontractor announced the appointment this week on LinkedIn. Finelli has served as chief of staff at DOE’s Office of Legacy Management as well as deputy chief of staff at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll announced a new nuclear reactor program Tuesday to deploy microreactors in the military.
Called the Janus program, Wright and Driscoll announced the effort at the 2025 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington.
The announcement heavily referred to President Donald Trump’s four nuclear energy-related executive orders released May 23, one of which involved directing the Department of Defense to operate an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a U.S. military installation by September 2028.
Radiant Nuclear plans to build its first portable nuclear generator factory on land near the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the company announced this week.
The El Segundo, Calif. based microreactor developer company will invest $280 million in its new factory and create 175 new jobs in Roane County, according to Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s Monday press release.
Radiant said the factory will begin its construction in early 2026, according to the company’s press release. The R-50 factory is meant to produce up to 50 microreactors per year, the company said
A public information meeting on work at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is scheduled for Thursday Nov. 6 at Southeast New Mexico College in Carlsbad.
The meeting will start at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. The session will be available online and will be jointly conducted by DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office and Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, which is the WIPP prime contractor.
Follow this link for more information, including how to do virtual registration.
Karen Thompson has been selected as the Planning and Execution Division director at the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management (EM) field office at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
“Karen has served in this role in an acting capacity since March, and we’re excited to have her experience, perspective, and drive as a member of the management team,” Oak Ridge EM Manager Erik Olds said in a recent post on LinkedIn.
In her current management role, Thompson plans and oversees cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the East Tennessee Technology Park, which is the former K-25 uranium enrichment complex area. Previously, Thompson worked as the Oak Ridge planning and baseline management branch chief since 2014, according to her online biography.
The West Valley Citizen Task Force Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22nd, has been canceled, the task force for the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York announced this week.
The next Quarterly Public Meeting will be held on Nov. 19. The agenda and registration link for the December Citizen Task Force meeting will be shared in advance of the meeting.
Fluor completed the sale of 15 million shares of its Class A common stock of NuScale Power on Oct. 9 which resulted in net proceeds of $605 million.
The completed sale of the stock was converted in August and reflects a gain of over 300% since NuScale, the small modular reactor company, went public in May 2022, according to Fluor’s Oct. 9 press release. The sale was filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website on Oct. 8. Fluor said it intends to use a majority of the earnings from the sale to enhance its ongoing share repurchase program.
Fluor has had a longstanding investment in NuScale since 2011. Despite the sale, the Irving, Texas-based Fluor will continue to own nearly 40% equity stake in the Corvallis, Ore.-based SMR developer NuScale.