TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS & WHAT TO KNOW THIS WEEK
- Commissioner Caputo resigns from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Join ECA September 10 for a webinar: Investing in Innovation - Financing Advanced Nuclear
Projects!
- David Wright reconfirmed as NRC Chair by the Senate
- Wednesday - Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to meet to consider Timothy J. Walsh as nominee Assistant Secretary for EM
- ECA expects several DOE nominees to be confirmed prior to the Senate recess at the end of the week
- Register for the National Cleanup Workshop, September 24 & 25!
- Hanford receives 75-day extension to vitrify the site’s 56 million gallons of material
- Nuclear Energy Agency report finds 127 SMR Technologies worldwide
- Energy and Water Appropriations will not be moving this week in the House or Senate and ECA expects a CR prior to September 30 (see the ECA budget tracker at the bottom of this newsletter for
detailed appropriations numbers)
COMMISSIONER CAPUTO RESIGNS FROM THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Annie Caputo, who has served as a commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since 2018 and was reappointed to the role for another five-year term in 2022, has resigned from the NRC. She provided the following statement: “It has been my honor and privilege to serve as a commissioner,
contributing to the work of the agency,” Caputo said in a Tuesday statement emailed to Exchange Monitor from the NRC spokesperson. “I have decided to resign from the Commission, effective upon the swearing in of my colleague David Wright,” Caputo said. “The time has come for me to more fully focus on my family. As I step away, I’m confident the agency will continue to evolve under Chairman Wright’s leadership,
excelling as a world class regulator and enabling the safe and secure use of nuclear technologies for the benefit of our society." The story was reported by E&E News by Politico, which you can click here to
read.
JOIN ECA FOR INVESTING IN INNOVATION - FINANCING ADVANCED NUCLEAR PROJECTS
Financing is key to facilitating and moving forward advanced nuclear projects and ensuring their success. Financing for these projects can come from various sources, including: - Venture capital;
- Investors;
- Governments;
- and other parties
Join ECA as we explore the
status of financing these critical projects, including the key aspects of financing, the key issues and solutions to today’s financing challenges, and how the financial feasibility of such projects can be improved at both the demonstration and commercialization stages of development.
Speakers to be announced in the coming weeks! Please contact AJ Ridge, ECA Program Director, with any questions at ajr@energyca.org.
To make sure you don't miss anything, be sure to subscribe to the ECA Update below!
SENATE RECONFIRMS DAVID WRIGHT AS NRC CHAIR; SENATE COMMITTEE TO REVIEW NOMINATION OF EM ASSISTANT SECRETARY WEDNESDAY
Yesterday (July 29) the Senate reconfirmed Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair David Wright to serve another term on the commission, by a 50-39 vote. Wright's reconfirmation is one in a nominations that the Senate hopes to cover before it joins the House in recess at the end of this week. Among those confirmations is that of nominee Assistant Secretary of Energy for the Office of Environmental Management, Timothy J
Walsh. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will meet tomorrow, on Wednesday, July 30, at 9:30am, to consider multiple pending nominations, including that of nominee Assistant Secretary. ECA had submitted a letter of support to the Senate Committee to voice support for Mr. Walsh's confirmation: "ECA supports the nomination of Mr. Walsh, who would be the first political appointee in over six years to lead the EM program. ECA believes that EM should be led by a political appointee to enable the difficult decision-making that the program requires to evolve and best serve the U.S. taxpayers and the host communities. Congress and President set up the EM program to have a political leader to ensure that the leader of the program would go through
the Senate confirmation process and be directly accountable to the President, the Secretary, and Congress. ... Mr. Walsh seems to have the executive experience necessary for this role, and a track record of cooperating and communicating with businesses and local governments who are the current and future hosts of our nation’s nuclear facilities. Communication and partnership with these entities is critical to the success of the EM mission, and ECA believes Mr. Walsh understands that creating
relationships with local government leaders and industry to enable the advancement of that EM mission will assist to move the EM program for the short and long-term." To read the full letter of support, click here.
JOIN US FOR THE 11TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CLEANUP WORKSHOP
September 24 - 25, 2025 | Crystal Gateway Marriott | Arlington, VA Join us September 24-25 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott - Arlington, VA, where we’ll explore how
the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is working to drive down risks while also building up new opportunities for communities and the nation.
WHO'S SPEAKING?
Roger Jarrell | Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary, DOE-EM
James McConnell | Acting Principal Deputy Administrator, NNSA
Greg Sosson | Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Field Operations, DOE-EM
Kristen Ellis | Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs, DOE-EM
Brent Gerry | Mayor, City of West Richland, WA; Chair, ECA
Rebecca Casper | Mayor, City of Idaho Falls, ID; Vice-Chair, ECA
Jonathan “JD” Dowell | Senior Vice President, Fluor
Heatherly Dukes | President, BWXT Technical
Services Group
DJ Johnson | Vice President, Federal Solutions Business Enterprise, Honeywell Federal Solutions; Chair, EFCOG
Mark Johnson | Principal Vice President, High Level Waste Facility, Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), Bechtel
Jeff Kendall | President, AtkinsRéalis U.S. Nuclear
Michael Lempke | President, Nuclear and Environmental Services,
HII
Mark Whitney | President, Amentum
...and more!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Wednesday, September 24 8:00am National Cleanup
Workshop 5:30pm Evening Reception for all NCW Attendees Thursday, September 25
8:00am National Cleanup Workshop SPONSORSHIP
NCW sponsorships offer an excellent opportunity to showcase your
company, maximize networking opportunities with attendees, and host an exhibit booth during the forum. Click here to learn more! STAY CONNECTED
ECA Twitter: @ENERGYCAORG
EFCOG Twitter: @EFCOG_now
DOE EM Twitter: @EMcleanup
#NationalCleanupWorkshop SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS The National Cleanup Workshop is hosted by the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) with the cooperation of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of
Environmental Management (EM)*.
WHAT YOU'VE MISSED: Delays at multi-billion first-of-kind Eastern WA radioactive waste plant KENNEWICK – The
deadline to glassify the first of the Hanford nuclear site’s 56 million gallons of radioactive waste will be extended under an agreement filed in federal court. Work to build the massive Hanford vitrification plant began in 2002, and the previous deadline set in a federal court consent decree was Friday, Aug. 1, to demonstrate that it not only can turn radioactive waste into a stable glass form but that the glass met quality standards for disposal. The extension, which is one of many through the
decades, gives the Department of Energy 75 more days, extending the deadline to Oct. 15. Read the full story NEA Finds 127 SMR Technologies Worldwide For this third
edition of the NEA SMR Dashboard, the NEA’s comprehensive global review identified 127 SMR technologies around the world. Seventy-four SMRs are included in this edition of the NEA SMR Dashboard; these are the SMRs for which the requisite publicly available information was assessable and for which the relevant designers were willing to participate. The other 53 include approximately 25 that are under development but requested not to be included in the SMR Dashboard at this time but may be
included in the future; the remainder include SMR technologies that are not under active development, may be without human or financial resources, or have been cancelled or paused indefinitely. The assessments in this edition of the SMR Dashboard are based on progress up to a cutoff date of 14 February 2025. Read the full story Wyoming weighs nuclear waste storage rule change amid public pushback over microreactor plant Lawmakers in Wyoming are debating a bill that would allow storage of radioactive waste from a proposed microreactor manufacturing facility, a move that has drawn sharp resistance from local residents. The bill would exempt advanced nuclear reactor manufacturers from Wyoming’s long-standing ban on nuclear fuel waste storage, paving the way for Radiant Industries’ planned facility near the town of Bar Nunn. Read the full story
Gone Fission Podcast - Nuclear Opportunities
Workshop July 9, 2025 | S5 E3 In this week’s episode, Host Michael Butler discusses plans to expand the Gone Fission podcast’s coverage to include the emerging nuclear renaissance. The expanded coverage begins later this month at the Nuclear Opportunities Workshop in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Sponsored by the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC), the Workshop is expected to attract more than 800 attendees representing major companies in the nuclear industry. Topics will include small modular reactors, advanced reactor fuel, uranium enrichment, nuclear plant financing and more. Learn more about this exciting conference in this week’s interview with ETEC President and CEO Tracy Boatner. https://gonefissionpodcast.com/ NucleCast - Pranay Vaddi: Inside the National Security Council, Policy and Arms Control July 29, 2025 | S03 E229 In this episode, Adam interviews Pranay Vaddi, who shares his experiences working at the
National Security Council (NSC) and his insights into nuclear policy and arms control. Vaddi discusses the daily operations at the NSC, the challenges of elevating nuclear issues within the government, and the importance of collaboration among various agencies. He also reflects on the evolution of the NSC, the dynamics of working within the bureaucracy, and the demanding nature of the job. Vaddi emphasizes the need for future leaders to engage in discussions and share their ideas to address
pressing national security challenges. https://rss.com/podcasts/nuclecast-podcast/
Investing in innovation - Financing Advanced Nuclear Projects Webinar | September 10 Register Here National Cleanup Workshop 2025 Arlington, VA | September 23 - 25 Learn More Here
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