National Laboratories

A non-Sentinel flight test for the W87-1 warhead is planned for next calendar year, a spokesperson for Sandia National Laboratories told the Exchange Monitor in an email this week. “Even with the disruption with the Sentinel program, we’ve been able to continue to keep that program on track,” Laura McGill, director of Sandia, said Monday […]

Triad National Security, the prime contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced the beginning of phasing into 24/7 operations at the New Mexico lab’s plutonium facility, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. The nuclear watchdog report dated April 18 said that contractor management determined continuous operations at the facility were needed at […]

There is good news and bad news to report on staffing, the head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup field office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico told a federal advisory panel last week. “I am happy to report that no federal employees within the EMLA [Environmental Management Los Alamos] field […]

Triad National Security, the prime contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced the beginning of phasing into 24/7 operations at the New Mexico lab’s plutonium facility, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. The nuclear watchdog report dated April 18 said that contractor management determined continuous operations at the facility were needed at […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted to review a construction permit application of Dow Chemical Company’s subsidiary Long Mott Energy, as announced in its Tuesday press release. Dow and X-Energy previously submitted a construction permit application for a proposed advanced nuclear project in Seadrift, Texas on March 31. The project would use a four-unit facility using X-Energy’s […]

The W80-4 warhead will stay on schedule, despite the cost breach of its delivery vehicle the B-52 bomber, Sandia National Laboratories director Laura McGill said during an online press conference Wednesday. “It is really critical that we deliver that system on time,” McGill said while answering a question by the Exchange Monitor on how last […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a vocal nuclear critic and member of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor Los Alamos National Laboratory “ought to be able to produce” 100 pits in four years. Garamendi spoke to the Monitor last week in the halls of the Capitol about Secretary of Energy Chris […]

Candice Robertson, who formerly led the Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup branch, has taken an executive position with BWX Technologies, the company said Wednesday. Along with Robertson, who led the DOE Office of Environmental Management for much of the past year, BWXT also announced former DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) executive Linda […]

The W80-4 warhead will stay on schedule, despite the cost breach of its delivery vehicle the B-52 bomber, Sandia National Laboratories director Laura McGill said during an online press conference Wednesday. “It is really critical that we deliver that system on time,” McGill said while answering a question by the Exchange Monitor on how last […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the company partly attributed to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s intent to award it a sole source contract for an advanced uranium enrichment project.   “We had another quarter of strong commercial backlog growth and see robust opportunities for growth in our government […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has deactivated the above-ground floors of a contaminated building at the Y-12 National Security Complex and is filling up the basement at the facility, DOE said last week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management contractor, United Cleanup Oak Ridge, is pouring more […]

The Department of Energy and Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) announced late Tuesday they have agreed to a “targeted waiver” of certain aspects of a 1995 settlement agreement designed to expedite removal of old spent nuclear fuel from Idaho National Laboratory. The agreement, which was later modified in 2019, calls for removal of most spent […]

Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory director John Foster died on April 25 at the age of 102, the lab announced Tuesday. Foster served as Lawrence Livermore’s fourth director from 1961-65, before becoming director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense from 1965-1973, under four defense secretaries and two presidents. However, his career […]

Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory director John Foster died on April 25 at the age of 102, the lab announced Tuesday. Foster served as Lawrence Livermore’s fourth director from 1961-65, before becoming director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense from 1965-1973, under four defense secretaries and two presidents. However, his career […]

The Department of Energy has awarded a contract up to $74.8 million to a women-owned small business in Richland, Wash. to provide professional support services at the DOE’s Oak Ridge, Tenn. nuclear environmental cleanup site. The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced the contract with the company, Independent Strategic Management Solutions, Inc. (ISMSolutions), in […]

Eric Epstein, who has previously served as the chairman of Three Mile Island Alert, has filed a petition opposing the proposed name change for Three Mile Island Unit-1 to “Christopher M. Crane Clean Energy Center”. In the petition, filed on April 18, Epstein requested a hearing to challenge the name change as he claimed the […]

A collective of Oak Ridge groups recently disposed of highly radioactive waste that had been kept at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for more than 50 years, as announced in an April 15 press release. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge processed and shipped highly radioactive source, […]

The city of Oak Ridge, Tenn., is studying alternative sites for a municipal airport with land cleaned up by the Department of Energy now earmarked by Orano USA for a major uranium enrichment project. Although a local airport has been long sought by the city of Oak Ridge, Exchange Monitor reported in October 2024 it […]

A federal judge in Massachusetts has issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday blocking the Department of Energy’s new policy that would reduce universities research grant funds to 15%. U.S. district judge Allison Burroughs granted the order and allowed for DOE to appeal by April 22. A hearing for the motion is scheduled at 11:00 […]

The Donald Trump administration’s pick to be deputy secretary of energy, told a Senate panel Wednesday that if confirmed his focus would be on easing federal regulatory approval for new infrastructure and electricity projects.   In his prepared testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, James Danly also said keeping the Department of Energy’s […]

John (Jay) Mullis finished his federal career last week as the Department of Energy’s manager for nuclear cleanup at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, with deputy Eric Olds stepping in as the acting boss. The transition was confirmed via email Monday by a spokesperson for DOE. Exchange Monitor first reported the Mullis retirement plans […]

BWX Technologies, a Virginia-based company, is opening a 170,000 square-foot facility dedicated to advanced nuclear technology in Lynchburg, Virginia. The new labs and workspaces will be used for NASA, the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, national research labs, state government and commercial use, according to the company’s March 26 press release. BWXT has worked […]

Oklo Inc. has lined up a key agreement with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory to assist the company’s plans to build its first advanced nuclear plant at the site. The agreement ensures that Oklo, an advanced nuclear technology company based in California, will commit to follow the “strict environmental guidelines”  throughout the various […]

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent letters to directors of Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Argonne National Laboratories on reports of researchers leveraging supercomputers from the Chinese military. Lee, a proponent for examining vulnerabilities at national labs particularly concerning foreign nationals, published the letters Wednesday on the […]

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is shopping around for industry partners to invest between $5 million and $10 million in an “incubator” for startup businesses aimed at areas such as nuclear energy and cyber security. In exchange for the seed investment, the startups would gain access to Idaho National Laboratory’s “world-class facilities and […]

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent letters to directors of Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Argonne National Laboratories on reports of researchers leveraging supercomputers from the Chinese military. Lee, a proponent for examining vulnerabilities at national labs particularly concerning foreign nationals, published the letters Wednesday on the […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced orders Thursday to “ease burdensome permitting rules” for construction on the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities and national labs. Wright immediately directed that the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) “OSHA-plus” framework for subcontracted construction projects at the labs be expanded with aims to increase competition and reduce costs while maintaining […]

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is shopping around for industry partners to invest between $5 million and $10 million in an “incubator” for startup businesses aimed at areas such as nuclear energy and cyber security. In exchange for the seed investment, the startups would gain access to Idaho National Laboratory’s “world-class facilities and […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright recently visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he toured cleanup projects and the Y-12 National Security Complex, a DOE press release said Tuesday. “As a fan of history, this is a critical area for the Manhattan Project, it’s a critical area for winning WWII and it will be a critical […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will soon start removing the concrete slab from the site of Building 251, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday. Once the slab is gone, Building 251 or the Heavy Elements Facility will become available for future work by DOE and its […]