National Laboratories

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory added SambaNova Systems’ spatial data flow accelerator to the lab’s Livermore Computing Center as part of an effort to see if artificial intelligence can aid the nuclear-weapons program. Livermore will integrate the new hardware to further investigate cognitive simulation approaches combining artificial intelligence (AI) with high-performance computing to learn if deep […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory added SambaNova Systems’ spatial data flow accelerator to the lab’s Livermore Computing Center as part of an effort to see if artificial intelligence can aid the nuclear-weapons program. Livermore will integrate the new hardware to further investigate cognitive simulation approaches combining artificial intelligence (AI) with high-performance computing to learn if deep […]

The flood of employees leaving National Nuclear Security Administration sites that peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic has ebbed and the workforce needed to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex is short-staffed but holding, the head of the agency said Wednesday.  “The overall attrition is close to normal now at both Los Alamos and Sandia and […]

Problems with components are mostly responsible for the two-year delay to the warhead for the next nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missile, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told lawmakers Wednesday. There are “few components that are pacing the schedule” for the W80-4, Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) told the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Friday kicked off a big environmental review of the agency’s plan for expanding the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. over the next 15 years. Among the activities the nuclear-weapons agency plans to review are: Upgrading the lab’s capability to test nuclear weapons and components in radiation-rich environments by […]

Earnings rose for Honeywell in the 1st quarter of 2023, which the aerospace and defense contractor, leading trans at five Department of Energy nuclear sites attributed mostly to a growth in commercial aviation. The company generated $1.4 billion in net income in the first quarter, about $300 million better than the first quarter of 2022, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Friday kicked off a big environmental review of the agency’s plan for expanding the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. over the next 15 years. Among the activities the nuclear-weapons agency plans to review are: Upgrading the lab’s capability to test nuclear weapons and components in radiation-rich environments by […]

NATO and the U.S. State Department this week held the 18th Annual NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Non-Proliferation in Washington, D.C. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman delivered remarks at the opening session of the conference on April 18. “NATO will […]

The Air Force and Navy on Wednesday morning used an airborne control center to test-fire an unarmed Minuteman III missile, the services said. The test gave the services a look at the Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS), an aircraft that can launch intercontinental ballistic missiles if ground-based communication with nuclear silos is disabled.  A joint […]

Residents of Boston need not fear the silver-and-blue helicopters flying low and slowly over the city this weekend. They are there to test the air for unnatural levels of radiation ahead of the Boston Marathon.  The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, helicopters routinely overfly cities hosting major events to monitor […]

An employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory was blown off a ladder and severely burned in 2015 after spraying cleaning solutions on parts of a power substation that turned out to be electrified, according to a report on the incident published last week. After the resulting arc-flash, nine employees were sent to Los Alamos Medical […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments enforcement office is launching an investigation into the amputation of a worker’s finger at the Savannah River Site on Dec. 1, according to a letter sent to site President and CEO Stuart MacVean.  Dated March 23 but posted online on Tuesday, the letter says DoE will investigate […]

The Department of Energy will temporarily suspend some work to contain underground hexavalent chromium contamination at the Los Alamos National Laboratory while talks continue with New Mexico officials over the effectiveness of the treatment, officials said Wednesday night. The agency’s local Environmental Management field office and its site cleanup contractor will halt injection of clean […]

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlined the advantages of boosting High Energy Density (HED) research and identifies key challenges in the field.  The study, undertaken by the Committee on the Assessment of High Energy Density Science, was sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration.  Félicie Albert, deputy director […]

The Department of Energy could spend $20 million on tearing down contaminated old facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California during fiscal 2024, or about $15 million less than what Congress approved for that purpose in fiscal 2023, according to the White House budget justification out last week. The DOE Office of Environmental […]

The Department of Energy could spend $20 million on tearing down contaminated old facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California during fiscal 2024, or about $15 million less than what Congress approved for that purpose in fiscal 2023, according to the White House budget justification out last week. The DOE Office of Environmental […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2024 includes a funding boost for plutonium pit production in New Mexico, with the goal of building 80 per year as close to 2030 as possible.  Also in the request, the NNSA provided a new cost and schedule estimate for completing the Uranium Processing Facility […]

The Department of Energy’s Huntington Ingalls-led legacy cleanup team at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is being extended for another three years, a company official told a federal advisory board meeting this week. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) “was recently notified that DOE will exercise the first option period under […]

Employees of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory who sued over the lab contractor’s COVID-19 vaccination policy have “narrowed the issues” to be addressed in ongoing settlement talks, according to a recent court filing. Attorneys for the management contractor UT-Battelle, composed of the University of Tennessee and Battelle, and the half-dozen employees who sued, should report […]

Former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt (R) died March 4 at age 96. During Batt’s tenure, Idaho inked a 1995 settlement the U.S. Navy and Department of Energy governing cleanup and removal of nuclear spent fuel from the Idaho National Laboratory. Gov. Brad Little (R) immediately ordered the lowering of Idaho and American flags in Batt’s […]

Below is Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s annual digest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) performance evaluation summaries: the agency’s report cards for its big contracts, which explain how much management and operations entities earned for their performance. The Monitor has provided links to NNSA source documents. Kansas City National Security Campus, Kansas City, […]

The Department of Energy prime for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is looking for contractors interested in performing building demolition. Bechtel-led Lawrence Livermore National Security, the contractor managing the laboratory for DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) posted a sources-sought notice Thursday March 2 seeking a subcontractor for building and slab demolition as […]

PHOENIX —One year into its new 10-year deal at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge has finished demolishing some key structures at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the remediation prime’s CEO said Wednesday. All of the old contaminated buildings at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

The technology that powers the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s main nuclear-weapon testing center is a viable bedrock for a nuclear fusion power plant, the lab’s director testified Tuesday in Congress. Based on data available today from Livermore’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), “it is feasible to develop a fusion energy power plant based on the inertial […]

PHOENIX – Winning support for a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee took a lot of time and friendly arm-twisting, a member of the House Appropriations Committee told the Waste Management Symposia Monday via electronic hookup from Washington, D.C. At various points, “we were stymied by […]

PHOENIX —One year into its new 10-year deal at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge has finished demolishing some key structures at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the remediation prime’s CEO said Wednesday. All of the old contaminated buildings at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was set to testify Tuesday in Washington during a hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The hearing, “The United States, China and the Fight for Global Leadership: Building a U.S. National Science and Technology Strategy,” was on the slate for 10:00 a.m. Eastern […]

The New Mexico Environment Department wants the Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to suspend part of its chromium plume mitigation program over concerns it might force contamination deeper underground, a federal official said last week. The DOE, meanwhile, believes its interim approach is effective and hopes to make that […]

Today is expected to be another cold, wintry one around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico with a high temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit, but with a wind chill factor below zero, according to the National Weather Service. The laboratory suspended most on-site normal operations Wednesday due to snowy conditions, […]

Congressional leaders asked the Department of Energy to turn over by Feb. 16 its communications with three national labs reportedly targeted in January by Russian hackers. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was among the labs the hackers targeted by, among other things, creating fake login pages and asking authorized users of the lab’s […]