National Laboratories

Magistrate Judge Could Take Over Suit by ORNL Resisters Although a federal judge in Tennessee turned down a preliminary injunction for vaccine holdouts at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and contractor UT-Battelle has asked that the lawsuit be tossed, a federal magistrate could take over the case. On Tuesday, District Judge Charles […]

A federal district judge in Tennessee has refused to issue a preliminary injunction against the Department of Energy’s management contractor for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a case brought by a small group of plaintiffs refusing to comply with a vaccine mandate. While contractor UT-Battelle’s treatment of employees seeking vaccine exemptions could have been […]

There was no word by deadline Friday on the fate of a federal preliminary injunction request that seeks to prevent the Department of Energy contractor running the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee from placing a small group of COVID-19 vaccine refusers on unpaid leave. There were no new records on the case posted online […]

Environmental groups from California, New Mexico and South Carolina are fighting to keep their lawsuit to slow plutonium-pit production from being thrown out of court and claimed this week that Congress’ mandate to produce pits does not prevent further environmental review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s planned pit complex. “[T]his lawsuit involves more than […]

A former Sandia National Laboratories employee’s maneuvering for a lighter prison sentence has the government wondering whether the ex-Sandian should receive any sentencing leniency at all, according to a Friday court filing. Joshua Cordova has acted “shamelessly” since reading a plea agreement with the government, claiming that tens of thousands of dollars worth personal items […]

Eight Los Alamos employees who refused to get a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination have sued the lab’s operations contractor in federal court asked a judge Friday to put the mandate on hold, court papers filed this week show. All eight of the plaintiffs received a religious exemption to Los Alamos’s vaccine mandate, which called for anyone […]

Testimony on a restraining order, keeping the Department of Energy contractor running the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from placing a small group of COVID-19 vaccine refusers on unpaid leave, has closed and the order will remain in effect short-term. The current temporary restraining order will “remain in effect until either Friday at 5:00 p.m. or […]

Environmentalist groups from California, New Mexico and South Carolina are fighting to keep their lawsuit to slow plutonium-pit production from being thrown out of court and claimed this week that Congress’ mandate to produce pits does not prevent further environmental review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s planned pit complex.  “[T]his lawsuit involves more than […]

Eight Los Alamos employees who refused to get a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination have sued the lab’s operations contractor in federal court and will get their chance at stopping the mandate in a hearing scheduled for Friday, court papers filed Tuesday show. All eight of the plaintiffs received a religious exemption to Los Alamos’s vaccine mandate, […]

A hearing was to continue this morning in a federal courtroom in Knoxville, Tenn., over a preliminary injunction requested by a half-dozen employees at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory who seek to avoid being placed on unpaid leave for refusal to take a vaccine against COVID-19. The hearing began yesterday in the […]

Lawyers representing a half-dozen employees at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee who refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine are expected Tuesday to argue in federal court that contractor UT-Battelle could rely on options other than a vaccine mandate to protect workers during the pandemic. Had UT-Battelle (UTB), the joint venture […]

A former Sandia National Laboratories employee’s maneuvering for a lighter prison sentence has the government wondering whether the ex-Sandian should receive any sentencing leniency at all, according to a Friday court filing. Joshua Cordova has acted “shamelessly” since reading a plea agreement with the government, claiming that tens of thousands of dollars worth personal items […]

Most National Nuclear Security Administration sites have given employees until Dec. 8 to get vaccinated, but some people at labs in New Mexico have already been terminated for refusing to at least begin a vaccine course.  At the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the northern part of the state, nearly 300 people have left the […]

The Fluor-led management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Wednesday in federal court that employees who refuse to comply with a federal order to become vaccinated against COVID-19 can simply seek work elsewhere. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court to throw […]

After ordering a temporary halt to certain COVID-19 vaccine-related firings at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week, a federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments next week about whether to extend the firing moratorium, according to court papers. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining order […]

After ordering a temporary halt to a few COVID-19 vaccine-related firings at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week, a federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments next week about whether to extend the firing moratorium, according to court papers. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining […]

A New Mexico state judge declined to block the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s management and operations contractor for enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and other measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission on site, local media reported Friday. More than 100 Los Alamos employees had sued the lab’s operations contractor, Triad National Security, in the First Judicial […]

A former Sandia employee who pleaded guilty to ripping off the labs for tens of thousands of dollars or more worth of merchandise is still fighting with the government over the exact value of the ill-gotten goods — a figure that could mean an extra two months in prison, or not, court papers show. Joshua […]

As two more nuclear-weapon sites prepared to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, small groups of vaccine refusers at sites in New Mexico and South Carolina sued in state courts to prevent their expected firings on Friday. In emails, spokespersons for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico said vaccines […]

A hearing was scheduled Thursday in a New Mexico court as part of a lawsuit in which 34 identified employees have asked a state judge to block Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate a day before they could be fired for not complying with it. The hearing was on the slate for 8:00 a.m. […]

A former Sandia employee who pleaded guilty to ripping off the labs for tens of thousands of dollars or more worth of merchandise is still fighting with the government over the exact value of the ill-gotten goods — a figure that could mean an extra two months in prison, or not, court papers show. Joshua […]

Although about 30% of the 1,050-person workforce at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina can qualify for retirement over the next three years, the research facility will grow before 2030, a lab manager said at an industry conference in Knoxville, Tenn., this week. The lab, which largely focuses on technology […]

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Assessments office is opening an investigation into the flooding of Los Alamos’ PF-4 plutonium facility earlier this year, an event precipitated by an untrained worker operating a wet vacuum. DOE’s internal watchdog notified lab director Thomas Mason of the impending investigation in a Sept. 23 letter posted online recently. In late […]

Todays’ computing, modeling and simulation tools, plus the National Ignition Facility that unlocks physics “not accessible in the laboratory,” have given nuclear-weapon stewards capabilities unimaginable almost 30 years ago, when the U.S. ceased explosive tests, the director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said this week. “On all of those fronts, the capabilities we have […]

Workers who secure a religious exemption to the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate will be barred from the lab and allowed only to go on vacation or take leave without pay until they quit their jobs or get vaccinated, according to an all-hands memo from lab Director Thomas Mason. “On October 15, staff […]

Workers who secure a religious exemption to the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate will be barred from the lab and allowed only to go on vacation or take leave without pay until they quit their jobs or get vaccinated, according to an all-hands memo from lab Director Thomas Mason. “On October 15, staff […]

Workers who secure a religious exemption to the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate will be barred from the lab and allowed only to go on vacation or take leave without pay until they quit their jobs or get vaccinated, according to an all-hands memo from lab Director Thomas Mason. “On October 15, staff […]

Todays’ computing, modeling and simulation tools, plus the National Ignition Facility that unlocks physics “not accessible in the laboratory,” have given nuclear-weapon stewards capabilities unimaginable almost 30 years ago, when the U.S. ceased explosive tests, the director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said Tuesday. “On all of those fronts, the capabilities we have in […]

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Assessments office is opening an investigation into the flooding of Los Alamos’ PF-4 plutonium facility earlier this year, an event precipitated by an untrained worker operating a wet vacuum.  DOE’s internal watchdog notified lab director Thomas Mason of the impending investigation in a Sept. 23 letter posted online recently.  In […]

Nuclear Weapons laboratories are outpacing production sites when it comes to vaccinating their workforces, according to the most recent data shared by National Nuclear Security Administration labs, plants and sites. At the Sandia National Laboratories, which has one of the largest workforces in the nuclear security enterprise, about 84% of the workforce had been vaccinated […]