National Laboratories
Coverage of DOE’s 17 national laboratories and their science, energy, and national security missions — from basic research to applied programs, including their expanding role in AI-driven initiatives.
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Regional Coalition Votes to Close Down
A regional group to promote communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has decided to close up shop. “We are looking toward officially dissolving by June 30,” Darien Fernandez, the Taos Town Council member and chair of the Regional Coalition of LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory] Communities, said by […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Nevada Spheres From Historic Livermore Experiments at Last Leaving Nevada
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans to relocate some transuranic waste from the Nevada National Security Site to the Idaho National Laboratory where it will be prepared for eventual shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The transuranic material is what “we refer to as the Nevada spheres,” Robert […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Regional Coalition Votes to Close Down
A regional group to promote communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has decided to close up shop. “We are looking toward officially dissolving by June 30,” Darien Fernandez, the Taos Town Council member and chair of the Regional Coalition of LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory] Communities, said by […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Regional Coalition Reportedly to Close
A regional group to promote communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has reportedly decided to close up shop. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Monday the Regional Coalition of LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory] Communities voted during its Friday online meeting to start wrapping up operations. The move […]
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National Laboratories
NTESS Hit With $152K Fine for Misfiling Classified Information
National Engineering and Technology Solutions of Sandia, the Honeywell-owned prime for the Sandia National Laboratories, agreed to a $152,000 settlement with the Department of Energy over the unauthorized disclosure of classified information at the lab some time around 2019. The fine was not the only penalty Sandia paid, but other details of the enforcement were […]
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National Laboratories
LANL Doing Away With Mandatory COVID Tests for the Fully Vaccinated; DOE Eases Mask Rules
Los Alamos National Laboratory employees who can provide proof that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not have to submit to mandatory random screenings for the viral disease, lab leadership said. In a May 17 email to employees, Kathy Segala, associate laboratory director for capital projects, said Los Alamos personnel can skip out on COVID-19 […]
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National Laboratories
Proposed Landfill Called Central to Y-12, Oak Ridge National Lab Cleanup
The Department of Energy considers construction of a new 2.2-million cubic yard landfill at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee vital to cleanup of contaminated sites the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a federal official said Wednesday. The new onsite landfill will “make sure that we have enough disposal capacity,” […]
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National Laboratories
Wrap Up: Burns & McDonnell Taps Federal Strategy Director
Kansas City, Mo.-based Burns & McDonnell recently named Willie Clark as its federal strategy director, the company announced this week. For the previous almost nine years, Clark had been the giant engineering corporation’s federal business development manager, according to the company’s Wednesday news release. He held positions with the National Nuclear Security Administration from 1987 […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos NNSA Field Office Gets Two New Deputy Managers
The Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration this week appointed two new deputy managers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory field office in New Mexico. Jason Saenz will be the new deputy manager for technical operations and Paula “Erika” Wisdom will be the deputy manager for business, security and missions as a new […]
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National Laboratories
Biden Admin Taps Berhe to Lead DOE Science Office
In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday […]
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National Laboratories
Biden Admin Taps Berhe to Lead DOE Science Office
In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday […]
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National Laboratories
NAS Panel Says Nuclear Weapons Monitoring and Detection Needs High Priority
A National Academies panel said Monday that monitoring, detection and verification of nuclear weapons and fissile material should be a higher national security priority and that more government coordination is needed on the issue. That is the crux of an interim report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, published Monday. The report, […]
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National Laboratories
COVID Fatality at Sandia; Livermore Starts Vaccinations On Site
A COVID-19 fatality at the Sandia National Laboratories brought the confirmed count of fatal cases across the National Nuclear Security Administration complex to 16 during the ongoing pandemic, as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at last got a delivery of vaccines. This was the second confirmed fatal case at Sandia, a spokesperson at the National […]
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Budget & Policy
Haaland Confirmation Opens Up Congressional Seat in Sandia District
The U.S. Senate Monday voted 51-to-40 to confirm Rep. Debra Haaland (D-N.M.) as secretary of interior, which will create a vacancy in the congressional district that includes the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories facilities in Albuquerque. An Associated Press article Tuesday in the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday former State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Kreitz Leaving Los Alamos; Nelson Returning to Lab to Helm Pit Infrastructure Projects
Paul Kreitz, who has helped manage planning and construction of pit production infrastructure at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the past two years or so, is leaving lab manager Triad National Security in late April, a lab official said this week. Kreitz was not one of Triad National Security’s key personnel. Before Los Alamos, […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Kreitz Leaving Los Alamos; Nelson Returning to Lab to Helm Pit Infrastructure Projects
Paul Kreitz, who has helped manage planning and construction of pit production infrastructure at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the past two years or so, is leaving lab manager Triad National Security in late April, a lab official said this week. Kreitz was not one of Triad National Security’s key personnel. Before Los Alamos, […]
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National Laboratories
Budil Officially Taking Over as Livermore Director
Kim Budil took over as the 13th director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California this week. The younger of the two nuclear weapons design laboratories announced the change at top in late January. Budil replaced William Goldstein, who retired after six years as director and 36 years at Livermore. Budil takes over with […]
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National Laboratories
Budil Officially Taking Over as Livermore Director
Kim Budil was set to take over as the 13th director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California on Tuesday. The younger of the two nuclear weapons design laboratories announced the change at top in late January. Budil replaces William Goldstein, who was to retire after six years as director and 36 years at […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
New Mexico Plans Los Alamos Community Meeting This Month
The New Mexico Environment Department has scheduled a virtual community engagement meeting Feb. 25 to discuss issues on the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, including radioactive contamination found on a public road outside the federal complex. The session, which will be held via Webex, is planned from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Mountain Time. […]
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National Laboratories
Battelle Receives Green Light for Savannah River National Lab Transition
The Department of Energy cleared a transition of Savannah River National Laboratory operations to Battelle Savannah River Alliance starting Feb. 16, the contractor announced Thursday. The notice means the Battelle team will take over as manager of the laboratory in mid-June from Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, which is the current operator of the entire […]
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National Laboratories
Wrap Up: LANL Branch in Santa Fe; Wildfire Warning From the IG; Labs Laud Awardees; More
The Los Alamos National Laboratory signed a 10-year lease on an office building in downtown Santa Fe, N.M., about 35 miles southeast by road from the main laboratory campus. As many as 75 people could occupy the office space, which includes the first-floor of the Dorothy McKibbin Conference Center. The leased space will support the […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Regional Group Still Seeking New Director
A group dedicated to supporting communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is still seeking a new executive director, which would be its third in three years, and is planning to discuss the issue Friday. The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) board of directors will discuss a request […]
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National Laboratories
COVID-19 Fatalities at Los Alamos, Y-12; Active Cases Fall, Vaccinations Increase
Two more people in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s workforce died from COVID-19 this week, as recoveries continued to outpace new infections and more nuclear weapons workers got vaccinated. One of the two fatalities this week was at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It was the fourth fatal case for the lab during the pandemic. […]
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National Laboratories
NNSA COVID Recoveries Outpace Infections; Livermore Alone Among Labs Still Waiting on Vaccine Doses
The National Nuclear Security Administration racked up more than 200 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 this week, but recoveries again outpaced new infections, with vaccinations continuing throughout the enterprise. As of Friday the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency had 604 active cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus that broke out in […]
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National Laboratories
Budil Will Be 13th Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Kim Budil will become the 13th director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California on March 2, the younger of the two U.S. nuclear-weapons design laboratories announced Thursday. Budil was mostly recently Livermore’s director of weapons complex and integration, responsible for the lab’s major weapon refurbishments, including the W80-4 air-launched cruise-missile warhead and the […]
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National Laboratories
Transition Could Begin Soon at Savannah River National Lab
There were no protests filed over the Department of Energy’s December award of a stand-alone contract for a Battelle-led team to manage the Savannah River National Laboratory, an agency official said this week. “We are working on getting ready to do the contract transition,” said Michael Budney, the top DOE Office of Environmental Management official […]
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National Laboratories
Livermore Set to Announce New Director Today
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was to announce on Thursday the new director of the younger U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory, according to a press release. William Goldstein, the current director, announced last year that he would retire after six years in the top spot and 36 at the San Francisco Bay Area lab. Livermore’s […]
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National Laboratories
Transition Might Begin Soon at Savannah River National Lab
There were no protests filed over the Department of Energy’s December award of a stand-alone contract for a Battelle-led team to manage the Savannah River National Laboratory, an agency official said Monday. “We are working on getting ready to do the contract transition,” said Michael Budney, the top DOE Office of Environmental Management official at […]
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National Laboratories
LANL Gets Another Partial Snow Day
Adding another hash mark to the record of winter disruptions on the hill, the Los Alamos National Laboratory opened late on Monday, advising essential personnel needed for national security work inside the fence to wait out some heavy snow before reporting in. That means the roughly 20% of Los Alamos’ workforce still on site amid […]
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National Laboratories
LANL Gets Another Partial Snow Day
Adding another hash mark to the record of winter disruptions on the hill, the Los Alamos National Laboratory opened late today, advising essential personnel needed for national security work inside the fence to wait out some heavy snow before reporting in. That means the roughly 20% of Los Alamos’ workforce still on site amid ongoing […]




