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
DOE, New Mexico Set July Meeting on 2020 Los Alamos Cleanup Milestones
Officials from the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the New Mexico Environment Department are set to meet in July to discuss legacy nuclear-waste-cleanup priorities for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2020, the chair of an agency-funded advisory group said Wednesday. “The [New Mexico] Environmental Department and Los Alamos [Environmental Management] begin their […]
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Life Extension Programs
Balky Capacitors Could Delay Two NNSA Nuke Refurb Programs
WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will be late with initial deliveries to the Pentagon of two refurbished nuclear weapons, the head of the semiautonomous nuclear-weapons agency said here Wednesday. The Air Force was supposed to get its refurbished B61, to be called B61-12, in 2020. The Navy was supposed to get its […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Energy Dept. Picks Five Small Businesses for Oak Ridge Cleanup Work
The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday it has contracted five small businesses to provide $24.9 million worth of demolition and other cleanup services for the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The selected companies are: Aerostar SES, of Oak Ridge; ARS Aleut Remediation, of Port Allen, La.; CTI and Associates, of Knoxville, Tenn.; GEM Technologies, […]
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National Laboratories
Labs Face Funding Cuts for DOE Environmental Cleanup
The Department of Energy indicated Monday it intends in the upcoming budget year to cut tens of millions of dollars from environmental remediation funding at some of its national laboratories. As part of the continuing rollout of the Trump administration budget plan for fiscal 2020, the Energy Department released preliminary funding tables for its laboratories. […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Nevada Site Exec Rejoins LANL, Heads to NNSA HQ to Aid Pit Mission
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) tapped John Benner, who in early March returned to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, to aid the agency with future warhead core production at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The lab subsequently detailed Benner to Washington, where the longtime Los Alamos staffer will work […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Still on Top in New NNSA Lab Funding Plan
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Monday broke down how much of its requested $16.5 billion budget for fiscal 2020 would go to each of its nuclear-weapon labs. However, the Department of Energy branch had not still published its detailed 2020 budget request at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. The Energy Department did not reply […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Nevada Site Exec Rejoins LANL, Heads to NNSA HQ to Aid Pit Mission
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) tapped John Benner, who in early March returned to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, to aid the agency with future warhead core production at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The lab subsequently detailed Benner to Washington, where the longtime Los Alamos staffer will work […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos Still on Top in New NNSA Lab Funding Plan
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Monday broke down how much of its requested $16.5 billion budget for fiscal 2020 would go to each of its nuclear-weapon labs. However, the Department of Energy branch had not still published its detailed 2020 budget request at deadline Tuesday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The Los Alamos National Laboratory in […]
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National Laboratories
DOE Labs Face Funding Cuts for Environmental Cleanup
The Department of Energy indicated Monday it intends in the upcoming budget year to cut tens of millions of dollars from environmental remediation funding at some of its national laboratories. As part of the continuing rollout of the Trump administration budget plan for fiscal 2020, the Energy Department released preliminary funding tables for its laboratories. […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Fluor Plans to Restart Repackaging at INL Waste Incident Site Soon
Department of Energy contractor Fluor Idaho intends in April to resume sludge repackaging at an Idaho National Laboratory fabric filter building where four drums of radioactive waste overheated and ejected their lids about one year earlier. The company informed the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality of its plans on Feb. 28 in a monthly report […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Fluor Eyes Resuming Waste Repackaging at INL Drum Breach Site in April
Department of Energy contractor Fluor Idaho intends in April to resume sludge repackaging at an Idaho National Laboratory fabric filter building where four drums of radioactive waste overheated and ejected their lids about one year earlier. The company informed the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality of its plans on Feb. 28 in a monthly report […]
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National Laboratories
NM Gov. Signs Bill to Keep LANL Liable for Gross Receipts Tax
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) this week signed a bill that could require contractors operating the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to pay the state’s gross receipts tax, even if the contractors are nonprofit organizations. Grisham, the former Democratic congresswoman from Albuquerque, signed Senate Bill 11 on Thursday. The state House of Representatives in […]
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National Laboratories
NM Legislature Again Targets Nonprofit National Lab Primes for State Taxes
The New Mexico Legislature has again passed a bill that could require contractors operating the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to pay the state’s gross receipts tax, even if the contractors are nonprofit organizations. The state House of Representatives in Santa Fe passed Senate Bill 11 on Sunday by a vote of 64-0. The […]
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National Laboratories
In Los Alamos County, Lab is Larger Employer of Shrinking Workforce
A recent local government report shows that the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico accounted for a greater share of a shrinking Los Alamos County workforce over the last decade. As of mid-2018, the Department of Energy facility employed more than 65 percent of the county’s total workforce of roughly 16,300. In 2009, the lab […]
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National Laboratories
Budil Aboard at Livermore Weapons Directorate
Kim Budil started this week in her new job as director of weapons complex and integration at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, making her the point person for the nuclear warhead to be used on a next-generation cruise missile. Monday was Budil’s first day in her new role, a lab spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. […]
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National Laboratories
In Los Alamos County, Lab is Larger Employer of Shrinking Workforce
A recent local government report shows that the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico accounted for a greater share of a shrinking Los Alamos County workforce over the last decade. As of mid-2018, the Department of Energy facility employed more than 65 percent of the county’s total workforce of roughly 16,300. In 2009, the lab […]
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National Laboratories
Budil Aboard at Livermore Weapons Directorate
Kim Budil started this week in her new job as director of weapons complex and integration at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where her responsibilities will include overseeing the Department of Energy facility’s moderniztion of the nuclear warhead for the Air Force’s next-generation air-launched cruise missile. Monday was Budil’s first day in her […]
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National Laboratories
UC Official Tapped to Lead Livermore Weapons Programs
A senior official at the University of California has been picked to lead nuclear weapons programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory effective Feb. 4, the Department of Energy facility said Tuesday. Kimberly Budil will be principal associate director for weapons and complex integration: the top nuclear weapons job at the Livermore, Calif., laboratory that […]
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Non-Proliferation
Universities Get $50M in NNSA Nonproliferation Grants
Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Wrap Up: Subcontractor Deadline Extended for Bids on Los Alamos Analysis
The cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has extended the deadline for proposals from subcontractors interested in providing off-site environmental analysis. In an updated notice posted Jan. 22 on FedBizOpps.gov, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) said the deadline had been pushed back from Jan. 21 to […]
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Contracts & Procurement
N3B Deadline Extended for Subcontractor Bids on Los Alamos Analysis
The cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has extended the deadline for proposals from subcontractors interested in providing off-site environmental analysis. In an updated notice posted Jan. 22 on FedBizOpps.gov, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) said the deadline had been pushed back from Jan. 21 to […]
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Non-Proliferation
Universities Get $50M in NNSA Nonproliferation Grants
Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]
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National Laboratories
UC Official Tapped to Lead Livermore Weapons Programs
A senior official at the University of California has been picked to lead nuclear weapons programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory effective Feb. 4, the Department of Energy facility said Tuesday. Kimberly Budil will be principal associate director for weapons and complex integration: the top nuclear weapons job at the Livermore, Calif., laboratory that […]
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Contracts & Procurement
N3B Seeks Subcontractor for Lab Analysis at Los Alamos
Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B), cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is seeking a subcontractor to conduct off-site laboratory tests on soil, water, and debris samples. The successful bidder must be able to conduct inorganic, organic, and radiochemical analyses on a wide variety of environmental samples, […]
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National Laboratories
Livermore Needs a Week to Fix Broken Glove-Box Windows
It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box at the lab’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according to a Department […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Los Alamos Cleanup Prime Seeks Subcontractor for Lab Analysis
Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B), cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is seeking a subcontractor to conduct off-site laboratory tests on soil, water, and debris samples. The successful bidder must be able to do inorganic, organic, and radiochemical analyses on a wide variety of environmental samples, […]
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National Laboratories
Livermore Needs a Week to Fix Broken Glove-Box Windows
It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box in the Departent of Energy site’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according […]
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National Laboratories
LANS, Gone But Not Forgotten, Gets One More Slap on the Wrist
The former management contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico received a slap on the wrist from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) over a 2017 incident in which personnel entered a low-oxygen environment in violation of federal workplace safety laws. No one was hurt in the Sept. 13, 2017, incident, in […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DNFSB Agrees to Hearing on Idaho National Lab Drum Breach
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing by May to discuss an April 2018 accident at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory in which four drums of radioactive sludge blew off their lids. Three of the four DNFSB members voted on Dec. 12 to hold a hearing in Washington, D.C., […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DNFSB Plans Hearing on Idaho National Lab Drum Breach
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing by May to discuss an April 2018 accident at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory in which four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and blew off their lids. Three of the four DNFSB members voted on Dec. 12 to hold a hearing in […]






