National Laboratories

The search for a new executive director is over for an advocacy group for localities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) recently retained the firm CPLC New Mexico to provide it with executive director services. Eric Vasquez has become the new RCLC […]

Come fall, Canadian-born, transplant-Tennessean Thomas Mason will be the latest in a line of Los Alamos National Laboratory directors stretching back to J. Robert Oppenheimer. But as of this week, when he took time after a Capitol Hill visit to speak with Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, he stressed he was only president and chief […]

Excising the profit-seeking mindset from the Los Alamos National Laboratory was key to keeping the University of California on the storied nuclear-weapons lab’s management team, an executive with the massive public university system said Wednesday. After about a dozen years under the for-profit Los Alamos National Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in June […]

Triad National Security, incoming management and operations contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, filled out some of the lower levels of its organization chart this week, identifying 11 more employees in its science, operations, and weapons stovepipes. The recently identified Triad execs are: Weapons Mission: Michael Bernardin, associate laboratory director, weapons design. Bernardin is […]

Triad National Security, incoming management and operations contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, filled out some of the lower levels of its organization chart this week, identifying 11 more employees in its science, operations, and weapons stovepipes. The recently identified Triad execs are: Weapons Mission: Michael Bernardin, associate laboratory director, weapons design. Bernardin is […]

Excising the profit-seeking mindset from the Los Alamos National Laboratory was key to keeping the University of California on the storied nuclear-weapons lab’s management team, an executive with the massive public university system said Wednesday. After about a dozen years under the for-profit Los Alamos National Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in June […]

Nuclear Watch New Mexico (NukeWatch) can continue to pursue its lawsuit against the Energy Department and its former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) contractor for failing to do certain tasks spelled out in a 2005 consent order, but a federal judge won’t throw out a revised 2016 settlement between DOE and the state of New […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

Thomas Mason, former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will become director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Nov. 1, after Triad National Security takes over management of the storied nuclear-weapon facility in New Mexico. Mason is Triad’s president and CEO, making him ultimately responsible for Los Alamos’ nuclear stockpile stewardship and weapons modernization […]

Thomas Mason, former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will become director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Nov. 1, after Triad National Security takes over management of the storied nuclear-weapon facility in New Mexico. Mason is Triad’s president and CEO, making him ultimately responsible for Los Alamos’ nuclear stockpile stewardship and weapons modernization […]

Triad National Security will take over management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Nov. 1, one of the team’s three senior partners said Friday. “The transition period will end on Oct. 31, 2018, with an official transfer of operational responsibility to Triad on Nov. 1,” a spokesperson for the University of California said by […]

A search committee for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) in New Mexico last week interviewed candidates to become the organization’s new executive director, and could fill the post this summer. The RCLC board panel expects “to negotiate a contract with the preferred applicant over the next few weeks and plan for the entire […]

Triad National Security appears set to take over the Los Alamos National Laboratory this fall, after no one protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s June 8 award of its potentially 10-year management contract. Triad’s three main partners are Battelle Memorial Institute, the University of California, and Texas A&M University. The University of California managed Los Alamos […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) visited Los Alamos, but not at the Energy Department laboratory, on Thursday as part of his first U.S. Senate re-election campaign. Heinrich, who is seeking a second term, appeared for a one-and-a-half hour meet and greet at a wine bar not 2 miles from the storied nuclear weapons lab. Heinrich ran […]

A search committee for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) in New Mexico last week interviewed candidates to become the organization’s new executive director, and could fill the post this summer. The RCLC board panel expects “to negotiate a contract with the preferred applicant over the next few weeks and plan for the entire […]

Texas A&M University will manage a low-energy nuclear science center for the National Nuclear Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  using a five-year, $10-million grant announced Thursday. With the grant, the College State-based university will operate the Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-based Research (CENTAUR): a project that combines experimental and theoretical physics initiatives to “measure […]

A search committee for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) in New Mexico last week interviewed candidates to become the organization’s new executive director, and could fill the post this summer. The RCLC board panel expects “to negotiate a contract with the preferred applicant over the next few weeks and plan for the entire […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will be in Los Alamos, but not at the Energy Department laboratory, on Thursday as part of his first U.S. Senate re-election campaign. Heinrich, who is seeking a second term, is scheduled to appear from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time at a wine bar not 2 miles from the […]

The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director by the end of the month. The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the executive committee of the group’s Board of Directors’ could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June 29, Los Alamos […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied New Mexico nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and […]

The 10-day clock is ticking to protest the National Nuclear Security Administration’s award of a potentially decade-long management contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, now that the agency has debriefed the companies behind three failed bids to run the storied New Mexico weapons lab. Debriefs of losing bidders wrapped up this Friday, June 22, […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied New Mexico nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and […]

Battelle Energy Alliance, the management contractor for the Idaho National Laboratory, confirmed Tuesday it is offering a voluntary severance package for long-term employees until Sept. 4. “We now have an opportunity that makes it possible for us to offer a self-select voluntary separation program and are able to accept up to 99 applications,” INL Director […]

Los Alamos National Security (LANS) no longer has the Energy Department’s legacy cleanup contract at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but it posted a strong performance during the most recent fee review period, which ended March 31. LANS took home 94 percent of the total fee available for its last review period as […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it would issue over $3 million in grants to U.S. universities for research on management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The funding is a slice of a $64 million tranche of awards for various advanced nuclear energy technology research programs at DOE national laboratories and 39 universities. […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director for the organization by the end of the month. The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the board’s executive committee could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and even take […]

Teams that lost the race to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next 10 years are expecting a formal debriefing from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) next week, after the agency’s decision to entrust the storied weapons lab to a team including longtime manager the University of California. A pair of sources […]

Road upgrades are due to begin this week around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a byproduct of a settlement agreement between DOE and the state of New Mexico over a 2014 accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday the first of […]