National Laboratories

Two candidates with ties to organizations funded by or concerned with the Los Alamos National Laboratory won primary elections Tuesday night that effectively assure them seats in the New Mexico state House of Representatives, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico secretary of state. Andrea Romero, former executive director of the local interest group Regional Coalition of […]

The University of California will remain entrenched at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for up to 10 more years after winning the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next lab-management contract as part of privately held team with Battelle and Texas A&M University. The NNSA announced the award Friday. The University of California managed the New […]

Two candidates with ties to organizations funded by or concerned with the Los Alamos National Laboratory won primary elections Tuesday night that effectively assure them seats in the New Mexico state House of Representatives, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico secretary of state. Andrea Romero, former executive director of the local interest group […]

As expected, a team led by Battelle will continue to manage the Idaho National Laboratory for the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy through September 2024. The new contract is worth an estimated $5 billion, BWX Technologies, a member of the lab management joint venture, said Wednesday. The announcement came as no surprise. In December, […]

Two candidates with ties to organizations funded by or concerned with the Los Alamos National Laboratory won primary elections Tuesday night that effectively assure them seats in the New Mexico state House of Representatives, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico secretary of state. Andrea Romero, former executive director of the local interest group Regional […]

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 […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been in an operational safety pause since April 26 due to a “trend of concerns” that include deficiencies in safety, work performance, and planning, the Department of Energy said this week. The pause covers nearly all work at the lab, except essential activities needed to maintain safe operations. A DOE spokesperson […]

Months of testing in 2017 provided strong evidence that spent nuclear fuel can be safely transported by sea, road, and rail, according to a researcher with the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories. A team of researchers from the United States, South Korea, and Spain over 54 days from June to October collected 8 terabytes […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been in an operational safety pause since April 26 due to a “trend of concerns” that include deficiencies in safety, work performance, and planning, the Department of Energy said this week. The pause covered nearly all work at the lab, except essential activities needed to maintain safe operations. A DOE spokesperson […]

Months of testing in 2017 provided strong evidence that spent nuclear fuel can be safely transported by sea, road, and rail, according to a researcher with the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories. A team of researchers from the United States, South Korea, and Spain over 54 days from June to October collected 8 terabytes […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is due to award the next management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory this week, according to the timetable the agency set in a request for proposals last year. But with May about to fall off the calendar, there is hardly any time to get the new […]

The University of Texas on Friday approved an extra $7 million for the institution’s bid on the next Los Alamos National Laboratory management and operations contract with the Department of Energy. The funding will help pay costs associated with taking over management of the nuclear weapons lab, if the university wins the competition. The University […]

The week came and went without any announcement from the National Nuclear Security Administration about who would manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next decade — but the identity of one more bidder was revealed to Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Engineering giant Jacobs, of Dallas, is part of a team that also […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday it is gearing up to provide another $40 million in cooperative agreements supporting commercial programs to develop production capabilities for the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). That would be on top of $100 million pledged in recent years to four projects led by three companies: NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, […]

Researchers have vitrified 2 gallons of radioactive waste removed from a Hanford Site storage tank in a first-of-a-kind demonstration of the processes that will be used at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Energy Department facility in Washington state. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers said it was the first time Hanford tank waste […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday it is gearing up to provide another $40 million in cooperative agreements supporting commercial programs to develop production capabilities for the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). That would be on top of $100 million pledged in recent years to four projects led by three companies: NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, […]

If the University of Texas wins a $20-billion-plus contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the institution will need as much as $7 million more than it initially budgeted to pay for the contract’s transition period. The university needs the money “to provide bridge financing to support the successful transition of management for the […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday it is gearing up to provide another $40 million in cooperative agreements for production projects for the medical isotope molybdenum-99. That would be on top of $100 million pledged in recent years to four projects led by three companies: NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, SHINE Medical Technologies, and General […]

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is replacing an inner reflector plug at its neutron source with a new one, filled with about 6 metric tons of heavy water purchased from Iran. The Energy Department’s lab Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) produces neutrons for experiments to support scientific disciplines including physics, chemistry, materials science, and […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) voted April 27 to advertise for a new executive director to succeed Andrea Romero, whose contract was not renewed at the end of February following a public dispute over expense reimbursements. Los Alamos County, N.M., is preparing the necessary advertisement, County Manager Harry […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory called a two-day time out on some of its plutonium work late last month after personnel put fissile material in the wrong containers, according to a report released April 27 by an independent federal nuclear-safety watchdog. Both mishaps took place in March at the New Mexico lab’s Plutonium Facility. During […]

A federal judge in New Mexico last week sentenced a former Sandia National Laboratories contractor to three years in prison for fraudulently steering procurement money to a moving company she owned. U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo also ordered Carla Sena, the convicted 56 year-old former contractor from Santa Rosa, N.M., to pay back $643,000 […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) voted April 27 to advertise for a new executive director to succeed Andrea Romero, whose contract was not renewed at the end of February following a public dispute over expense reimbursements. Los Alamos County, N.M., is preparing the necessary advertisement, County Manager Harry […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) voted April 27 to advertise for a new executive director to succeed Andrea Romero, whose contract was not renewed at the end of February following a public dispute over expense reimbursements. Los Alamos County, N.M., is preparing the necessary advertisement, County Manager Harry […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) became the new contractor in charge of legacy nuclear cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico effective Monday morning. A spokesperson for N3B President and Project Manager Nick Lombardo confirmed the news late Monday afternoon, saying the firm would issue a formal announcement later this […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory called a two-day time out on some of its plutonium work late last month after personnel put fissile material in the wrong containers, according to a report released late Friday by an independent federal nuclear-safety watchdog. Both mishaps took place in March at the New Mexico lab’s Plutonium Facility. During […]

A federal judge in New Mexico last week sentenced a former Sandia National Laboratories contractor to three years in prison for fraudulently steering procurement money to a moving company she owned. U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo also ordered Carla Sena, the convicted 56 year-old former contractor from Santa Rosa, N.M., to pay back $643,000 […]

The University of California submitted its best and final offer to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next decade, a spokesperson for the institution said last week. “It’s my understanding that all teams have submitted their final bids at this time,” the spokesperson wrote in an April 20 email to Nuclear Security & Deterrence […]

The Energy Department will not contest $31,000 in state fines for leaving certain waste too long in temporary storage areas without prior approval at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. The nuclear-weapon lab has 30 days from April 5 to take issue with a penalty proposed in a New Mexico Environment Department notice […]

The University of California submitted its best and final offer to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next decade, a spokesperson for the institution said Friday. “It’s my understanding that all teams have submitted their final bids at this time,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The University […]