National Laboratories

The company that has run the Los Alamos National Laboratory for a decade will split up, with members of the incumbent manager set to pursue separate bids to run the nuclear weapons lab for the next 10 years, a University of California official said Wednesday. The University of California (UC) managed the Los Alamos National […]

The University of Texas has not suspended work on its bid to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a spokesperson for the Austin-based institution said Friday. “Bid preparation is in progress and will be reviewed by the Board of Regents later this month,” a University of Texas spokesperson wrote in an email to Weapons […]

More days have passed than remain in astronomical autumn, which means Los Alamos National Security could soon announce the interim Los Alamos National Laboratory director who will replace the retiring Charles McMillan and run the site until the company’s contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. McMillan, who has led Los Alamos National Laboratory for about six […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) wants to perform larger explosive tests to support nuclear arms-maintenance and counterrorism research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to a Nov. 3 regulatory filing. The 65-year-old nuclear weapons research facility in Livermore, Calif., wants to increase the size of the non-nuclear explosive tests it is allowed to […]

The University of Texas’ Board of Regents on Thursday deferred official approval of the institution’s planned bid to run the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory by more than two weeks, to Nov. 27. The board was scheduled to take action on the proposal Thursday — the Austin-based system in August approved $4.5 million […]

More days have passed than remain in astronomical autumn, which means Los Alamos National Security could soon announce the interim Los Alamos National Laboratory director who will replace the retiring Charles McMillan and run the site until the company’s contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. McMillan, who has led Los Alamos National Laboratory for about six […]

Michael Kluse, former director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, has joined the Longenecker & Associates strategic advisory board. Currently a consultant, Kluse headed PNNL, operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy, from January 2007 through March 2015. While heading the national laboratory, he was also a senior vice president for […]

More days have passed than remain in astronomical autumn, which means Los Alamos National Security could soon announce the interim Los Alamos National Laboratory director who will replace the retiring Charles McMillan and run the site until the company’s contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. McMillan, who has led Los Alamos National Laboratory for about six […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) wants to perform larger explosive tests to support nuclear arms-maintenance and counterrorism research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to a Nov. 3 regulatory filing. The 65-year-old nuclear weapons research facility in Livermore, Calif., wants to increase the size of the non-nuclear explosive tests it is allowed to […]

While would-be bidders mull over the Department of Energy’s request for proposals to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next decade, a community representative is cautiously breathing a sigh of relief that the agency has made some concession to the local businesses for which the lab is lifeblood. The final solicitation was “surprising […]

Three workers and two rooms were radioactively contaminated after a botched maintenance job on a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, the Department of Energy and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said. It was the latest in a series of safety snafus at Los Alamos to come to light during […]

Centrus Energy said Monday it has signed a $16 million contract to continue for another year its research and development of advanced gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. However, the company’s time in at least one Oak Ridge facility is nearing its end as […]

Despite a public rebuff from rival University of Texas last week, Texas A&M University expects to join “strong partners” in a bid to manage the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Oct. 25 solicited bids for a new lab contract that is expected to cost some $21 […]

Three workers and two rooms were radioactively contaminated after a botched maintenance job on a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, the Department of Energy and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said. It was the latest in a series of safety snafus at Los Alamos to come to light during […]

The Department of Energy this week released its final request for proposals for a 10-year contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory: the storied nuclear weapons research site in New Mexico that will become the nation’s primary plutonium-pit-production facility under the next prime contractor’s watch. The final solicitation is for a cost-plus-fixed-fee […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday released its final request for proposals for a 10-year contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory: the storied nuclear weapons research site that will become the nation’s primary plutonium-pit-production facility under the next prime contractor’s watch. Those interested must submit a bid by Dec. […]

More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday. “The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote […]

A fledgling effort by the Department of Energy to revive domestic production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) in order to fuel deep space missions by NASA shows promise but still faces challenges, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 4. The Energy Department has demonstrated “a proof of concept” by producing 100 grams of Pu-238 […]

More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday. “The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote […]

A fledgling effort by the Department of Energy to revive domestic production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) in order to fuel deep space missions by NASA shows promise but still faces challenges, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 4. The Energy Department has demonstrated “a proof of concept” by producing 100 grams of Pu-238 […]

More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday. “The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote […]

Several hundred unionized workers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., remained on the job this week after contract negotiations with the lab broke down, and are scheduled to vote on a new labor deal Monday. Sandia and the Atomic Projects and Productions Workers, Metal Trades Council (MTC), “met this week to address remaining issues […]

The Energy Department as of this week had yet to release a solicitation for the next 10-year contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released a draft solicitation in July, which said the final solicitation for the next management and operations pact for […]

The leaders of site advisory boards for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management complex will discuss waste cleanup with DOE officials, and members of the public, on Oct. 18-19 in Kennewick, Wash. The chairs and vice-chairs of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) local boards meet twice per year to get updates […]

More than 400 workers at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., voted to authorize a strike late Friday after members rejected the terms of a new contract offer from the Energy Department facility. While the 430 members of the Atomic Projects and Productions Workers, Metal Trades Council (MTC), authorized the strike ahead of the weekend, […]

Workers were evacuated from a high-explosives research area at Los Alamos National Laboratory late last week after lightning apparently sparked a wildfire nearby, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday. On Thursday, “personnel responded to a wildland fire west of Technical Area (TA) 40,” according to a report published in DOE’s official Occurrence Reporting and Processing System […]

Workers responsible for a breach of criticality safety procedures at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are back on the job, the lab’s prime contractor confirmed this week. The workers had been temporarily “disqualified” from working at Los Alamos’ Plutonium Facility after moving a shell — part of a nuclear-weapon core — into […]

Workers were evacuated from a high-explosives research area at Los Alamos National Laboratory late last week after lightning apparently sparked a wildfire nearby, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday. On Thursday, “personnel responded to a wildland fire west of Technical Area (TA) 40,” according to a report published in DOE’s official Occurrence Reporting and Processing System […]

A story in Monday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing (“DNFSB Discloses Another Criticality Safety Breach at LANL,” Sept. 25, 2017,) should have said DNFSB has scheduled a public meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 26.

There was another criticality safety scare at the Los Alamos National Laboratory over the summer, the federal government’s independent defense-nuclear watchdog disclosed in a recent report. On Aug. 18, personnel at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Plutonium Facility moved a shell into an area that already contained plutonium, according to a report uploaded to the […]