National Laboratories

Kim Davis Lebak, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Field Office, will retire after nearly 30 years at the Energy Department. Davis, who has managed the Los Alamos Field Office for the past three years or so, will leave the agency in “early October,” a spokesperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said Monday. […]

The Energy Department would not agree to increase the fees it plans to pay the next management and operations contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), despite repeated complaints that they are too low to attract quality bidders. The agency also confirmed this week that Bechtel, senior industry partner on the troubled LANL prime […]

Ellen Tauscher will replace Norman Pattiz as the chair of the University of California Board of Regents’ national laboratories subcommittee, the board said Thursday. Tauscher is a former California congresswoman who later served as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs during the Obama administration. Pattiz is the founder of radio giant […]

The National Academies will, over the next year, evaluate technology development activities within the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). The study, led by the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, is being conducted at the request of DOE EM. It has two primary purposes: reviewing […]

The University of Texas on Monday formally approved preparations for its bid to manage the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. All nine members of the UT System’s Board of Regents dialed in by telephone to the special meeting, held in Austin and also webcast. Seven regents voted in favor of spending $4.5 million to […]

Kim Davis Lebak, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Field Office, will retire after nearly 30 years at the Energy Department. Davis, who has managed the Los Alamos Field Office for the past three years or so, will leave the agency in “early October,” a spokesperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said Monday. […]

Ellen Tauscher will replace Norman Pattiz as the chair of the University of California Board of Regents’ national laboratories subcommittee, the board said Thursday. Tauscher is a former California congresswoman. Pattiz is the founder of radio giant Westwood One. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Tauscher to the board in June. Pattiz was originally appointed […]

The Senate this week marked a major milestone toward passing its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, which would set reporting requirements for unmet Energy Department nuclear-weapons needs, and encourage appropriators to fund research on a new intermediate-range missile. The Senate voted to end debate Thursday, setting up floor action on the bill as […]

Damage at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site this week from Hurricane Irma was limited to downed trees, with no reported issues at any facilities. Wind gusts reached up to 76 mph at the site near Aiken, S.C., with sustained winds of 35 mph on Monday when Irma did most of its damage in the area. Outside […]

Former Sen. Peter Domenici (R-N.M.), a stalwart ally of virtually all things nuclear in his state, died Wednesday following complications from abdominal surgery, the Albuquerque Journal reported. He was 85. Domenici was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and served six terms. During his Senate career, he chaired the chamber’s Energy Committee and Budget […]

Former House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon penned an op-ed in support of the Department of Energy Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, which since retiring from Congress he has lobbied the federal government to continue building. “I am concerned about the effect on our national security of a further proliferation […]

The University of California will seek new industry partners to chase a follow-on operations contract the Department of Energy expects to award next year for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a university regent suggested Thursday. “As we go forward … we’re going to be bidding with a different group of private sector […]

Former Sen. Peter Domenici (R-N.M.), a stalwart ally of virtually all things nuclear in his state, died Wednesday following complications from abdominal surgery, the Albuquerque Journal reported. He was 85. Domenici was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and served six terms. During his Senate career, he chaired the chamber’s Energy Committee and Budget […]

Former Sen. Peter Domenici (R-N.M.), a stalwart ally of virtually all things nuclear in his state, died Wednesday following complications from abdominal surgery, the Albuquerque Journal reported. He was 85. Domenici was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and served six terms. During his Senate career, he chaired the chamber’s Energy Committee and Budget […]

The University of California on Wednesday made all but official what has until now been merely “likely”: that the longtime Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) manager plans to compete for the next contract to manage that critical Energy Department facility. “It is anticipated that Regents’ approval for the formal bid submission will be requested at […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site has lost about 900 jobs over the past five years, primarily due to attrition, according to a recent economic impact study. Released late last month, the study – The Savannah River Site: Economic Impact and Workforce Transition – was prepared by the SRS Community Reuse Organization (SRSCRO), a group tasked with working […]

The University of New Mexico is the third institution to express interest in the next management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a university official confirmed to Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor this week. “The University of New Mexico is very interested in the LANL Management and Operations contract competition,” Joseph Cecchi, senior adviser […]

Although the soon-to-be-retired Charles McMillan, director of the the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory now only through December, has two deputies, the order of succession at the northern New Mexico nuclear-weapon facility will officially remain a mystery at least until later this year. McMillan announced Tuesday he would step down in December after six years […]

An article in Wednesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “McMillan to Step Down as LANL Director,” should have said that Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charles McMillan is an employee of site management prime Los Alamos National Security (LANS), that he announced his retirement on Tuesday, and that the LANS board of governors will select the next […]

Charles McMillan will retire as director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Dec. 31, the long-time lab hand told employees of the northern New Mexico weapons lab Tuesday. McMillan was appointed director of the weapons lab in 2011 by Los Alamos National Security: a consortium led by the University of California and industry partners. […]

A postgraduate student intern and an Oak Ridge Associated Universities researcher in Tennessee are working to replicate an infamous 1976 radiation accident at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The event exposed Harold McCluskey, a chemical worker who would become known as “The Atomic Man,” to the highest known level of the radioactive isotope […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Thursday it is is pleased with the outcome of a federal operational readiness review (FORR) for the Transuranic Waste Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, in which 12 of the 13 functional areas passed muster. “This was a successful review in the eyes of […]

It was a packed house at the Los Alamos National Laboratory this week, when the Energy Department hosted would-be bidders on a new, decade-spanning contract to manage and operate the nuclear weapons facility. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is managing the forthcoming procurement for DOE, did not release an official headcount or attendees […]

At the prodding of a senior U.S. senator, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is working on a “thorough review” of its primary plutonium-pit production facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a spokesman for the semiautonomous Energy Department agency said Tuesday. In early August, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) — after reading […]

Scott Gibbs is returning to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico more than three years after retiring from a senior management position at the Department of Energy facility. Gibbs will be back at LANL on Sept. 5 as deputy director for mission assurance, lab spokesman Matthew Nerzig said by email Monday. Gibbs’ […]

About four dozen people representing a host of security companies and Energy Department contractors attended the Aug. 14 industry day for the new paramilitary services contract for DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Among the companies represented were current security provider Centerra, BWX Technologies, Wastren Advantage, the Government Training Institute, Paragon Systems, Professional Project […]

A federal operational readiness review (FORR) for the Transuranic Waste Facility at the Las Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico was completed earlier this month, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported recently. The review at the Energy Department facility began in late July and was scheduled for completion on Aug. 9, according to […]

Scott Gibbs is returning to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico more than three years after retiring from a senior management position at the Department of Energy facility. Gibbs will be back at LANL on Sept. 5 as deputy director for mission assurance, lab spokesman Matthew Nerzig said by email Monday. Gibbs’ return is […]

The University of Texas is exploring a bid to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory after receiving the green light Thursday from its Board of Regents. The regents approved bid preparations that could cost up to $4.5 million in a Thursday meeting at the University of Texas at Austin. The meeting happened only days after […]

The University of California, a senior partner in the current management and operations contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, indicated Wednesday it is “likely” to make a play for a follow-on contract expected to go out for bids in September. “The decision on whether or not to bid rests with the UC Board of Regents and […]