National Laboratories

The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Site Office plans to negotiate a five-year extension to Battelle Memorial Institute’s contract to operate the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., rather than competing the contract. About a third of the lab’s total annual budget of close to $1 billion is for nuclear security and nonproliferation work, […]

After a highly troubling performance evaluation last year, the manager of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico received significantly higher marks for its work in fiscal 2015, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration reports released on Friday. Nonetheless,  Los Alamos National Security’s (LANS) contract will expire in fiscal 2018, several years before the potential final end […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is properly managing its radioactive sealed sources, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General’s Office (IG) said in a report released Thursday. The department uses sealed sources, or radioactive materials enclosed in capsules to prevent leaks, for medical and scientific testing. A 2002 IG report identified deficiencies including […]

Local officials representing the community interests of towns and counties around the Los Alamos National Laboratory had reason for relief this week as they visited Washington, D.C. Members of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities are reassured that they would have an additional one-year extension to help guide the impending contract transition at the lab. […]

The current management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has been extended for one year, to fiscal 2018, but will be up for grabs after that. Lab Director Charles McMillan made the announcement at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, according to an internal announcement issued Thursday. A formal notice […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday it expects this month to release the final request for proposals (RFP) for management and operation of the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The agency has been seeking feedback on draft solicitation documents for the contract competition that it released in March. Last week, the NNSA offered a […]

The current management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has been extended for one year, to fiscal 2018, but will be up for grabs after that. Lab Director Charles McMillan made the announcement at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, according to an internal announcement issued Thursday. A formal notice […]

Los Alamos National Security, the managing and operating contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, is seeking a subcontractor to provide canine explosive detection services (CEDS) at the site, according to a request for expressions of interest issued Monday. The CEDS program seeks to deter bomb threats through detection searches performed […]

The majority of New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Tuesday said they have called on the National Nuclear Security Administration to ensure that small business participation is a key component of the next management and operations contract for the Sandia National Laboratories. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch said Monday it expects to release the final request for […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday it expects this month to release the final request for proposals (RFP) for management and operation of the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The agency has been seeking feedback on draft solicitation documents for the contract competition that it released in March. Last week, the NNSA offered a […]

Uncertainty about when the current management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory will end could soon be resolved, a senior official said this week. “We are discussing with the lab exactly when we may be transitioning their contract,” Kim Davis Lebak, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration Field Office at Los […]

Another senior official has departed the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as of this week. John Tapia, LANL’s acquisition service management deputy division leader, according to his LinkedIn profile, managed a staff of 150 people with an annual operating budget of $16 million. He is no longer employed by the laboratory after a […]

Another senior official has departed the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as of this week. John Tapia, LANL’s acquisition service management deputy division leader, according to his LinkedIn profile, managed a staff of 150 people with an annual operating budget of $16 million. He is no longer employed by the laboratory after a […]

An amendment to the energy modernization bill passed Wednesday by the Senate seeks to boost funding for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) laboratory-directed research and development (LDRD) program, which involves basic science and exploratory research at DOE labs. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) highlighted his amendment in the Energy Policy Modernization Act that eliminates a requirement […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) next week will offer a site tour of the Sandia National Laboratories site in Albuquerque, N.M., for potential bidders for the lab’s follow-on management and operations contract competition. The April 27 site tour may be followed by one-on-one meetings on April 28 or 29 to give potential bidders the […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) laboratory-directed research and development (LDRD) program supports positions that are considered part of the national laboratories’ “workforce pipeline for recruitment,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a newly released audit. The LDRD program promotes “creative and innovative” projects that are meant to “maintain the vitality of the laboratories’ defense-related […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) laboratory-directed research and development (LDRD) program supports positions that are considered part of the national laboratories’ “workforce pipeline for recruitment,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a newly released audit. The LDRD program promotes “creative and innovative” projects that are meant to “maintain the vitality of the laboratories’ defense-related […]

The environmental cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee has taken place over more than three decades, with much of the progress measured by improved water quality in a series of creeks and waterways – including White Oak Creek, which is the main drainage system for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. […]

Nuclear Watch New Mexico on Thursday said it had filed another Freedom of Information Act request aimed at getting the National Nuclear Security Administration to release fiscal 2015 performance evaluation reports (PERs) for the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories. As the nuclear weapons agency has not responded to a FOIA request on Dec. 22, […]

Almost six months after it declared the deal all but done, Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has signed a contract to continue some work on new U.S.-designed uranium enrichment technology at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus’ new centrifuge technology advancement subcontract with Oak Ridge prime contractor UT-Battelle is worth $32.3 million […]

A revised consent order governing cleanup of legacy hazardous waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico aims to be more flexible than the original document. At the same time, it is designed to be more enforceable and focused on accomplishing the work at hand, according to state officials who have shaped the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department on Wednesday rolled out a draft of a revised consent order governing hazardous waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The package, presented at a meeting of the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board, includes a 45-day period for public comment that ends May 26. “We’ll have to sit down […]

Almost six months after it declared the deal all but done, Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has signed a contract to continue some work on new U.S.-designed uranium enrichment technology at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus’ new centrifuge technology advancement subcontract with Oak Ridge prime contractor UT-Battelle is worth $32.3 million […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Tuesday called on major Energy Department officials and local managers at a formal meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., to answer detailed questions about what they were doing to address a combination of radiological waste and safety problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The witnesses, who have not […]

In response to questions about use of an old reactor facility on the federal government’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, the Department of Energy confirmed that classified activities associated with nonproliferation have been taking place at the ridge-top site. Claire Sinclair, a spokeswoman for the DOE site office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said, “the […]

A memo from the Sandia National Laboratories posted to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) website offers more, if not new, details about the Energy Department’s dismissal of a consulting firm’s finding that plutonium stored at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) could go critical in the distant future. The two-page, number-laden memo, dated Feb. […]

Uranium enrichment company Centrus Energy, which is closing down its work on the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) in Piketon, Ohio, said Tuesday it still does not have a contract for the portion of that program that was supposed to continue through September at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus thought it would have that work locked […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking feedback on draft solicitation documents from potential bidders for the Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) management and operations contract, according to a special notice posted Monday. The NNSA is particularly interested in input from small businesses and small business sub-categories, including woman-owned and veteran-owned firms, that may be […]

In response to questions about use of an old reactor facility on the federal government’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, the Department of Energy confirmed that classified activities associated with nonproliferation have been taking place at the ridge-top site. Claire Sinclair, a spokeswoman for the DOE site office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said, “the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Tuesday called on major Energy Department officials and local managers at a formal meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., to answer detailed questions about what they were doing to address a combination of radiological waste and safety problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The witnesses, who have not […]