National Laboratories

The National Nuclear Security Administration 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 able […]

For those planning to attend Tuesday’s public hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to protest — rather than discuss — nuclear waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), good news: official DNFSB guidelines for the event permit both costumes and signs, albeit in moderation. The five-member DNFSB will meet in Santa […]

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new highly permeable, potentially more efficient, carbon capture membrane, the California facility announced last week. The new membrane is a hybrid – part polymer and part metal-organic –framework. A lab press release says the new membrane is eight times more carbon dioxide-permeable than membranes composed […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold a public hearing in Santa Fe on Tuesday, March 22, to collect information on hazards related to transuranic waste stored at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The board has also expressed interest in the Department of Energy’s activities and plans for minimizing those hazards. Many waste […]

Longstanding efforts to reduce the cost and time of cleaning up nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site and around the entire Environmental Management (EM) complex will require mature technology, according to SRS contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and other Energy Department personnel. During a budget forum on March 3 near Aiken, S.C., a […]

PHOENIX — The public could get its first look at a new proposed consent agreement governing DOE cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) near Los Alamos, N.M. on March 30, a state official said here at the 2016 Waste Management Conference. “We’re targeting March 30 for the document to go up for […]

PHOENIX — The public will get its first look at a new proposed consent agreement governing DOE cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) near Los Alamos, N.M. on March 30, a state official said here at the 2016 Waste Management Conference. “We’re targeting March 30 for the document to go up for […]

Following up on remaining safety issues related to the hazardous waste repository at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Area G, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has announced plans to hold a public hearing in Santa Fe on March 22. In a prepared statement DNFSB Chairman Joyce Connery said, “With the upcoming wildfire season, the […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) corrective action program does not properly address the root causes of problems at the facility to prevent recurrence and fails to close corrective action records at the appropriate time, resolving some before completion and leaving others open long after, according to a Feb. 25 Department of Energy Inspector General […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) corrective action program does not properly address the root causes of problems at the facility to prevent recurrence and fails to close corrective action records at the appropriate time, resolving some before completion and leaving others open long after, according to a Feb. 25 Department of Energy Inspector General […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing new guidance, reporting documents, working groups, and long-term plans in response to the recommendations of the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL), a congressionally mandated group of experts that identified a broken relationship between the federal government and its national labs. In a […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Frank Klotz on Tuesday highlighted the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, staffing incentives, and changes in contractor procedures as factors that will increase the NNSA’s design laboratories’ ability to recruit and retain top talent. Asked at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing how the Sandia and […]

A team of Department of Energy officials under the scope of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is recovering heavy curium and plutonium-244 from irradiated fuel targets stored at the Savannah River Site. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) near Aiken, S.C. is heading up the effort, with collaborative help from the Oak Ridge and […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Frank Klotz on Tuesday highlighted the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, staffing incentives, and changes in contractor procedures as factors that will increase the NNSA’s design laboratories’ abilities to recruit and retain top talent. Asked at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing how the Sandia and […]

At $189 million, the $4 million requested increase for Los Alamos National Laboratory environmental management operations for fiscal 2017 is smaller than some in the state hoped to see. Stakeholders for the Department of Energy facility, including Ryan Flynn, New Mexico environment secretary and the nuclear weapons laboratory’s principal state regulator, were hoping for a […]

DOE Oak Ridge Office Management in Flux At least three executive positions – including the top two – are up for grabs at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office in an unusually unsteady management situation. The situation was created by losses at the top of the organization, including the death a year ago of […]

At least three executive positions – including the top two – are up for grabs at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office in an unusually unsteady management situation. The situation was created by losses at the top of the organization, including the death a year ago of Manager Larry Kelly and then the departure […]

“Research quantities” of high-burn-up spent nuclear fuel – reportedly about 100 pounds – have arrived at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where the highly radioactive material will be tested and studied in one of the lab’s hot-cell facilities. “ORNL is in receipt of research quantities of high-burn-up commercial fuel from the North Anna […]

An article in the Feb. 5 NS&D Monitor incorrectly reported that the Radiation Laboratory Utility Office Building at the Los Alamos National Laboratory had been upgraded from a radiological laboratory. In the same edition, NS&D Monitor incorrectly characterized the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site. NS&D Monitor regrets the errors.

LANL Executive Director Resigns Richard Marquez, executive director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), resigned this week from his position at the lab, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The article was based on an internal memo from LANL Director Charles McMillan to employees obtained by the newspaper. The circumstances under which Marquez resigned […]

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI), along with its Department of Nuclear Engineering and a Cyclotron Institute professor, have developed a new method to determine the origins of weapon-usable plutonium, the NSSPI announced last week. The nuclear forensics methodology helps “track the production source of black market nuclear materials, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) $12.9 billion budget request for fiscal 2017 maintains relatively flat funding levels for the agency’s weapons research, production, and testing sites. The Lawrence Livermore (LLNL) and Sandia National laboratories (SNL) would see the smallest change from the fiscal 2016 appropriation – a 1 percent proposed decrease to $1.2 billion […]

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI), along with its Department of Nuclear Engineering and a Cyclotron Institute professor, have developed a new method to determine the origins of weapon-usable plutonium, the NSSPI announced last week.   The nuclear forensics methodology helps “track the production source of black market nuclear […]

WC Monitor 2/5/2016 Kacich to Take Over Management of LANL Legacy Cleanup Richard Kacich, who was appointed deputy director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in November, on Feb. 8 will become the top manager for the lab’s legacy waste cleanup contract with the Energy Department, according to an internal memo.  “In addition to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has made significant improvements in the process of fully resuming fissile material operations paused in 2013 at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at Technical Area 55 (TA-55), the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found in a review released on Jan 29. The […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Three former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) investigators have sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Damon Martinez asking for a renewed investigation into past corruption at the lab and the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a former LANL official. The Feb. 2 letter from Charles Montaño, Glenn […]

Richard Kacich, who was appointed deputy director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in November, on Feb. 8 will become the top manager for the lab’s legacy waste cleanup contract with the Energy Department, according to an internal memo.    “In addition to Rick’s broader responsibilities, I have asked him to take on a […]

One member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board thinks the group should not waste its time with a public hearing over the highly contaminated waste dump at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Area G, according to a voting record released Feb. 2.   The five-member DNFSB voted Friday to hold a public hearing […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has made significant improvements in the process of fully resuming fissile material operations at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at Technical Area 55 (TA-55), the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found in a review released Friday. The report found that LANL managing contractor Los Alamos National Security (LANS) […]

Construction of a roughly $100 shipping-and-handling facility for radiologically contaminated equipment and soil at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is generally well run, but the Energy Department and its prime contractor at the New Mexico site should tighten construction standards and increase project oversight, DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said Jan. 29.   The […]