National Laboratories

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory officials and lawyers for 130 workers laid off from the lab in 2008 are headed to the negotiating table this week to try to reach a settlement in the long-running case. A third trial involving a new subset of the employees—10 scientists and engineers that claim they were the victims of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/3/2015 Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the managing contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory, is moving to significantly reduce subcontractor personnel working on transuranic waste processing, cutting workers from 42 down to eight, WC Monitor has learned. LANL had been the focus of a high-profile campaign to remove all aboveground transuranic […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 The Department of Energy’s national laboratories are “choking” on a “proliferation of duplicative and burdensome” requirements, according to a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force on lab management, which recommended in a recently released interim report that the Department streamline administrative constraints on the labs. The task force said […]

The Department of Energy is moving forward with its plan to have a full and open competition for the management of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, a contract historically held by Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The current contract is due to expire at the end of 2015. In late December, DOE’s Office […]

The Department of Energy’s national laboratories are “choking” on a “proliferation of duplicative and burdensome” requirements, according to a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force on lab management, which recommended in a recently released interim report that the Department streamline administrative constraints on the labs. The task force said the “efficiency and operations” of […]

UT-Battelle, which has managed Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000, has signed a new five-year contract with the Department of Energy. ORNL Director Thom Mason confirmed yesterday that the extension had been signed. The existing contract was due to expire April 1. The Department of Energy announced in late 2013 its intent to extend UT-Battelle’s contract, praising the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) introduced a bill this week to boost Laboratory Directed Research and Development programs at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. The “LDRD Enhancement Act of 2015” would increase the percentage of lab funding that can be set aside for special […]

Burns & McDonnell to Build $12M Power Supply Building at Technical Area-55 NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Burns & McDonnell, a Kansas City-based architecture, engineering and construction company, recently won a $12 million contract to build a nuclear class building that will house a pair of redundant power supply systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area-55, […]

New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) introduced a bill yesterday to boost Laboratory Directed Research and Development programs at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. The bill, called the LDRD Enhancement Act of 2015, would increase the percentage of lab funding that can be set aside for special projects from 6 […]

White House Official Named LLNL Dep. Director for Science and Technology NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official Patricia Falcone has been named the Deputy Director for Science and Technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and will take over her new position April 7. Falcone was detailed from Sandia National […]

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official Patricia Falcone has been named the Deputy Director for Science and Technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and will take over her new position April 7. Falcone was detailed from Sandia National Laboratories’ Livermore campus to OSTP in 2009 and took over as the Associate Director […]

Sandia Finalizes a Pair of Management Changes NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 Sandia National Laboratories recently finalized a pair of management changes, naming Marianne Walck the head of its California campus and appointing James Peery as its new vice president for defense research. In addition to heading up Sandia’s Livermore, Calif. Laboratory, Walck will also lead the […]

Computer experts at Sandia National Laboratories helped the Central Intelligence Agency crack the security on Apple iPhones and iPads, online news outlet The Intercept reported this week. The news outlet, which is run by Glenn Greenwald, the journalist that published government documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, based its report on another batch of “top […]

Sandia National Laboratories has named James Peery its new vice president for defense research. Peery replaces Jeff Isaacson, who left Sandia in October, and will oversee efforts to develop and integrate advanced science and technology into work for the Department of Defense and other national security agencies. He also will head up the Defense Systems […]

NNSA Preparing Supplement Analysis Linked to New UPF Plans NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed it is “in the process” of preparing a Supplement Analysis to determine if the agency needs to revise Y-12’s site-wide environmental impact statement because of changing plans for the Uranium Processing Facility. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman […]

IG: Lab Lost Out on Licensing Revenue After Patent Software Glitch NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 A software glitch caused Sandia National Laboratories to miss maintenance payments on 14 patents, forcing the laboratory to lose out on $119,000 in licensing and royalty revenue, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office said in a report released last week. The 14 […]

The July 28, 2012, break-in by a trio of peace activists at the Y-12 National Security Complex is the subject of a lengthy article in the New Yorker this week. The article, by journalist Eric Schlosser, chronicles the security incident that led to a massive shakeup in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s security ranks as […]

A software glitch caused Sandia National Laboratories to miss maintenance payments on 14 patents, forcing the laboratory to lose out on $119,000 in licensing and royalty revenue, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said in a report released Friday. The 14 patents represented only a small sliver of the 1,540 patents held by the laboratory, […]

NNSA Completes Work on Y-12 Facilities Upgrade Project NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has wrapped up work on a Y-12 National Security Complex project designed to upgrade a pair of aging facilities—Buildings 9212 and 9204-2E—and it said it has done it nearly 11 months ahead of schedule and $5.6 million under budget. […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 Already holding a dominant position among the Department of Energy’s science and energy labs, Battelle is eyeing a possible enhanced role in the nuclear weapons complex. Ron Townsend, Battelle’s executive vice president for global laboratory operations, acknowledged last week that Battelle—billed as the world’s largest private nonprofit research and development […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/27/2015 Los Alamos National Security, the M&O contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory, put out a Request for Information this week seeking vendors capable of handling, shipping, and storing radioactive sealed sources and disassembling devices containing radioactive sealed sources. The scope of work for the contract will include shipping the […]

NNSA to Complete Seismic Review of Los Alamos PF-4 by Mid-March NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration expects to complete its review of the seismic vulnerabilities of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) by mid-March, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz said in a Feb. 13 letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The review […]

Los Alamos National Security, through its prime contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration, put out a Request for Information yesterday for vendors capable of handling, shipping, and storing radioactive sealed sources, and disassembling devices containing radioactive sealed sources. The scope of work for the contract will include shipping the sealed sources, removing if necessary […]

Y-12 to Replace Plant Shift Superintendent Office NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 There are multiple infrastructure improvements under way or planned at the Y-12 National Security Complex, in some cases replacing World War II-era structures. Some projects are moving forward, while others spin their wheels. It appears now that one of several proposed projects to upgrade the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) wants a New Mexico-based consortium to run at least one of the nuclear weapons laboratories in his state, and he urged the state legislature, Gov. Susana Martinez (R), New Mexico universities and local industry this week to consider making a run for one of the […]

K-25 Museum Won’t Include Original Equipment WC Monitor 2/20/2015 The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management office has confirmed that the upcoming displays planned as part of a K-25 historical park and museum will not include any of the original uranium-processing equipment as part of the exhibit. According to Mike Koentop, the executive officer […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration is evaluating the causes of several incidents of misclassified material at Los Alamos National Laboratory in response to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that revealed that “sensitive, national security information” had been inadvertently disclosed by a LANL classification officer. The IG report, released last week, […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement office is raising concerns after investigating security incidents that occurred last year involving an unclassified waste stream at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The incidents occurred just before Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, took over the M&O contract at Y-12 in July 2014, but DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments’ Office of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is evaluating the causes of several of misclassified material at Los Alamos National Laboratory in response to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that revealed that “sensitive, national security information” had been inadvertently disclosed by a LANL classification officer. The IG report included several instances where guidance on classified […]

Labor Union Preparing for Contract Negotiations With CNS Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Union leaders at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant are closely watching the bargaining-unit negotiations taking place at their sister plant, Pantex, and preparing for the beginning of negotiations in Oak Ridge later this spring. The Metal Trades Department contract at Pantex expires […]