National Laboratories

NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 Los Alamos Amends Pro Force Work Expressions of Interest Los Alamos National Laboratory has dropped a requirement in its request for expressions of interest for its Protective Force Services subcontract relating to source selection criteria to have provided protection for a Category One Special Nuclear Material facility, according to a posting this […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory has dropped a requirement in its request for expressions of interest for its Protective Force Services subcontract relating to source selection criteria to have provided protection for a Category One Special Nuclear Material facility, according to a posting yesterday. SOC Los Alamos, a Day and Zimmerman subsidiary, has provided security at […]

In the latest issue to come to light linked to the incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory last week reported noncompliances in how it processed waste in the drums suspected of contributing to the WIPP release. The Department of Energy and contractor Los Alamos National Security reported the noncompliances to […]

Move Comes After Lab Misses ‘3,706 Campaign’ Deadline Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/3/2014 The New Mexico Environment Department is denying requests to extend 21 legally enforceable cleanup deadlines at Los Alamos National Laboratory after the Department of Energy failed to meet a high-profile transuranic waste disposition target. “NMED has granted extensions based on the Permittees’ […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/3/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory has resumed about two-thirds of work at its Plutonium Facility after operations were shut down a year ago due to criticality safety and conduct of operations issues, a senior laboratory official said this week, but there is no clear timetable for a full resumption of activities. […]

Laboratory, Laid Off Employees to Appeal Age Discrimination Trial Verdicts NS&D Monitor 7/3/2014 The ongoing battle over a 2008 layoff of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees isn’t likely to be over any time soon. A group of workers split a pair of legal decisions with the lab over the last two years centering on breach […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory has resumed about two-thirds of work at its Plutonium Facility after operations were shut down a year ago due to criticality safety and conduct of operations issues, according to a senior laboratory official, but there is no clear timetable for a full resumption of activities. A recently released May 30 Defense […]

The New Mexico Environment Department is denying requests to extend 21 legally enforceable cleanup deadlines at Los Alamos National Laboratory after it failed to meet its high-profile transuranic waste removal target. LANL late last week posted 14 NMED notifications here that state that New Mexico has denied the lab’s requests to extend cleanup deadlines, while NMED says […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/27/2014 Sandia National Laboratories is transferring a chunk of its production mission to the Kansas City Plant in a move officials say could save $3 million over the next five years. Chris Gentile, the president of Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, and Sandia National Laboratories Director Paul […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement is gearing up to launch an investigation into potential violations of DOE regulations at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The investigation could lead to financial penalties for the lab’s managing contractor, Battelle Memorial Institute. The investigation will examine “the facts and circumstances associated with potential deficiencies in Battelle […]

Sandia National Laboratories is transferring a chunk of its production mission to the Kansas City Plant in a move officials say could save $3 million over the next five years. Chris Gentile, the president of Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, and Sandia National Laboratories Director Paul Hommert signed an agreement yesterday […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 Operations at a Sandia National Laboratories explosives testing facility remain shut down after a worker was burned in December when an experiment malfunctioned, a lab spokesman said late last week. The Dec. 11 incident at the lab’s Site 9920 left a worker with burns to his hand when a detonator […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is monitoring changes to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s ethics review process in the wake of a DOE Inspector General report that led to the resignation last month of Deputy Director Beth Sellers, and the agency hasn’t made a decision whether or not to take further […]

WORK ON NMSSUP FORMALLY COMPLETED JUST UNDER CAP NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 Work on a troubled project to upgrade security at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area-55 was formally wrapped up this week as the National Nuclear Security Administration signed off on the project’s completion, which came in just under the project’s $244.2 million cost cap. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy has begun discussions with the companies that run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories about reducing the fee they can receive, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held confirmed this week. Speaking on the sidelines of a March 26 Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has turned to a familiar face in its search for a new leader, tapping longtime lab official Bill Goldstein this week as the lab’s 12th director. Goldstein, 57, a 29-year lab veteran who rose through the institution’s ranks after starting as a theoretical physicist during the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Budgetary pressure and technical considerations are likely to doom the Obama Administration’s “3+2” strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright said this week. Speaking at George Washington University, Albright said he supported the strategy, which would modernize and consolidate the nation’s nuclear […]

TEST FACILITIES REVITALIZATION PROJECT WRAPPED UP NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 A $48.7 million project to revitalize Sandia National Laboratories’ testing facilities was completed earlier this month, $4 million under its original budget. The Test Capabilities Revitalization Phase 2 project upgraded the lab’s 10,000-foot sled track as well as its mechanical shock, centrifuge, aerosciences, and vibro-acoustic and […]

STUDY GROUP FORMALLY DROPS CMRR-NF LAWSUIT NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Los Alamos Study Group, which sued the National Nuclear Security Administration in 2010 and 2011 to halt work on the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, has officially dropped its lawsuit now that the NNSA has dropped its plans for the multi-billion-dollar facility. In its […]

Martin Schneider CEO ExchangeMonitor Publications 3/21/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week announced plans to extend the management contract for Sandia National Laboratories for another two years, with an option for a third year. Makes sense, right? After just finishing the seven-year odyssey that became the Y-12/Pantex contract competition, a two-year extension will give […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration at long last is moving to compete the Sandia National Laboratories management and operating contract, announcing this week that it is extending Lockheed Martin’s contract to run the lab for two years (with an option for a third) while it prepares to open up the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory is expected to wrap up work in the coming weeks on a troubled project to upgrade security at its Technical Area-55, and though the project has been delayed several months by technical problems, the lab is expecting to remain just under the project’s $244.2 million cost […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is adding award-term incentives to the Brookhaven National Laboratory management and operating contract but is also slightly decreasing the available fee for the contract, according to a Request for Proposals released this week. The RFP includes a five-year base contract and the opportunity […]

THIRD AGE DISCRIMINATION TRIAL MOVES FORWARD NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 An age discrimination lawsuit involving ten former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees is moving forward in a Northern California court. The trial is the third involving a group of 130 employees that were laid off from the lab in 2008, and involves scientists and engineers from […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget released last week proposes terminating $10 million in Department of Energy Office of Science funding for the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has lab officials concerned for the future of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The Lujan Neutron […]

PAUL HENRY TO SERVE AS ACTING DEPUTY LAB DIRECTOR NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 Paul Henry, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Principal Associate Director for Capital Projects, will serve as the lab’s acting Deputy Director with the sudden departure of Beth Sellers, NS&D Monitor has learned. Sellers, a Bechtel executive, abruptly resigned late last week in the wake […]

Resignation Prompted by IG Report of Conflict of Interest Involving Lab Consulting Contract With Her Husband Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Beth Sellers is resigning as Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Deputy Director in the wake of a scandal involving the award of a laboratory consulting contract to her husband, NS&D Monitor has learned. According to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Expanding on previous comments about a “public interest” model for managing the nation’s national laboratories, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held said this week that the agency need to move toward a “more agile” governance relationship between the labs and its federal overseers. Speaking at the Energy Communities […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory yesterday released information on the members of a panel assembled to examine the chemical vapors program at the Hanford tank farms. The SRNL study was commissioned amid new concerns over worker exposure to hazardous vapors at the Hanford tank farms; according to recent media reports at least 37 workers have […]

LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR NIF FUNDING NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 A group of 17 lawmakers—all but one from California—late last week urged President Obama to provide “strong and sustained” funding for the National Ignition Facility and inertial confinement fusion activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In a letter to President Obama Feb. 21, the lawmakers, led by […]