National Laboratories

NNSA LOOKING TO ACCELERATE RLWTF UPGRADE NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking at options to potentially accelerate the schedule for a project to upgrade Los Alamos National Laboratory’s aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. NNSA and the lab plan to replace the current facility with two new ones—one that would address […]

REVIEW FINDS WIDESPREAD CRITICALITY SAFETY ISSUES NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 A review of criticality safety issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory has revealed widespread problems that led to the ongoing shutdown of its Plutonium Facility last summer, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report released last week. The report describes Los Alamos’ Criticality Safety […]

NIF REACHES MILESTONE NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Scientists at Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility have reached a major milestone in the quest for ignition, achieving a fuel gain greater than 1 for the first time. The achievement was detailed in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Nature, explaining that the yield performance during a recent […]

Battelle Energy Alliance is facing a penalty of $168,750 for an incident that occurred at the Idaho National Laboratory in early 2013 that resulted in a researcher suffering second- and third-degree burns. Late last week, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement issued BEA a preliminary notice of violation, outlining four Severity Level 1 violations […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 IN DOE Only one team is believed to have submitted a proposal for the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory contract this week. Incumbent Brookhaven Science Associates—a partnership of Battelle and Stony Brook University—is believed to have been the only team to submit a proposal for the contract after interest from groups […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 LANSCE Refurbishment Meeting Targets, But Risks Remain Los Alamos National Laboratory is generally meeting its management milestones in the $253 million effort to refurbish its aging Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), according to an analysis the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General released earlier this month. But fluctuating budgets and […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory is beginning the process of recompeting its protective forces subcontract, issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest yesterday. SOC Los Alamos, a Day and Zimmerman subsidiary, has provided security at the lab since 1992, beating out WSI (now known as G4S Government Solutions) and several other companies to retain the contract […]

With proposals due for the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory contract due this week, DOE has made a minor amendment to the procurement’s Request for Proposals. In an amendment released Friday, DOE clarified the procedures for submitting Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence information. DOE advised potential offerors to access up-to-date information on its FOCI […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Timothy Hallman, the Associate Director for Nuclear Physics in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, will serve as the Source Selection Official for the Department’s Brookhaven National Laboratory procurement, DOE officials said at an informational meeting last week. DOE released documents from the industry day this week, revealing the […]

IG: LAB MISUSED DOE RESOURCES ON DOCUMENTARY NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory inappropriately used Department of Energy facilities and resources when it participated in a 2011 National Geographic documentary on the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week. The lab spent $81,746 in Licensing and […]

POWERS TO HEAD UP ORNL’S RESEARCH REACTORS DIVISION NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Tim Powers has been named director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Research Reactors Division, effective immediately, and will be in charge of operations at the lab’s High Flux Isotope Reactor. His appointment is part of a leadership reorganization in key areas following Kelly Beierschmitt’s […]

NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 DOE IG Criticizes ORNL Personnel Security Program An inspection report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said it could not confirm an allegation that a former senior official at Oak Ridge National Laboratory retained access to sensitive information after becoming a “casual” employee at ORNL. However, the IG […]

NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lab Names Permanent Director for NIF Jeff Wisoff, who replaced Ed Moses in the fall as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Principal Associate Director for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, is officially taking over the position in a permanent role, LLNL Director Bill Goldstein said this week. “I have every confidence […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/24/2014 A new report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising questions about whether Los Alamos National Laboratory will be able to get out of the aging Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility by 2019 as planned. In a newly released Dec. 27 site rep report, the DNFSB said repurposing […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/17/2014 NNSA Acting Administrator Bruce Held previously expressed his admiration for Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, calling his work in bringing the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source to completion ahead of schedule and under budget “absolutely brilliant.” And now he wants Mason to help resolve the perplexing issues with […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/17/2014 A committee that is searching for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s next director is expected to interview candidates in March, Norman Pattiz, the chairman of the search committee, said in a letter to lab employees late last week. Members of the search committee met with laboratory officials and employees Jan. 9, […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy is trying to leap-frog supercomputing to ultimately reach exascale—computers a thousand times more powerful than today’s best—and the next big step is called CORAL. That stands for Collaboration of Oak Ridge, Argonne and Livermore, three of DOE’s national labs. Not only are the three labs working […]

LEBAK NAMED AS NEW FIELD OFFICE MANAGER NS&D Monitor 1/17/2014 Kim Davis Lebak is taking over as the manager of the Los Alamos Field Office, shifting to the role from the top federal spot at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Lebak has served as the head of the Lawrence Livermore Field Office since January 2012, and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Contractor Assurance System (CAS) did not adequately alert lab or National Nuclear Security Administration management to problems on a botched nuclear security upgrade project at the lab’s Technical Area 55, according to a report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General that suggested […]

LAB WINS AGE DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 An Alameda County (Calif.) jury has ruled against five former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees that accused the lab of age discrimination in connection with a massive layoff in 2008. The five employees won a $2.7 wrongful termination verdict earlier last year, but in a separate trial […]

Jeff Wisoff, who replaced Ed Moses in the fall as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Principal Associate Director for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, is officially taking over the position in a permanent role, LLNL Director Bill Goldstein said yesterday. “I have every confidence in Jeff and know that he will continue to lead […]

An inspection report by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said it could not confirm an allegation that a former senior official at Oak Ridge National Laboratory retained access to sensitive information after becoming a “casual” employee at ORNL. However, the IG report said it did identify a number of weaknesses in the lab’s personnel […]

Change DOE’s Latest MoveTo Restructure Lab Fees Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 Battelle Energy Alliance is now set to earn less annual fee for managing the Idaho National Laboratory under a five-year contract extension announced late last week. While BEA was able to earn a maximum of $18.7 million in fee annually during its first […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory posted a sources sought notice seeking companies interested in completing demolition work at the Old Town area of the lab. The University of California may set aside the contract for small businesses “if a sufficient number of small businesses are pre-qualified,” according to the notice. The […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management will manage efforts to modernize Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium capabilities, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a recently released memo. According to the April 11 DNFSB site representative weekly report, released last week, laboratory and Los Alamos Field Office personnel have […]

Robert Powell, a UC Davis chemical engineering and materials science professor, has been appointed to the Boards of Governors for Los Alamos National Security and Lawrence Livermore National Security as an executive committee governor, according to Norman Pattiz, the chairman of both boards. Powell replaces William Frazer, who had served on the boards for the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has released the justification for extending Lockheed Martin’s contract to run Sandia National Laboratories, and the document makes it clear that the agency is planning to eventually compete the lab contract. Late last month, the agency completed a two-year extension (with a one-year option) for Lockheed Martin’s Sandia Corporation, pushing […]

Calling Sandia National Laboratories’ failure to comply with Department of Energy requirements at its Technical Area V nuclear facilities “troubling,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week called on lab officials and their federal overseers to strengthen conduct of operations and maintenance programs at the site. In a May 12 letter to National Nuclear […]

An Albuquerque District Court jury has awarded a New Mexico-based business $3.64 million in a case that pitted the company against Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security, LLC, in a dispute over a contract originally awarded five years ago. Orion Technical Services LLC sued Bechtel and University of California-led LANS for lost […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is opening up a recently commissioned supercomputer for industry collaborators to test big data technologies, architectures and applications. A high performance computing cluster dubbed Catalyst—a collaboration between Livermore, Intel and Cray—came on line at Livermore last fall, and the lab’s High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC) is soliciting statements of interest […]