Archive

National Laboratories

Coverage of DOE’s 17 national laboratories and their science, energy, and national security missions — from basic research to applied programs, including their expanding role in AI-driven initiatives.

  • East Tennessee is primed for more nuclear opportunities, panel says

    KNOXVILLE, TENN. – East Tennessee could become a nuclear industry hub, several state officials said at a conference here Wednesday. That was a central theme in an afternoon panel discussion of regional business opportunities at the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association’s (ETEBA) annual Business Opportunities and Technical Conference.  Tennessee Department Economic and Community Development […]

  • DNFSB urges more LANL safety, voices concern over Y-12 in NNSA welcome letter

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes Brandon Williams, the newly confirmed administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will prioritize a list of safety challenges that the board wrote him about last month. “Congratulations on your confirmation as Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)!” the nation’s nuclear safety watchdog started its […]

  • House Dems “urgently demand” end to furloughs as labs send workers home

    House lawmakers condemned the furloughs of 1,400 of DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) workers in a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and NNSA administrator Brandon Williams. “As Secretary Wright noted in his press availability in Las Vegas, furloughing NNSA employees has never happened before. Government shutdowns, however, have occurred throughout the […]

  • Los Alamos County approves gross receipt tax increase, LANL director disapproves

    Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said last week a County Council vote to raise the gross receipts tax to close a budget shortfall would hinder economic growth. The Los Alamos County Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to increase the gross receipts tax (GRT) in Los Alamos by 0.625%, effective July 1, 2026, […]

  • DNFSB urges more LANL safety, voices concern over Y-12 in NNSA welcome letter

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes Brandon Williams, the newly confirmed administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will prioritize a list of safety challenges that the board wrote him about last month. “Congratulations on your confirmation as Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)!” the nation’s nuclear safety watchdog started its […]

  • NNSA partners with HPE and NVIDIA for two new supercomputers

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Tuesday its Los Alamos National Laboratory selected tech companies Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and NVIDIA to develop and deploy two new supercomputers. The two computers, named “Mission” and “Vision,” will be used for modeling and simulations at the lab.  “Mission” will be used to assist NNSA research without […]

  • House Dems “urgently demand” end to furloughs as labs send workers home

    House lawmakers condemned the furloughs of 1,400 of DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) workers in a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and NNSA administrator Brandon Williams. “As Secretary Wright noted in his press availability in Las Vegas, furloughing NNSA employees has never happened before. Government shutdowns, however, have occurred throughout the […]

  • EnergySec thanks Cortez Masto for vote, says ‘virtually all’ NNSS fed employees furloughed

    Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, in a press conference Monday in Nevada., said all of the federal employees at Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) had been furloughed. Wright spoke in two press conferences in Nevada Monday, one being in Las Vegas and one being at the physical site of NNSS in Mercury, Nev. north of […]

  • Idaho lab’s IWTU to remain offline into 2026

    Already offline for most of 2025, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, will remain out of service until early 2026, a DOE spokesperson said this week. After DOE and Amentum-led contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition returned the facility to operation July 17, the IWTU shut down five days […]

  • EnergySec thanks Cortez Masto for vote, says ‘virtually all’ NNSS fed employees furloughed

    Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, in a press conference Monday in Nevada., said all of the federal employees at Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) had been furloughed. Wright spoke in two press conferences in Nevada Monday, one being in Las Vegas and one being at the physical site of NNSS in Mercury, Nev. north of […]

  • Oak Ridge industry day highlights data center potential

    The Department of Energy will consider the potential return to the government when it weighs proposals for developing data centers and power plants around the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a DOE official said during a virtual meeting Wednesday. DOE will be looking at the “financial capability” of the applicants, Marla Larson-Williams of Oak Ridge […]

  • Oak Ridge industry day highlights data center potential

    The Department of Energy is holding a virtual industry day Wednesday on the potential for data center development at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The session, scheduled between 1 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time, will include details about a request for proposal (RFP) process for artificial intelligence-related data centers at the federal complex. […]

  • LANL and NNSA complete tritium container treatment

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

  • Navarro-led lab contractor taps new boss, operations officer

    The contractor in charge of a major laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state said this week it has appointed Mark Hughey as its new general manager. Navarro-led Navarro-ATL announced it has turned to Hughey to run Hanford’s 222-S laboratory. He will replace Ray Geimer, who became manager of DOE’s Hanford […]

  • LANL and NNSA complete tritium container treatment

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

  • LANL and NNSA complete tritium container treatment

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

  • Los Alamos needs more transparency with tritium venting, enviros say

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

  • Round Up: Garrish takes oath; SRNL taps Hewit as deputy lab boss; Eni and CFS sign fusion energy based-PPA; Deep Isolation and Navarro sign licensing deal

    Ted Garrish, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, will be sworn in this Friday, according to a DOE Office of Nuclear Energy spokesperson. Garrish has held the lead role of the Office of Nuclear Energy once before during the Ronald Reagan administration in the late 1980s.  Garrish […]

  • Los Alamos needs more transparency with tritium venting, enviros say

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

  • Los Alamos needs more transparency with tritium venting, enviros say

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

  • NNSA updates progress on Los Alamos tritium venting

    Tritium venting is complete on two of four flanged waste containers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Sunday Sept. 21. After some glitches, work was paused Sunday prior to resuming depressurization of the third flanged tritium waste container (FTWC), NNSA said in […]

  • Round Up: Amentum teams up with UK NWS; PNNL makes layoffs; BWXT increases nuclear isotopes production; more

    Amentum has been awarded £26 million ($35 million US) under a four-year contract to provide specialist services for the UK’s nuclear waste management association. Amentum will be one of the suppliers on all four lots of the United Kingdom’s Integrated Waste Management Specialist Nuclear Services Framework, according to Amentum’s Tuesday’s press release.  Under the framework, […]

  • New Mexico monitors Los Alamos tritium venting

    The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) will actively monitor Los Alamos National Laboratory’s controlled capture of tritium that was scheduled to start Saturday, Sept. 13. NMED has “strict safeguards and oversight in place to ensure public safety,” the state agency said Sept. 12. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is venting and capturing tritium from […]

  • Wrap Up: BWXT taps new strategy officer; Urenco USA starts up new cascade; DOE invests in labs; NWTRB reschedules meeting; more

    Rik Geiersbach was just appointed chief strategy officer for BWX Technologies and will report directly to CEO Rex Geveden, the nuclear fuel company announced Monday on its website. “As chief strategy officer, Rik will lead the development, execution and integration of BWXT’s enterprise strategy and merger and acquisition initiatives,” Geveden said in the release. “His […]

  • Curio successfully tests nuclear fuel recycling technology in DOE labs

    Curio recently announced the completion of a laboratory-scale demonstration for its nuclear fuel recycling technology, NuCycle, in collaboration with four Department of Energy National Laboratories. DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington state, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico contributed to the […]

  • DOE announces investment of over $35 million toward national labs

    The Department of Energy announced recently it will provide over $35 million toward 42 projects with aims to advance emerging energy technologies at DOE national laboratories related to nuclear energy and artificial intelligence. The awards were made through DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund, which has a program in fiscal 2025 called the Core Laboratory Infrastructure for […]

  • DOE announces investment of over $35 million toward national labs

    The Department of Energy announced recently it will provide over $35 million toward 42 projects with aims to advance emerging energy technologies at DOE national laboratories related to nuclear energy and artificial intelligence. The awards were made through DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund, which has a program in fiscal 2025 called the Core Laboratory Infrastructure for […]

  • DOE seeks data center proposals for Idaho National Lab

    The Department of Energy has published a request for application seeking deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and power generation projects at its Idaho National Laboratory site. Applicants will be responsible for constructing, operating and decommissioning each infrastructure project and must secure utility interconnection agreements for new electricity generation and storage systems, according to […]

  • New Mexico clears way for temporary Los Alamos tritium venting

    For the next two weeks the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory will depressurize four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers, the lab announced. The work, which has angered tribal groups and the state of New Mexico, will start this Saturday Sept. 13, laboratory officials said in a press […]

  • DOE seeks data center proposals for Idaho National Lab

    The Department of Energy has published a request for application seeking deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and power generation projects at its Idaho National Laboratory site. Applicants will be responsible for constructing, operating and decommissioning each infrastructure project and must secure utility interconnection agreements for new electricity generation and storage systems, according to […]