Nevada National Security Site
An NNSA site north of Las Vegas historically used for nuclear weapons testing, now supporting subcritical experiments, emergency response training, and waste research.
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Cleanup & Remediation
Nevada Site disposed of 550,000 cubic feet of radwaste in 2021
The Nevada National Security Site disposed of roughly 550,000 cubic feet of radioactive waste from other federal sites around the country during 2021, according to the Department of Energy. The total includes classified and low-level or mixed low-level radioactive waste, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said in its Strategic Vision for the former Nevada […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Nevada Site disposed of 550,000 cubic feet of radwaste in 2021
The Nevada National Security Site disposed of roughly 550,000 cubic feet of radioactive waste from other federal sites around the country during 2021, according to the Department of Energy. The total includes classified and low-level or mixed low-level radioactive waste, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said in its Strategic Vision for the former Nevada […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Nevada Site Mining Project, Crucial for Subcritical’s Future, to be Baselined in June
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — A mining and construction project at the Nevada National Security Site critical to the next generation of non-explosive, nuclear-stockpile testing should have its cost and schedule set in June, the head of the site’s management contractor said here Tuesday. An independent cost estimate of the U1a Complex Enhancements Project’s (UCEP) Infrastructure and […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Nevada Site Mining Project, Crucial for Subcritical’s Future, to be Baselined in June
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — A mining and construction project at the Nevada National Security Site critical to the next generation of non-explosive, nuclear-stockpile testing should have its cost and schedule set in June, the head of the site’s management contractor said here Tuesday. An independent cost estimate of the U1a Complex Enhancements Project’s (UCEP) Infrastructure and […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Troy Wade, 87, Test Site Fixture, Defense Programs Head
Troy Wade, a Reagan-era assistant secretary of energy for defense programs and a fixture for decades at what is now called the Nevada National Security Site, died Jan. 16 at his home in Nevada, according to local media and the site. He was 87. Scott Wade, Troy’s son, confirmed his father’s death to the local […]
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Transuranic Waste
Nevada Lawmaker Concerned About Planned Shipment to NNSS
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) wants Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to provide details about a Department of Energy plan to bury certain nuclear waste, now at the Idaho National Laboratory, at the Nevada National Security Site. Titus said she was caught off guard by federal plans for the shipments from Idaho to the Nevada National […]
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Transuranic Waste
Nevada Lawmaker Concerned About Planned Shipment to NNSS
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) wants Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to provide details about a Department of Energy plan to bury certain nuclear waste, now at the Idaho National Laboratory, at the Nevada National Security Site. Titus said she was caught off guard by federal plans for the shipments from Idaho to the Nevada National […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Low-level Waste Shipments to Nevada Starting to Rebound, Panel Told
The volume of low-level radioactive waste shipped to the Nevada National Security Site from Department of Energy cleanup sites is picking up again after dipping to half of its normal level of more than 1 million cubic feet per year during the pandemic, an agency official at the site told the Nevada Site Specific Advisory […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: Fires Put Out, Job Moves Across the Complex
The Southern Bench fire, which burned about 1,000 acres since late August, has been put out by firefighters from the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the operations contractor for the Nevada Site said this week. The Southern Bench wildland fire is now “fully contained and extinguished,” […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Settlement Over Y-12 Waste Shipments, COVID Highlight Annual Nevada Site Report
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a June legal settlement between the state and the Department of Energy to prevent mislabeled radioactive waste shipments from again ending up at the Nevada National Security Site dominate the site’s just released 2020 environmental report. The settlement reached this summer calls upon DOE to increase the vetting and […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Settlement Over Y-12 Waste Shipments, COVID Highlight Annual Nevada Site Report
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a June legal settlement between the state and the Department of Energy to prevent mislabeled radioactive waste shipments from again ending up at the Nevada National Security Site dominate the site’s just released 2020 environmental report. The report also notes that the wildland fires burned 3,150 acres […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Settlement Over Y-12 Waste Shipments, COVID Highlight Annual Nevada Site Report
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a June legal settlement between the state and the Department of Energy to prevent mislabeled radioactive waste shipments from again ending up at the Nevada National Security Site dominate the site’s just released 2020 environmental report. The settlement reached this summer calls upon DOE to increase the […]
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Transuranic Waste
Wrap Up: Odors Prompt Temporary Hanford Take-Cover Order; WIPP Plans Panels
The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state lifted a take cover order about four hours after workers detected strange odors Wednesday morning in the 200 West Area of the cleanup complex. Crews investigating reports of odors near the Reduction Oxidation (REDOX) plant found no evidence of radiation or a chemical release near the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Wildfire Still Burning in North Reaches of Nevada National Security Site
A wildfire that started last week at the Nevada National Security Site was still burning over about 490 acres north of the Site’s area 12 at deadline Monday. “The fire is not burning, and has not burned, in any contaminated areas,” the site wrote in a press release on Friday. “Due to inaccessibility of the […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Samples Shipped for LANL’s Next Subcritical Plutonium Test at Nevada
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Materials for the third and final Nightshade subcritical plutonium test at the Nevada National Security Site have shipped out from the Los Alamos National Laboratory ahead of a shot planned for the fall, the head of the lab’s weapon’s program said here Wednesday. Nightshade C had been scheduled to fire in Nevada […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Wrap Up: New Bechtel Nuke Chief Appointed, Fire Contained in Nevada
John Howanitz will be promoted to president of Bechtel National’s nuclear, security and environmental global business effective Sept. 1, replacing the retiring Barbara Rusinko as the head of the Reston, Va.-based company’s nuclear business with the Department of Energy and other agencies worldwide. The company announced the impending change Wednesday in a press release. Howanitz […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Savannah River Official Tapped to Become New EM-Los Alamos Manager
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management appointed Michael Mikolanis to lead its Los Alamos National Laboratory field office in New Mexico, a DOE advisory board learned Wednesday. The Mikolanis appointment was announced to the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board by Lee Bishop, DOE’s deputy designated federal officer, during a virtual meeting. Mikolanis, […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
‘Black Glass Canyon Wildfire’ Burning at Nevada National Security Site
A fiery summer continues at the former Nevada Test Site, with another blaze reported in the southwest part of the site at Area 25 and 29, according to a press release. By Monday afternoon local time, the fire had spread across some 860 acres, compared with the 300 on which it was burning earlier in […]
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Transuranic Waste
House Panel Bill Nixes Any Budget Reductions for Big DOE Cleanup Sites
The House Appropriations Committee proposed a marginal increase for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, to $7.8 billion from the $7.6 in 2021, as part of a 2022 spending bill sent to the House floor Friday. The full committee advanced the energy and water spending package on a 33-to-24 vote party line vote, […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Nevada Wildfires Completely Contained, Site Says
Responders at the Nevada National Security Site have completely contained the wildfires that broke out there last week in the site’s western region at Area 16, Area 29 and Area 30, the site said this week. The total estimated burn area was about 275 acres, according to a Tuesday press release from site management and […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
DOE, Nevada at Last Settle Up Over Unauthorized Waste Shipments From Y-12
In a long-awaited legal settlement over six years of mislabeled, radioactive waste shipments to Nevada, the Department of Energy agreed to tighten waste-inspection standards at nuclear weapon sites and overhaul its solid waste permit with the state by early next year, Carson City’s top environmental official said this week. DOE will also have to revise […]
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Transuranic Waste
Wrap Up: WIPP Fan Restart Planned for Fall; New SRNL Fellows; Nevada Fires Contained
The Department of Energy now expects to restart an underground fan at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico by early fall as a means to bolster airflow until a new permanent ventilation system is operational in a few years. Restarting the 700-C underground fan should add about 90,000 cubic feet per minute, bringing […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Nevada, Feds Settle Legal Dispute Over Mislabeled Y-12 Shipments
In a long-awaited legal settlement over six years of mislabeled, radioactive waste shipments to Nevada, the Department of Energy agreed to tighten waste-inspection standards at nuclear weapon sites and overhaul its solid waste permit with the state by early next year, Carson City’s top environmental official said this week. DOE will also have to revise […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
DOE, Nevada at Last Settle Up Over Unauthorized Waste Shipments From Y-12
In a long-awaited legal settlement over six years of mislabeled, radioactive waste shipments to Nevada, the Department of Energy agreed to tighten waste-inspection standards at nuclear weapon sites and overhaul its solid waste permit with the state by early next year, Carson City’s top environmental official said Wednesday. DOE will also have to revise the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Nevada Wildfires Completely Contained, Site Says
Responders at the Nevada National Security Site have completely contained the wildfires that broke out there last week in the site’s western region at Area 16, Area 29 and Area 30, the site said Tuesday. The total estimated burn area was about 275 acres, according to a press release from site management and operations contractor, […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hot, Dry Conditions Create ‘Extreme’ Fire Danger at Hanford
Fire danger at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state continued to be “extreme” Friday morning as the region suffered through a heatwave, according to an advisory from the landlord contractor at the cleanup property. With daytime highs in triple digits into next week, Hanford is utilizing maximum telework of about 40%, according […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
New Wildfires at Old Nevada Test Areas Mostly Contained Going Into Holiday
More wildfires at the Nevada National Security Site, reported a couple weeks after responders contained the 24,000-acre Cherrywood fire, were “successfully controlled” and about 80% contained at deadline Friday, the site said. In a statement Thursday, the Nevada National Security Site estimated that between 260 acres and 275 acres burned in the western section of […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
New Wildfire at Nevada National Security Site Burning in Old Test Area
Another wildfire has started at the Nevada National Security Site, with smoke sighted only a couple weeks after responders contained the 24,000-acre Cherrywood fire that burned for about a month at the test site. In a series of press releases on Wednesday, the site reported “multiple” new fires in the western section of the roughly […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Faces Excessive Heat Warning, ‘Very High’ Fire Danger
Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state are this week coping with what the National Weather Service described in a Monday bulletin as “dangerous heat.” At deadline, the high for Monday was forecast to reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit with daytime highs expected to remain above 100 degrees F throughout the week. […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Nightshade B Subcritical Test Fired
WASHINGTON — Personnel at the Nevada National Security Site have fired the second in a series of three planned subcritical plutonium tests called Nightshade, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Charles Verdon, the agency’s acting administrator, confirmed the test firing to Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor after he testified Wednesday […]







