Archive

Pantex Plant

The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, the nation’s primary site for nuclear weapons assembly, disassembly, and plutonium pit storage.

  • Losing Bidders Protest NNSA’s Award of Pantex/Y-12 Contract to Fluor-led Team

    Groups led by BWX Technologies and Bechtel National have protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to award management and operations of the agency’s two main nuclear-weapons production sites to the Fluor-led Nuclear Production One.  The Government Accountability Office filed notices online Monday that Strategic Nuclear Operators — which web searches show shares an address […]

  • Debriefs About NNSA’s Pantex, Y-12 Award Scheduled for Next Week

    The National Nuclear Security Administration was scheduled to brief losing bidders next week about the agency’s decision to entrust a team led by Fluor, Irving, Texas, with management of the country’s two main nuclear-weapon production sites, sources said this week. The winning team, Nuclear Production One (NPOne) — which also includes junior partner Amentum, Germantown, […]

  • Fluor Announces Subcontractors for New Pantex, Y-12 Prime

    After senior and junior partners Fluor and Amentum, the new prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main weapons production sites also includes Criterion Systems, General Atomics, and SOC, Fluor said Tuesday. Fluor, which has a 60% stake in new prime Nuclear Production One (NPOne), announced some more of the details of its winning […]

  • CNS Staying at Y-12, Pantex Through March

    The National Nuclear Security Administration has maxed out the options on Consolidated Nuclear Security’s short-term extension to run the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security complex, keeping the short-timer incumbent on the job through March while the agency finalizes the award of a follow-on deal. With an expected four-month transition period to the next […]

  • CNS Staying at Y-12, Pantex Through March

    The National Nuclear Security Administration has maxed out the options on Consolidated Nuclear Security’s short-term extension to run the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security complex, keeping the short-timer incumbent on the job through March while the agency finalizes the award of a follow-on deal. With an expected four-month transition period to the next […]

  • BWXT 2Q Earnings Fall But Revenue Remains Steady

    Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, which the Department of Energy contractor and maker of nuclear submarine reactors and components attributed to non-recurring costs such as commercializing a line of medical isotopes, plus higher interest rates. Net income for the second quarter ended June 30 was $59.4 million or $0.62 […]

  • Final Bids for Pantex, Y-12 Management Pact Due Aug. 9

    Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s potentially 10-year, $30-billion contract to manage two of the country’s main nuclear-weapons production sites have until the second week of August to turn in their final proposals, the agency said this week. The final proposal revisions are due at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 9, the semi-autonomous […]

  • NNSA Planning Discussions With Bidders on Combined Pantex, Y-12 Contract

    The National Nuclear Security Administration planned to host discussions soon with teams that bid on the potentially 10-year, $30 billion combined management and operations contract for the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, sources said this week. It was unclear at deadline whether the agency planned to invite bidders for traditional oral presentations […]

  • Doling Out Double Dosimeters Caused Confusion Over Employee Exposure at Pantex, Enterprise Assessments Office Says

    An internal Department of Energy watchdog gave Consolidated Nuclear Security a public calling-out, but no other penalty, for letting an employee at the Pantex Plant in Texas work in radioactive areas for six months last year after the contractor realized the person had lost their dosimeter, according to a report published this week. The employee […]

  • Doling Out Double Dosimeters Caused Confusion Over Employee Exposure at Pantex, Enterprise Assessments Office Says

    An internal Department of Energy watchdog gave Consolidated Nuclear Security a public calling-out, but no other penalty, for letting an employee at the Pantex Plant in Texas work in radioactive areas for six months last year after the contractor realized the person had lost their dosimeter, according to a report published this week. The employee […]

  • Years Long W80 Alt Wraps On Time After Pandemic, Pantex Says

    The Pantex Plant wrapped up production of the W80-1 Alt 369, which replaced limited life components for the warhead that tips the Air Force’s AGM-86b Air Launched Cruise Missile, the Amarillo, Texas, plant said recently. Pantex announced the milestone in a press release earlier this month. Limited life components include tritium reservoirs, neutron generators and power sources. […]

  • DNFSB Wants Autumn Update From DOE Update About Pantex Safety Culture; Cites Impending Site-Ops Transition

    The federal government’s independent nuclear health and safety watchdog wants to know what the National Nuclear Security Administration is doing to address perceived safety culture issues at the country’s central nuclear-weapons maintenance facility. After a number of technical safety requirement violations in 2019, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) “received multiple concerns from Pantex […]

  • Years Long W80 Alt Wraps On Time After Pandemic, Pantex Says

    The Pantex Plant wrapped up production of the W80-1 Alt 369, which replaced limited life components for the warhead that tips the Air Force’s AGM-86b Air Launched Cruise Missile, the Amarillo, Texas, plant said recently. Pantex announced the milestone in a press release earlier this month. Limited life components include tritium reservoirs, neutron generators and […]

  • NNSA to Extend CNS at Y-12, Pantex

    Consolidated Nuclear Security will remain on the job at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two big production sites at least two months longer than planned and possibly as many as six, the agency announced Tuesday. The Bechtel National-led prime for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, […]

  • With Weeks Before Scheduled Contract Transition, No NNSA Discussion With Bidders for New Y-12, Pantex Pact

    As of Friday, with only weeks to go before it hoped to transition the sites to new management, the National Nuclear Security Administration had yet to hold discussions with bidders for the next contract to manage the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, sources said. The new contract has a four-month transition period […]

  • Wrap Up: Burns & McDonnell Taps Federal Strategy Director

    Kansas City, Mo.-based Burns & McDonnell recently named Willie Clark as its federal strategy director, the company announced this week. For the previous almost nine years, Clark had been the giant engineering corporation’s federal business development manager, according to the company’s Wednesday news release. He held positions with the National Nuclear Security Administration from 1987 […]

  • NNSA Cites Demolition of More Than 100 Old Structures at Y-12, Pantex

    The Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday it has disposed of more than 100 “legacy” facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas. “For years now, we’ve been strategically removing legacy equipment and materials, packaging and shipping contaminated waste, and demolishing outdated facilities,” Jim […]

  • COVID-19 Cases Stable, While Vaccinations Pacing Along Across the Nuclear Security Enterprise

    Across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s sites and Washington headquarters, the trickle of current positive cases remained steady at under 200 this week, while the number of vaccines administered across the nuclear security enterprise continued to climb. Due to revised Department of Energy guidelines, NNSA is only reporting confirmed active cases and any additional deaths, […]

  • Some Nuclear Production Facilities at Pantex Froze for First Time in February Cold Snap

    Texas’ deep freeze in February damaged “pipes and air-handling units” at the Pantex Plant, including at weapons production facilities, but most of the damage had been repaired by March, a spokesperson for the plant’s prime contractor said Wednesday. The affected systems “developed leaks and other cold‑related impacts [but] [a]ll operations in the impacted facilities were […]

  • False High Dose at Pantex This Year Caused by Lost Badge Near Linear Accelerator

    It can happen on submarines, it can happen in the mail and it can happen if you fly a lot: a dose big enough to keep you out of radiological areas for a while. At the Pantex Plant earlier this year, it happened because someone left their dosimeter near a linear accelerator. That’s according to […]

  • False High Dose at Pantex This Year Caused by Lost Badge Near Linear Accelerator

    It can happen on submarines, it can happen in the mail and it can happen if you fly a lot: a dose big enough to keep you out of radiological areas for a while. At the Pantex Plant earlier this year, it happened because someone left their dosimeter near a linear accelerator. That’s according to […]

  • Pantex Back to Normal Ops; All Personnel Return as Texas Thaws

    The National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons assembly hub in Texas was scheduled for more or less back to normal operations on Monday after asking non-essential personnel to remain home for most of last week during Texas’ disastrous deep freeze. “Pantex operations are back to normal schedule today,” a spokesperson for the Bechtel National-led plant […]

  • High Dose at Pantex Attributed to Lost Dosimeter

    A building that handles high explosives at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, briefly shut down earlier this month after a worker’s dosimeter showed up with an unusually high dose — after it was “inadvertently lost” in the facility by its wearer, a spokesperson for the plant said Tuesday. “It is believed that the employee’s […]

  • Amid Vicious Cold Snap, Pantex Trimmed Staff Levels, Electricity Consumption

    After winter weather crippled many parts of Texas’ electricity grid, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons maintenance hub near Amarillo, Texas, decided to keep some personnel home during the first four days of this week. “In order to reduce energy consumption during the unprecedented winter storm impacting the Amarillo area, Pantex cancelled day, swing, […]

  • Amid Vicious Cold Snap, Pantex Trimmed Staff Levels, Electricity Consumption

    After winter weather crippled many parts of Texas’ electricity grid, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons maintenance hub near Amarillo, Texas, decided to keep some personnel home during the first three days of this week. “In order to reduce energy consumption during the unprecedented winter storm impacting the Amarillo area, Pantex cancelled day, swing, […]

  • High Dose at Pantex Attributed to Lost Dosimeter

    A building that handles high explosives at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, briefly shut down earlier this month after a worker’s dosimeter showed up with an unusually high dose — after it was “inadvertently lost” in the facility by its wearer, a spokesperson for the plant said Tuesday. “It is believed that the employee’s […]

  • Procurement Starts for Construction of High Explosives Facility at Pantex

    Consolidated Nuclear Security is seeking a subcontractor to build the National Nuclear Security Administration’s High Explosives Science and Engineering facility at the Pantex Plan in Amarillo, Texas, according to a procurement note posted online. The three-building High Explosives Science and Engineering facility is one part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Primary Capability Modernization […]

  • Procurement Starts for Construction of High Explosives Facility at Pantex

    Consolidated Nuclear Security is seeking a subcontractor to build the National Nuclear Security Administration’s High Explosives Science and Engineering facility at the Pantex Plan in Amarillo, Texas, according to a procurement note posted online. The three-building High Explosives Science and Engineering facility is one part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Primary Capability Modernization […]

  • Final Solicitation for Y-12, Pantex Contact Drops; Senate Questions Lack of Competition for DOE, NNSA Contracts

    The same day the National Nuclear Security Administration requested proposals for a potentially decades-long contract to run two of its three major nuclear weapons production sites, Senate appropriators asked why there is so little competition for such contracts at the Department of Energy. The semiautonomous DOE weapons agency released the final solicitation Tuesday, the same […]

  • More Details on Potential Y-12, Pantex Bidders Come to Light

    The National Nuclear Security Administration still had not at deadline released the final solicitation for the potentially $28-billion, $10-year contract to manage its two big nuclear-weapons production sites, but more information is percolating up through industry about the players interested in the deal. With the envisioned start of the transition from the Bechtel-led incumbent, Consolidated […]