Archive

Y-12

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, produces and stores enriched uranium components for the nuclear stockpile. Coverage tracks the Uranium Processing Facility construction project, secondary production, highly enriched uranium storage, site contracts, and security and safety findings.

  • DOE to Extend Oak Ridge Potable Water Services for a Decade

    The Energy Department’s Office of Science office in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will extend for 10 years its contract with the City of Oak Ridge for a potable water supply for the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The contract modification extends the period of performance from completion this June 30 to […]

  • Uranium Processing Facility Still On Track, Klotz Confirms

    Construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee remains on track, with certain design and schedule benchmarks set for this fall, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highlighted Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee hearing on the NNSA budget his ongoing […]

  • UPF Still On Track, Klotz Confirms

    Construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee remains on track, with certain design and schedule benchmarks set for this fall, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highlighted Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee hearing on the NNSA budget his ongoing […]

  • Radioactive Waste from Scotland Heads to United States: Report

    A shipment of radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Scotland was sent over the weekend to the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, on its way to Tennessee, the Scottish Sunday Post newspaper reported. The radioactive waste was loaded onto a U.S. Air Force cargo plane and took off from Scotland on […]

  • Radioactive Waste from Scotland Heads to United States: Report

    A shipment of radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Scotland was sent over the weekend to the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, on its way to Tennessee, the Scottish Sunday Post newspaper has reported. The radioactive waste was loaded onto a U.S. Air Force cargo plane and took off from Scotland […]

  • Crunch Time Looms for Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility

    The contractor for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee should in a matter of months deliver a new cost estimate and other information needed for the Department of Energy to sign off on construction of the complex. The Department of Energy expects by the end of fiscal 2017, Sept. 30, […]

  • Major Milestone on the Horizon for Uranium Processing Facility

    The contractor for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee is preparing a new cost estimate and other information needed for the Department of Energy to sign off on construction of the complex. The Department of Energy expects by the end of fiscal 2017, Sept. 30, to receive a design that […]

  • Cange Focuses Budget Remarks on Excess DOE Facilities

    WASHINGTON — As contractors and locals wait to learn how much more funding their Cold War nuclear-cleanup projects might get in fiscal 2018 under the Trump administration’s proposed budget increase for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, the head of that office on Wednesday focused ruminations about next year’s budget on work that hasn’t […]

  • CNS Working to Improve Performance Culture: NNSA

    A National Nuclear Security Administration field office has identified need for improvement in several operational areas by the management and operations contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas, according to a newly released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board activity report. The DNFSB document, dated March 13 and […]

  • DOE Contractors Wait for Policy Guidance as Trump Administration Slowly Forms

    The absence of senior leadership at the Trump administration’s Cabinet agencies threatens to leave contractors without clear policy direction on matters including the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons and cleanup complexes, executives said Tuesday. There is no imminent end in sight to this dilemma, they acknowledged. Panelists at the ExchangeMonitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit spoke two […]

  • Wrap Up: Oak Ridge Lab Director Leaving to Join Battelle

    Thom Mason will leave his post as director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee on July 1 to join Battelle as a senior executive, the Department of Energy site announced last Friday. Mason, a physicist who has served for a decade as ORNL director, is set to become senior vice president for laboratory […]

  • DOE Contractors Wait for Policy Guidance as Trump Administration Slowly Forms

    The absence of senior leadership at the Trump administration’s Cabinet agencies threatens to leave contractors without clear policy direction on matters including the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons and cleanup complexes, executives said Tuesday. There is no imminent end in sight to this dilemma, they acknowledged. Panelists at the ExchangeMonitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit spoke two […]

  • Y-12 Reaches New Safety Milestone

    It has been 15 years since the last injury in operations of the Elza Switchyard at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, site management and operations contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) said Tuesday. The switchyard is a 161,000-volt electrical system that provides 100 percent of the electricity for the National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear […]

  • CNS to Introduce Compensation Redesign Following NNSA Approval

    Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the management and operating contractor for the Pantex Plant in Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, plans to implement a new “market-driven” compensation system once it receives National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) approval, President and CEO Morgan Smith said Wednesday in a memo to employees. The intention is […]

  • CNS to Introduce Compensation Redesign Following NNSA Approval

    Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the management and operations contractor for the Pantex Plant in Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, plans to implement a new “market-driven” compensation system once it receives National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) approval, President and CEO Morgan Smith said Wednesday in a memo to employees. The intention is […]

  • McCain Backs Current Nuke Modernization Plan

    In a widely noted report this week calling for hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the U.S. Defense Department, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) largely appeared satisfied with the present program for modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent. “There is bipartisan consensus in support of the current nuclear modernization plan – replacing our ballistic […]

  • McCain Backs Current Nuke Modernization Plan

    In a widely noted report this week calling for hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the U.S. Defense Department, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appears satisfied with the present program for modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent. “There is bipartisan consensus in support of the current nuclear modernization plan – replacing our ballistic missile […]

  • CNS Takes Big Step in FY16 Performance

    The management and operations contractor for two key U.S. nuclear arms sites improved its performance significantly in fiscal 2016, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration. However, Consolidated Nuclear Security will need to take another step forward to ensure it stays on the job past the initial term of its contract. CNS has since July […]

  • DOE Risks Insufficient Heavy Water for Weapons Activities: IG

    The Department of Energy (DOE) might not have enough heavy water to meet its long-term nuclear weapons and non-weapons activity needs, according to a newly released audit report from the DOE Inspector General’s Office. Heavy water for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities is stored primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee […]

  • NSTec, Honeywell Lead in NNSA’s FY16 Performance Evaluations

    National Security Technologies (NSTec) and Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technology (FM&T) have received the highest marks across the nuclear complex in newly released National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) contractor performance evaluations for fiscal 2016. Each contractor was rated in six performance areas, each carrying a different weight, which were used to determine the award fees […]

  • DOE Risks Insufficient Heavy Water for Weapons Activities: IG

    The Department of Energy (DOE) might not have enough heavy water inventory to meet its long-term nuclear weapons and non-weapons activity needs, according to a newly released audit report from the DOE Inspector General’s Office. Heavy water for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities is stored primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex in […]

  • Wrap Up: New VP Picked for Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Services at CNS Sites

    Lyle Cary has been named the new vice president of safeguards, security, and emergency services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the sites’ management and operations contractor announced Wednesday. Ken Freeman, currently serving in that role, is set to retire at the end of […]

  • New VP Picked for Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Services at CNS Sites

    Lyle Cary has been named the new vice president of safeguards, security, and emergency services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the sites’ management and operations contractor announced Wednesday. Ken Freeman, currently serving in that role, is set to retire at the end of […]

  • Wrap Up: New NTI Report Shines Light on Cybersecurity Needs at Nuclear Facilities

    VIENNA — Governments, industry, and international organizations should work together to boost the cyber defense capabilities at nuclear facilities worldwide, according to a report from the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), released at a Wednesday side event during the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Conference on Nuclear Security. NTI’s Outpacing Cyber Threats report says traditional cyber defense methods at […]

  • Y-12 Wins Safety Award

    The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee said this week it received a 2016 Star of Excellence workplace safety award from the National Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA). The award, which recognizes facilities with a recordable injury rate 75 percent stronger than U.S. businesses in the same industry, was presented in September at the VPPPA […]

  • New BWXT Chief Wants More DOE Legacy Cleanup Biz

    With the impending ascension of former NASA hand Rex Geveden to the top spot at BWX Technologies, the Lynchburg, Va.-company has set an an outsider from the aerospace business in charge of an effort to grow the company’s legacy nuclear cleanup business with the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. “We remain strongly committed to […]

  • NNSA Receives Y-12 Plants’ Life-Extension Plan

    The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has received the implementation plan for extending the service lives of two decades-old enriched uranium processing buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, an agency spokesman said this week. The Extended Life Program implementation plan for the nuclear-weapon site’s Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E is considered a controlled […]

  • IG Identifies FY17 DOE Management Challenges

    A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

  • NNSA Receives Y-12 Plants’ Life-Extension Plan

    The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has received the implementation plan for extending the service lives of two decades-old materials processing buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, an agency spokesman said this week. The Extended Life Program implementation plan for the nuclear-weapon site’s Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E is considered a controlled document […]

  • CNS Exceeds Small Business Contracting Goals in FY16

    Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the management and operating contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant, said Tuesday it surpassed its small business contracting goals for fiscal year 2016. CNS awarded more than $276 million to small businesses across its two sites, 67 percent of all the funding […]