Innovation & Infrastructure

The Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is roughly 25% complete and construction should be finished by the end of 2022, an agency spokesperson said by email Wednesday. A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Construction was awarded the contract to build the […]

Nuclear services company Orano projects it will double its output of dry-storage canisters, relative to 2020, after consolidating its heavy manufacturing in the United States, the company said in a statement.  In 2020, Orano fulfilled all of its customer contracts for its NUTECH horizontal modular storage system (NUHOMS) dry-storage canisters while operating at two-thirds manufacturing […]

Nuclear services company Orano projects it will double its output of dry-storage canisters, relative to 2020, after consolidating its heavy manufacturing in the United States, the company said in a statement.  In 2020, Orano fulfilled all of its customer contracts for its NUTECH horizontal modular storage system (NUHOMS) dry-storage canisters while operating at two-thirds manufacturing […]

A pair of think-tanks are pushing a combination of machine learning and open-source data as a way to generate more leads on potential nuclear proliferation and said Tuesday that a recent pilot project shows the technique “could save hundreds of analyst hours” if put into practice by the government. That was the claim in a […]

A pair of think-tanks are pushing a combination of machine learning and open-source data as a way to generate more leads on potential nuclear proliferation and said Tuesday that a recent pilot project shows the technique “could save hundreds of analyst hours” if put into practice by the government. That was the claim in a […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could run out of space if the number of waste drums bound for the New Mexico site keeps increasing, or if a new underground accounting system is thrown out by the courts, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday. The report landed as the site, DOE’s only deep-underground […]

Deep Isolation has finished its $20 million Series A fundraising efforts, the Berkeley, California company announced Tuesday. This capital investment venture has been underway since January. That money is intended to help line up a targeted $50 million worth of sales and contracts. On top of this amount, Deep Isolation has lined up roughly $5 […]

Editor’s note: The Department of Energy recently finalized the first changes in more than 15 years to its Nuclear Safety Management rule, codified in Title 10, Part 830 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This rule governs the conduct of DOE contractors and civil servants — not the conduct of contractors or employees of other […]

Here’s this week’s collection of quick-hit news about, and with implications for, U.S. nuclear security. Like almost everything else, support for a B61-12 flight test from an F-35A had to go virtual this year, according to a press release from Sandia National Laboratories.  Sandia helped train Air Force personnel virtually in preparation for an April […]

Editor’s note: The Department of Energy recently finalized the first changes in more than 15 years to its Nuclear Safety Management rule, codified in Title 10, Part 830 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This rule governs the conduct of DOE contractors and civil servants — not the conduct of contractors or employees of other […]

By Darrell Proctor POWER magazine Debate continues about nuclear power’s role in electricity production, particularly as it revolves around climate change. As a zero-emissions source of power, nuclear is seen by many as a complement to renewable energy in the transition away from coal-fired generation. Nuclear power, though, has detractors, who point to nuclear accidents […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week finalized environmental paperwork that completes a court-ordered re-review of earthquake risks at the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — but environmental groups with a live lawsuit over the plan are complaining that the agency’s second look was not adequate. The finalized supplement analysis, published July […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has replaced nearly 10,000 sprinkler heads at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, completing a $46 million retrofit of safety hardware last touched in the 1960s, according to a press release this week. The new sprinkler heads, installed in six different facilities, replace some that were at or near the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week gave the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee the all-clear to start building a key piece of equipment needed to move uranium secondary-stage work out of the aging Building 9212 and into the under-construction Uranium Processing Facility. The new calciner, to be built in 9212, reached its […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week gave the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee the all-clear to start building a key piece of equipment needed to move uranium secondary-stage work out of the aging Building 9212 and into the under-construction Uranium Processing Facility. The new calciner, to be built in 9212, reached its […]

The power substation that will route electricity to the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is finished, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The Tennessee Valley Authority designed and built the $60 million substation, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency wrote in a press release on Monday. Aspects of the substation have irked […]

The power substation that will route electricity to the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is finished, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The Tennessee Valley Authority designed and built the $60 million substation, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency wrote in a press release on Monday.  Aspects of the substation have […]

The Kansas City, Mo., National Security Campus plans this coming spring to open a small satellite factory about 1 mile east from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) main workshop for non-nuclear components of nuclear-weapon. “Occupancy is expected to begin next spring after tenant improvements such as utilities and furnishings are completed,” a spokesperson […]

The Kansas City, Mo., National Security Campus plans this coming spring to open a small satellite factory about 1 mile east from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) main workshop for non-nuclear components of nuclear-weapon. “Occupancy is expected to begin next spring after tenant improvements such as utilities and furnishings are completed,” a spokesperson […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and anti-nuclear activists seeking to stop construction of the Uranium Processing Facility in Tennessee could find themselves in an appeals court in January to argue about a lower court’s September decision that forced a partial federal redo of the facilty’s environmental review. The public won’t know until 2020 exactly what […]

A cybersecurity provider for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is urging reconsideration of a recent follow-on award to a rival company. The transition from the $271 million contract held by information-technology specialist Criterion Systems, of Vienna, Va., was driven “by a perceived need to rapidly remediate a contract protest action lingering from 2016,” […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and other branches of the Department of Energy continue to struggle to improve their defenses against cyberattacks, according to the DOE Inspector General’s Office. The inspector general’s 2019 evaluation of the department’s unclassified cybersecurity program involved control testing and other evaluations of 28 DOE sites, largely overseen by […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Some large infrastructure projects in the U.S. Energy Department’s nationwide nuclear cleanup complex should be completed in the next couple years, an agency official said Wednesday. That should include startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at […]

The United States should stop trying to build a centralized disposal facility for its nuclear waste, and instead enact on a “decentralized” regime while pursuing new technologies to deal with the material, according to a new report from an environmental think tank. “The current policy regime for nuclear waste management is broken,” the Oakland, Calif.-based […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will flex up the Kansas City National Security Complex’s manufacturing capacity by leasing some 275,000 square feet of industrial space about a mile from the nuclear security enterprise’s main components shop, according to an environmental notice published Monday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency plans to […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will flex up the Kansas City National Security Complex’s manufacturing capacity by leasing some 275,000 square feet of industrial space about a mile from the nuclear security enterprise’s main components shop, according to an environmental notice published Monday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy weapons agency plans to lease […]

Jacobs Engineering announced on Aug. 20 it would pay £250 million ($304.5 million) to acquire the nuclear business of the Scotland-based John Wood Group. The deal is expected to be sealed in the first quarter of 2020, pending regulatory approval in the United Kingdom, according to the companies. The acquisition will bring proprietary technology and […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Wednesday it had completed the last of four new funding agreements for private manufacturing of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. This means Northwest Medical Isotopes, of Corvallis, Ore., will now receive $15 million from the NNSA that it must fully match. The announcement comes almost five weeks after […]

Jacobs Engineering announced on Aug. 20 it would pay £250 million ($304.5 million) to acquire the nuclear business of the Scotland-based John Wood Group. The deal is expected to be sealed in the first quarter of 2020, pending regulatory approval in the United Kingdom, according to the companies. The acquisition will bring proprietary technology and […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Wednesday it had completed the last of four new funding agreements for private manufacturing of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. This means Northwest Medical Isotopes, of Corvallis, Ore., will now receive $15 million from the NNSA that it must fully match. The announcement comes almost five weeks after […]