Innovation & Infrastructure

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 LANSCE Refurbishment Meeting Targets, But Risks Remain Los Alamos National Laboratory is generally meeting its management milestones in the $253 million effort to refurbish its aging Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), according to an analysis the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General released earlier this month. But fluctuating budgets and […]

WIND FARM ON SCHEDULE FOR JULY START NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Pantex Plant officials anticipate the plant’s new wind farm, the federal government’s largest, will be operational in July and will generate enough power to provide more than 65 percent of the nuclear weapons plant’s annual electricity needs. On Jan. 23, representatives from Siemens USA, Texas […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy is trying to leap-frog supercomputing to ultimately reach exascale—computers a thousand times more powerful than today’s best—and the next big step is called CORAL. That stands for Collaboration of Oak Ridge, Argonne and Livermore, three of DOE’s national labs. Not only are the three labs working […]

HIGH PRESSURE FIRE LOOP PROJECT COMPLETED NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Work on a new High Pressure Fire Loop at the Pantex Plant was completed last month on schedule and more than $5 million under budget, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Approximately 16,000 linear feet of high density polyethylene piping was installed around the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy is looking to make changes to its human capital and IT services that could result in a greater consolidation from the field to DOE headquarters. Among the proposals under consideration, according to officials familiar with the discussions, is the shift of some human capital functions from […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/28/2014 As lawmakers begin considering the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga stressed this week the need for technology development funds to aid the Office of Environmental Management in developing new cleanup technologies that can reduce costs. “With the large to-go costs [remaining], we’re […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—The National Nuclear Security Administration is moving forward with a plan to scale back the Uranium Processing Facility, heeding the advice of a Red Team headed up by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. The Red Team recommended that the agency—facing a ballooning price tag for the facility […]

Project Also Moves to Again Cut Size of UPF Project Team Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 The Uranium Processing Facility project planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex is undergoing a major management shakeup with about a month left before Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security takes over management of the site. CNS said late this week […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is opening up a recently commissioned supercomputer for industry collaborators to test big data technologies, architectures and applications. A high performance computing cluster dubbed Catalyst—a collaboration between Livermore, Intel and Cray—came on line at Livermore last fall, and the lab’s High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC) is soliciting statements of interest […]

The Red Team report on alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility has failed to sway one longtime critic of the massive facility. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance ripped the Red Team’s recommendations, which focused on moving operations from Y-12’s 9212 complex into a scaled down version of UPF and several other facilities and revamping […]

The Department of Energy could potentially save more than $2.3 million over the next three years by increasing efficiency  in acquisition and management of mobile devices such as phones, tablets and air cards, according to a DOE Inspector General report released yesterday. The review covered 10 sites in Fiscal Year 2012, and found ways to […]

The Red Team that analyzed alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex also weighed in on management of the multi-billion-dollar facility, and NS&D Monitor has learned that the team recommended a major management change for the project. The recommendations of the team, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director […]

Technology planned for the Uranium Processing Facility continues to remain a major question mark for the project, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Friday that reveals a handful of new technology concerns. The report is part of the GAO’s continuing work on UPF and technology planned for the facility. According to the report, […]

Acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held confirmed that he received the Red Team’s alternative-to-UPF report yesterday, but it’s not clear when—or if—the partially classified report will be released or how the NNSA plans to proceed with the findings. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, who headed the Red Team review of Y-12’s […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science and National Nuclear Security Administration are offering up another funding opportunity for research into extreme scale supercomputer technology. The agencies issued a joint Request for Proposals yesterday for contracts that could total approximately $100 million. Proposals under the program, dubbed FastForward 2, are due May 9, and the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday that a project to upgrade the security infrastructure at the Y-12 National Security Complex was completed ahead of schedule and approximately $20 million less than its initial $72 million budget. The Security Improvements Project (SIP), which the NNSA said cost $51.8 million, replaced existing alarm stations and access […]

The Department of Energy is looking to make changes to its human capital and IT services that could result in a greater consolidation from the field to DOE headquarters, Weapons Complex Monitor has learned. Among the proposals under consideration, according to officials familiar with the discussions, is the shift of some human capital functions from DOE’s […]

A $48.7 million project to revitalize Sandia National Laboratories’ testing facilities was completed earlier this month, $4 million under its original budget. The Test Capabilities Revitalization Phase 2 project upgraded the lab’s 10,000-foot sled track as well as its mechanical shock, centrifuge, aerosciences, and vibro-acoustic and mass properties facilities. In all, the NNSA said approximately […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has launched a new interactive timeline tracing the history of DOE’s cleanup efforts. The timeline stretches from the beginning of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s to the closure of underground waste tanks at the Savannah River Site last year. “Our Internet-savvy timeline is another example of […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services announced yesterday that it would form a wholly-owned subsidiary company, Perma-Fix Medical Corporation, which will focus on the production of the medical isotope Technetium-99 (Tc-99m). With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Canada, one of the world’s largest suppliers of Tc-99m, the […]

With the National Nuclear Security Administration considering alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility, project officials are scaling back and restructuring current work on the facility, according to a recent memo from UPF Project Director Carl Strock. The Feb. 12 memo, obtained by NS&D Monitor, suggests that project officials will focus on “high-equity activities that would […]

The Department of Energy plans to make a decision within the next 60 days on whether it will combine the infrastructure support services contracts at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites, DOE spokesman Bill Taylor said yesterday. The work is currently being performed under two separate contracts: At Portsmouth Wastren-EnergX Mission Support, LLC, has a contract […]

Kurion announced yesterday that it has acquired Vista Engineering Services, tripling the size of the company, according to a press release. Vista Engineering Services, based in Richland, Wash., offers a variety of engineering services including environmental remediation capabilities, and its base work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford site offers Kurion a larger influence within […]

Kurion announced yesterday that it has acquired Vista Engineering Services, tripling the size of the company, according to a press release. Vista Engineering Services, based in Richland, Wash., offers a variety of engineering services including environmental remediation capabilities, and its base work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford site offers Kurion a larger influence within […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 Moving uranium processing operations out of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s 9212 complex by 2025 will be “extraordinarily difficult” without a drastically revised management structure that moves responsibility of the Uranium Processing Facility into the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Programs, a Red Team that examined the project […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/25/2014 In a new 23-page follow-up to a 2010 report that raised concerns about lagging development and validation of technologies planned for the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility, the Government Accountability Office has identified some additional risks associated with the technology efforts. The GAO, at the request of Congress, is providing regular […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/25/2014 The Red Team that analyzed alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex also weighed in on management of the multi-billion-dollar facility, and NS&D Monitor has learned that the team recommended a major management change for the project. The recommendations of the team, led by […]

From staff reports NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 Bruce Held, the former acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, received the report from a Red Team assembled to look at alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility this week, but it’s not clear when—or if—the partially classified report will be released or how the NNSA plans to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 As the National Nuclear Security Administration pivots toward a smaller and cheaper way of maintaining its uranium processing capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex, acting NNSA chief Bruce Held acknowledged this week that about half of the $1.2 billion that has been spent on the Uranium Processing Facility has […]

With the National Nuclear Security Administration considering alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility, project officials are scaling back and restructuring current work on the facility, according to a recent memo from UPF Project Director Carl Strock.