Non-Proliferation

Sentencing has been scheduled for the two men who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aaron Vennefron and Phillip Thompson will both be sentenced on May 24 by Judge J. Michelle Childs, of […]

A federal judge has decided to let the Department of Energy and a contractor argue in court about whether the agency was allowed to claw back some $20 million in fees on a long-overdue, over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina. That is according to an April 27 order by U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge […]

The Senate on Friday confirmed a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The Senate confirmed Andrea Thompson by a voice vote. A retired U.S. Army colonel, Thompson was most recently a special adviser at State’s Office of Policy Planning. In her new […]

The governor of South Carolina this week promised a court challenge if the Department of Energy cancels the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in his state, or turns the planned plutonium-disposal plant into a new weapons facility. The sprawling facility, billions over budget and years behind schedule, is being built to turn […]

A merger of McDermott International and CB&I, the majority partner in the contractor building a plutonium-conversion plant for the Department of Energy, is expected to close May 10 after shareholders for both companies approved the combination. That is according to a joint press release Wednesday from the companies. McDermott shareholders would end up owning 53 […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy will release a detailed cost estimate for its plan to bury 34 metric tons of diluted weapon-usable plutonium in the New Mexico desert around June, an agency official said here Wednesday. “June-ish,” Virginia Kay, deputy director of the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Material Disposition, told […]

Sentencing has been scheduled for the two men who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aaron Vennefron and Phillip Thompson will both be sentenced on May 24 by Judge J. Michelle Childs, of […]

McDermott International shareholders are to vote today on the company’s proposed acquisition of CB&I: one of two partners on the prime contractor for the embattled plutonium disposal plant being built at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The vote is part of a special shareholders meeting, the Houston-based engineering and construction company […]

A federal judge has decided to let the Department of Energy and a contractor argue in court about whether the agency was allowed to claw back some $20 million in fees on a long-overdue, over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina. That is according to a Friday order by U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas […]

The United Kingdom’s pending withdrawal from the European Union, and along with it the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), should not significantly disrupt the nation’s management of radioactive waste, according to the advisory Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). “CoRWM believes that in the context of the safe management of spent fuel and the safe […]

The Senate on Friday confirmed a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The Senate confirmed Andrea Thompson by a voice vote. A retired U.S. Army colonel, Thompson was most recently a special adviser at State’s Office of Policy Planning. In her new […]

Citing declining health due to multiple sclerosis, and the need for 24-hour assistance, one of the men who defrauded the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site MOX project is hoping to avoid a prison sentence of up to five years. Phillip Thompson is instead requesting five years of probation, with the special […]

While neither the United States nor Russia met a nonbinding target to start disposing of tons of plutonium this year, neither country has actually violated the agreement to get rid of the nuclear material, the U.S. State Department said in a recent report. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA), negotiation of which began in […]

In court papers Wednesday, the Department of Energy doubled down on its argument that the contractor on an over-budget plutonium-disposal plant targeted for cancellation contorted the language of its deal in an attempt to convince a federal judge the company should keep $20 million in contested fees. The $20 million is only a small part […]

While neither the United States nor Russia met a nonbinding target to start disposing of tons of plutonium this year, neither country has actually violated the agreement to get rid of the nuclear material, the U.S. State Department said in a recent report. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA), negotiation of which began in […]

Citing declining health due to multiple sclerosis, and the need for 24-hour assistance, one of the men who defrauded the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site MOX project is hoping to avoid a prison sentence of up to five years. Phillip Thompson is instead requesting five years of probation, with the special […]

The Department of Energy relied on a flawed reading of a contract to justify its 2016 decision to take back some $20 million in fees from CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the company argued in the latest legal volley on an over-budget plutonium disposal plant being built in South Carolina. In a 2016 lawsuit filed in […]

Following a five-month pause, plutonium downblending resumed in mid-March at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The mission involves dilution of 6 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable, non-pit plutonium, and not the 34 metric tons of material intended to be processed by Savannah River’s MOX program. Operations began in September 2016, […]

Diplomats from the United States and Russia wrapped up a 10-day meeting about the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in Switzerland on Friday, but did not announce any imminent plan to sign a successor arms-control agreement. That is according to a Thursday press release from the State Department on the 15th session of […]

Following a five-month pause, plutonium downblending resumed in mid-March at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The mission involves dilution of 6 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable, non-pit plutonium, and not the 34 metric tons of material intended to be processed by Savannah River’s MOX program. Operations began in September 2016, […]

The Department of Energy relied on a flawed reading of a contract to justify its 2016 decision to take back some $20 million in fees from CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the company argued in the latest legal volley on an over-budget plutonium disposal plant being built in South Carolina. In a 2016 lawsuit filed in […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC) should require the Department of Energy to pay South Carolina $200 million in their dispute over plutonium disposal at the federal Savannah River Site, rather than allowing the lawsuit to go to trial, the state said in a March 30 motion. Specifically, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office […]

The Department of Energy says it should get to keep around $20 million in fees it clawed back from a contractor that failed to build a major nuclear-nonproliferation project in South Carolina on time. The federal agency’s filing in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week was the latest turn in one of the two slow-simmering […]

More than a week after the Senate confirmed him for the job, Brent Park was sworn in Tuesday as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s top nonproliferation official. Park will be deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation: the roughly $2 billion-a-year stovepipe charged with controlling the spread of weaponizable nuclear material while encourage peaceful atomic programs. […]

More than a week after the Senate confirmed him for the job, Brent Park was sworn in Tuesday as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s top nonproliferation official. Park will be deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation: the roughly $2 billion-a-year stovepipe charged with controlling the spread of weaponizable nuclear material while encourage peaceful atomic programs. […]

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC) should require the Department of Energy to pay South Carolina $200 million in their dispute over plutonium disposal at the federal Savannah River Site, rather than allowing the lawsuit to go to trial, the state said in a March 30 motion. Specifically, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office […]

The Department of Energy says it should get to keep around $20 million in fees it clawed back from a contractor that failed to build a major nuclear-nonproliferation project in South Carolina on time. The federal agency’s filing in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week was the latest turn in one of the two slow-simmering […]