Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Operations at a Holden Gas Furnace used for uranium recycling at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee were temporarily delayed because of concerns earlier this spring about the amount of enriched uranium that had accumulated in duct systems associated with the furnace inside the 9212 uranium-processing complex. The holdup of uranium particles in those […]

The Department of Energy has completed only five of the 13 steps in a complex-wide emergency preparedness implementation plan the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended the department start work on more than two years ago, according to a recently published letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. The letter is the latest to be made public […]

While nearly two years have passed since Consolidated Nuclear Security took over operation of the Y-12 and Pantex plants as part of an unprecedented contract that combined the management of two nuclear weapons production facilities, the National Nuclear Security Administration still hasn’t decided whether to exercise its option to make it a three-way deal. Steven […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to irradiate up to 5,000 tritium rods every 18 months using two Tennessee nuclear reactors, one of the seven options it was considering to meet national security requirements. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch said in a record of decision released Wednesday that it would implement its preferred […]

An article in Tuesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “Answers Needed on SRS Mercury Impacts: Lab Scientist,” should have reported that not all of the mercury previously used by the Savannah River Site for nuclear weapons production is stored in the SRS waste tanks.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined improvements to the Pantex Plant’s emergency management program it plans to make by next June on staffing, infrastructure, training, and drills, according to a June 16 letter from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chairman Joyce Connery. The implementation plan for emergency […]

The Department of Energy has completed only five of the 13 steps in a complex-wide emergency preparedness implementation plan the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended the department start work on more than two years ago, according to a recently published letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. The letter is the latest to be made public […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has given its approval to Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) to move forward with plans for construction of a new administrative and support facility for the Pantex Plant in Texas, CNS announced last week. The new 343,000-square-foot Pantex Administrative Support complex will provide office space for roughly 1,100 employees of the […]

The Department of Energy will host a public meeting June 28-30 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to discuss recommendations for improving its Human Reliability Program, according to a notice published this week in the Federal Register. The Human Reliability Program involves physical and mental suitability standards for DOE workers with access to sensitive materials, nuclear explosive […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the government’s managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons site in Tennessee, has apparently come up with some new fixes to help address problems with Stack 110 – a key ventilation area for the old 9212 uranium-processing complex. Earlier this year, a number of issues were identified, including an accumulation of water […]

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Tuesday dismissed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s readiness to command the U.S. nuclear arsenal in pulling his support for the billionaire businessman. “It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our President must be fit to command the most […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) hired 80 new operators in April in an effort to address workforce concerns as the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor. The operator position involves assisting in the operation of a process or equipment within a nuclear facility at SRS and can include nuclear material handling and monitoring. SRNS […]

A problem with the criticality alarm system at the nation’s primary storehouse for weapon-grade uranium brought a manager to the scene on a weekend in late April. The situation turned out to be concerning but not threatening. The incident was revealed in a recently released activity report by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff assigned […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday issued a proposal to amend regulations for its Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program, which covers DOE and contractor employees who have been exposed to beryllium while working at DOE sites. Beryllium metal is used in nuclear reactors at various DOE facilities, including the Y-12 National Security Complex in […]

A problem with the criticality alarm system at the nation’s primary storehouse for weapon-grade uranium brought a manager to the scene on a weekend in late April. The situation turned out to be concerning but not threatening. The incident was revealed in a recently released activity report by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff assigned […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday issued a proposal to amend regulations for its Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program, which covers DOE and contractor employees who have been exposed to beryllium while working at DOE sites. Beryllium metal is used in nuclear reactors at various DOE facilities, including the Y-12 National Security Complex in […]

The Savannah River Site’s receipt of Japanese plutonium did not come without criticism from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is already fighting a legal battle with the Department of Energy over plutonium stored at SRS near Aiken, S.C. Following a Monday announcement that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had secured highly 331 kilograms of weapons-usable plutonium […]

The president of the company that operates the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada National Security Site has joined the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA), an economic development group covering southern Nevada. Jim Holt became president of National Security Technologies (NSTec) in December of last year, leading its work at […]

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Tuesday dismissed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s readiness to command the U.S. nuclear arsenal in pulling his support for the billionaire businessman. “It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our President must be fit to command the most […]

Despite President Barack Obama’s efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security policy, the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile reductions and warhead dismantlements have slowed under his administration, according to updated stockpile numbers declassified last week by the Department of Defense. The U.S. stockpile consisted of 4,571 active and reserve nuclear weapons at […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is dangerously unequal to the job of commander-in-chief, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. Clinton, who is still battling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for her party’s nomination, focused on Trump during a national security policy speech in San Diego. “I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for president […]

President Barack Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan Friday, where he commemorated the over 100,000 lives lost from the U.S. atomic bombing of Japanese cities and called for nuclear stockpile reductions and the securing of nuclear weapons. Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site where on Aug. 6, 1945, […]

An Operational Safety Board was convened in mid-April at the Y-12 National Security Complex when a crane maneuvering a nuclear weapons component did not respond as expected. According to an April 15 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the incident occurred at Beta-2E, which houses the assembly and disassembly operations at […]

A problem with a “1960s-vintage” elevator in the Beta-2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex spawned a series of events in late April that created an oily mess and provided yet another example of the challenges resulting from the plant’s aged infrastructure. According to a newly released report by staff of the Defense Nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking a small business to provide technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) support at its Nevada Field Office, the Nevada National Security Site, National Security Technologies offices in Livermore, Calif. and Los Alamos, N.M., and other sites, according to a Request for Proposal issued last week. The Department of Energy’s […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is better meeting aircraft requirements for the nuclear incident response missions it supports, the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General (IG) found in a May 18 report. The report found that the NNSA has taken corrective actions since a 2003 inspection report found that the agency was not […]

Federal agencies in June will host three town hall meetings in Arizona for former, retired, and current nuclear weapons workers and their survivors on the benefits offered to them by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, the Department of Labor announced Thursday. The legislation offers compensation and medical benefits to employees made ill through […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not yet completed its physical security infrastructure plan, despite a nearly decade-old requirement by Congress for it to do so, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released on May 13. The report said physical security infrastructure, or the protection and accounting of nuclear materials, has […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ (SRNS) safety pause on all nonessential work last fall had “direct financial and schedule impacts on National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) programs,” the agency said last week in its fiscal 2015 performance evaluation report on the contractor. In November, the NNSA reported that it was awarding SRNS, management and operations contractor for […]

A federal lawsuit filed last year on behalf of retirees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee is moving forward. In response to a motion filed by Consolidated Nuclear Security – the government’s managing contractor at Y-12 and defendant in the case — U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan refused to dismiss the lawsuit, at […]