Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The Y-12 National Security Complex’s Alpha-5 building has been characterized as the “worst of the worst” of the excess facilities awaiting cleanup at Department of Energy sites around the country, and decommissioning and deactivation of the highly contaminated, highly deteriorated site is still years from happening.   However, Consolidated Nuclear Security – the government’s managing […]

IN THE DOE The Department of Energy’s Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) has been designated a collaborating center for radiological assistance by the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization. REACTS first received the designation in 1980, according to information provided by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the managing contractor. REAC/TS is set up […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 Department of Energy (DOE) sites demonstrated effective security performance overall in fiscal 2015 but should improve emergency management systems, contractor oversight, corrective action management, and other issues, according to the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments’ (EA) fiscal 2015 Independent Oversight Activities Overview report to Congress released on Jan. 8. In […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 Jim Haynes, the president and CEO of Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), is leaving his position to return to Bechtel, CNS announced yesterday. Haynes will head the corporate human relations team for Bechtel Corp., Bechtel National’s parent company that employs 58,000 people in 38 countries. Morgan Smith, chief operating officer of […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/15/2015 The Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups is urging U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to extend the comment period on proposed rules changes for the government’s compensation program for sick nuclear weapons workers. The comment period is scheduled to end Jan. 19, but worker advocates are upset because the Labor […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016  Some of the World War II-era facilities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are on the verge of falling down, but the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office (NPO) – which oversees Y-12 and its sister plant, Pantex – doesn’t have a structural engineer on its […]

Tuesday, February 16 4:00 p.m – 6:00 p.m. Registration Open Arlington Foyer 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Opening Reception TBD Sponsored by:    Wednesday, February 17 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Registration Open Arlington Foyer 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Networking Breakfast Arlington Foyer 8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Opening Keynote Presentation Arlington Ballroom   […]

Department of Energy (DOE) sites have demonstrated effective security performance overall in fiscal 2015 but should improve emergency management systems, contractor oversight, corrective action management, and other issues, according to the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments’ (EA) fiscal 2015 Independent Oversight Activities Overview report to Congress released last Friday. In the last fiscal year, EA […]

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

Steve Aoki, associate administrator for counterterrorism and counterproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), has retired, the NNSA announced last week. Aoki retired Dec. 31 after 33 years of work with the federal government, including at the State Department and the National Security Council, the agency said. Jay Tilden, the NNSA Counterterroirism and Counterproliferation […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/8/2016 Plans are under way to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the Savannah River Site even as a separate project would bring more foreign plutonium to the South Carolina facility, according to recent and past Department of Energy documents. Both efforts are intended to ensure plutonium that can be used to make […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/8/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) touted its progress on infrastructure modernization projects, international nonproliferation activities, and other technical and administrative work in a report released last week on the agency’s major achievements during 2015. The agency highlighted its completion of the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) site readiness subproject at […]

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following.   LANS Contract Will Expire at Los Alamos Los Alamos National Security LLC, the partnership that has operated and […]

IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said late last month that its Asset Management Program (AMP) completed a pilot to replace and repair infrastructure at the Core Library and Data Center at Mercury, Nev. The $520,000 pilot replaced the roof and heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) system at the library, a “repository for […]

The Y-12 National Security Complex’s safety system management at its Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF) is “generally functioning well,” the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) concluded in a review released late last month.  The DOE office reviewed the facility’s safety significant secondary confinement system and safety significant power distribution system […]

Plans are under way to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the Savannah River Site even as a separate project would bring more foreign plutonium to the South Carolina facility, according to recent and past Department of Energy documents. Both efforts are intended to ensure plutonium that can be used to make nuclear weapons will be disposed […]

An investigation by the Department of Energy’s inspector general did not find any evidence that workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee are asked or encouraged to ignore safety rules. Nor did investigators find that the site contractor – Consolidated Nuclear Security, which took over management on July 1, 2014 – made employees […]

The future of lithium production at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee has again come under scrutiny with the release of an audit report by the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office that cites many of the concerns raised earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office.   Y-12 is the sole source of […]

The NS&D Monitor is beginning its annual holiday break and will return to your inboxes on Friday, Jan. 8. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Monday through Wednesday next week, and we will publish special bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Staff Reports WC Monitor 12/18/2015 The Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office faulted the Los Alamos Field Office for ineffective implementation of an issues management program during a five-year period starting in 2009. In a report issued on Dec. 7, the IG identified a number of deficiencies in the way the office has reported, addressed, […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 12/18/2015 While Consolidated Nuclear Security received a low performance score in its first 15 months on the job – 57 percent out of 100 – the operator of the Y-12 and Pantex plants earned $42.6 million in fees. CNS President and CEO Jim Haynes said the company wasn’t pleased with the performance […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 12/18/2015 The $1.1 trillion federal omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2016 passed today in the House and the Senate provides $12.5 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a $1.1 billion increase from the fiscal 2015 level, including $8.8 billion for weapons activities, a $660 million increase from fiscal 2015. […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 12/18/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has reorganized its Office of Emergency Operations (NA-40) and its Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation (NA-80) in support of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) new preparedness approach for emergencies such as adverse weather, accidents, or terrorism. NA-40 will “focus its efforts primarily on building […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 12/18/2015 A transition of leadership is underway at the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, which represents more than 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn. Steve Jones, ATLC president and a key member of the team that negotiated new collective bargaining agreements at the Oak Ridge […]

While Consolidated Nuclear Security received a low performance score in its first 15 months on the job – 57 percent out of 100 – the operator of the Y-12 and Pantex plants earned fees totaling $42.6 million.   CNS President and CEO Jim Haynes said the company wasn’t pleased with the performance ratings but would work […]

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said last week it has reorganized its Office of Emergency Operations (NA-40) and its Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation (NA-80) in support of the Department of Emergency’s (DOE) new preparedness approach for emergencies such as adverse weather, accidents, or terrorism.   NA-40 will “focus its efforts primarily […]