Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 9/25/2015 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Carol Johnson on Tuesday said 400 grams of plutonium placed in a container not marked for transport forced the Sept. 3 shutdown of the company’s nonessential operations at the Savannah River Site. The amount of material involved was not previously released. According to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 Negotiations have resumed between Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the managing contractor of the Pantex Plant in Texas, and the Metal Trades Council, the union representing some of its employees, as a strike by a third of the plant’s workforce enters its 29th day. Approximately 1,100 unionized employees went on strike […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged that a July shipment of an excess amount of special nuclear material from the Y-12 site to a commercial facility was uranium, but a spokesman refused to specify the enrichment level or other details of the substance. “We can confirm it was uranium,” […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged that a July shipment of an excess amount of special nuclear material from the Y-12 site to a commercial facility was uranium, but a spokesman refused to specify the enrichment level or other details of the substance. “We can confirm it was uranium,” said Steven Wyatt, a spokesman […]

The Aug. 17 security lockdown at the Savannah River Site was sparked by gunpowder particles on cash within a Coca-Cola delivery truck, a Department of Energy spokesman said on Wednesday. Two dogs trained to detect explosives “alerted” on the vehicle after it entered the Savannah River Site on Aug. 17, and the facility went on […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed what appears to be a major breakdown in nuclear shipping requirements, acknowledging that a July shipment of special nuclear material from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee to a commercial facility somehow exceeded the planned amounts. According to information provided by the NNSA in response to questions, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/18/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security has implemented or is in the process of implementing six of seven self-identified recommendations, a process that has been observed by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s site reps after the company’s Y-12 site manager in May recognized potential operational problems at the nuclear weapons site, according to […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 09/18/2015   Y-12 Labor Agreement Extended Again Amid a flurry of labor-related activities in Oak Ridge, Consolidated Nuclear Security has reached an agreement with the Atomic Trades and Labor Council to extend their existing collective bargaining agreement at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant for another 11 weeks. The extension, which again […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 A federal mediation agency on Wednesday announced it will intervene in the ongoing strike by Pantex Plant workers represented by the Metal Trades Council, which reached its 22nd day today. Neither site contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security nor MTC requested the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to step in, and […]

09/18/2015 NS&D Monitor IN THE NAVY Navy Adm. John Richardson will at 1 p.m. today assume his position as Chief of Naval Operations at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and current CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert will retire. Before the change of command, Richardson served as Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

The three Plowshares protesters who gained international attention when they broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and splashed blood on the plant’s uranium storehouse won’t have to return to prison. But a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the three – including Sister Megan Rice, an 85-year-old Catholic nun – still must pay $52,953 in […]

Amid a flurry of labor-related activities in Oak Ridge, Consolidated Nuclear Security has reached an agreement with the Atomic Trades and Labor Council to extend their existing collective bargaining agreement at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant for another 11 weeks.The extension, which again postpones the start of negotiations on a new long-term contract for hourly […]

A federal mediation agency on Wednesday announced it will intervene in the ongoing strike by Pantex Plant workers represented by the Metal Trades Council, which reached its 20th day today. Neither site contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security nor MTC requested the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to step in, and the agency typically stays removed […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security in a two-month, July-completed internal review found “organizational drift” at Y-12, related, in part, to the July 2014 transition of the Y-12/Pantex management and operations contract from B&W, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report released on Friday. Oak Ridge site representatives William Linzau and Rory Rauch in their Aug. 21 letter […]

Chris Schneidmiller NS&D Monitor 9/11/2015 SUMMERLIN, Nev. – Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday expressed optimism that the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) can be completed by the target date of 2025. The UPF is part of broader plans for the modernization of the Y-12, and is intended to replace the existing […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yesterday defended ongoing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, and countered 14 nonproliferation experts who in a Tuesday letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said plutonium downblending would be better for national security and the federal budget than construction of the MOX Plant at […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 Today, about 1,100 unionized Pantex workers entered the 14th day of a labor strike in which contract negotiations between the Metal Trades Council and plant management contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security have remained deadlocked and shown no signs of progress, CNS and MTC said yesterday. “At this point, we have no […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/11/2015 The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), longtime critic and watchdog on activities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons site, said it appears almost certain that the government’s current plans for the Uranium Processing Facility will cost at least $10 billion and possibly much more. That analysis, according to OREPA coordinator […]

NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015   CNS Reaches Agreement with Unionized Y-12 Guards Y-12 nuclear weapons plant managing contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security this week reached a new five-year labor agreement with the International Guards Union of America, Local 3. The relatively small contract covers about 45 employees — Central Alarm Station and Beta-9 operators at Y-12, as well as firearms […]

James Chavez has been appointed new vice president of Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Energy, Nonproliferation and High Consequence Security Division and International, Homeland and Nuclear Security Program Management Unit, SNL announced this week. Chavez, who begins in his new position today, previously worked as the director of the Monitoring Systems and Technology Center and the […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/11/2015 SUMMERLIN, NV.  – Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday expressed optimism that the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) can be completed by the target date of 2025. The UPF is part of broader plans for the modernization of the Y-12, and is intended to replace the existing […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday expressed optimism that the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) can be completed by 2025. The UPF is part of broader plans for the modernization of the Y-12, and is intended to provide a sophisticated, centralized facility for processing of weapon-grade uranium.Following the recommendations of a Red […]

The design-and-management team for the Y-12 site’s Uranium Processing Facility’s is vacating a couple of its leased buildings and will consolidate activities this fall at two facilities in Oak Ridge’s Commerce Park. Kathryn King, a spokeswoman for Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, confirmed that the team is moving out of the 9,000-square-foot facility on Union […]

 While House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) yesterday declined to suggest potential solutions for the impasse in labor contract negotiations between the unionized general workforce of his district’s Pantex Plant and site management contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, the lawmaker said he hopes the parties swiftly hammer out a deal so the U.S. can […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 A strike involving roughly one-third of the general workforce at the Pantex Plant reached its seventh day today, and labor negotiations between plant site manager Consolidated Nuclear Security and the Metal Trades Council union still appear stalled. The collective bargaining agreement for unionized workers at Pantex expired at midnight Aug. […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 A team of contractor personnel determined early last month that the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Weapons Engineering Tritium Facility (WETF) is “ready to safely operate,” according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released this week. Gas processing operations at WETF were paused in 2011 […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 A truck carrying coveralls that contained samples of highly enriched uranium (HEU) was flagged last year upon trying to exit the Protected Area of the Y-12 National Security Complex, the Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General’s Office (IG) revealed in a report released today. The IG said it received a […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) this week issued a preliminary notice of violation (PNOV) to the company that manages the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) for a June 2014 chemical explosion that injured two workers at the site’s Nonproliferation Test and Evaluation Complex (NPTEC). “The drum explosion and expelled steel […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 Building 9107, an office building at the Y-12 National Security Complex, was demolished in July as part of the site infrastructure and services subproject for the new Uranium Processing Facility, the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed this week. Agency spokeswoman Shelley Laver said in an email on Wednesday that an […]