Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Following the Babcock & Wilcox Company spin-off that will separate the power generation business unit from the rest of the company as of July 1, the newly renamed BWX Technologies shared the procurements and contract extensions it is focusing on in a presentation given during Investor and Analyst Day this […]

Y-12’s Continues to Experience Conduct of Operations Issues NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Conduct of operations has been a repeated and ongoing concern at the Y-12 National Security Complex and it appears that situation improved in recent months, based on numerous reports by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board assigned to the Oak Ridge plant. […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 A sufficient level of funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project would top $1 billion per year, Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told South Carolina media this week. The Administration has emphasized increased costs in the MOX project since it first attempted to suspend the program in […]

Brian Bradley and Valerie Insinna NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016 yesterday, voting 71-25 to send the $612 billion legislation to conference after this week senators did not consider any amendments related to the nuclear enterprise. The 74 percent affirmative vote is […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have agreed to perform a joint review requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on safety issues at DOE nuclear facilities, according to a letter sent to the DNFSB last week by NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The DNFSB proposed in […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed this week that it has lifted the “Code Blue” designation at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant, according to NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver. Laver said the Code Blue, which involved a “new hazard scenario” for the B61 and B80 weapons operations, was initiated on May […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Following the Babcock & Wilcox Company spin-off that will separate the power generation business unit from the rest of the company as of July 1, the newly renamed BWX Technologies shared the procurements and contract extensions it is focusing on in a presentation given during Investor and Analyst Day this […]

NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 IN NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration issued a three-month contract extension to Synergy Solutions, Inc., a company based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., “to continue personnel security and facility clearance programs support services,” according to an Award Notice issued this week. The contract is being extended “on a sole source basis” while […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has agreed to perform a joint review requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on safety issues in Department of Energy nuclear facilities, according to a letter sent to the DNFSB last week by NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The DNFSB proposed in April a “a joint review of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration issued a three-month contract extension to Synergy Solutions, Inc., a company based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, “to continue personnel security and facility clearance programs support services,” according to an Award Notice issued this week. The contract is being extended “on a sole source basis” while the NNSA reviews proposals for […]

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Details of the rarely implemented “Code Blue” order at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant have not been revealed, but the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Monday that the Code Blue designation has been lifted. NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver said the Code Blue, which involved a “new hazard scenario” for the B61 and B80 weapons operations, […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) signed off on its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense spending bill on Thursday, matching the Obama Administration’s requests for key nuclear weapon acquisition programs. The committee voted 27-3 to report out the $575.9 billion bill to the Senate floor. SAC matched several White House proposals including its $1.1 […]

The EPRI International Low-Level Waste Conference and Exhibit Show kicks off this week in Orlando. Topics to be discussed include updates on Low-Level Radioactive Waste issues. The conference lasts from Tuesday, June 16, until Thursday, June 18, at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort.

Kenneth Fletcher  NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration must better establish guidance for its contractor oversight using information from contractor assurance systems (CAS), according to a Government Accountability Office report released publicly this week. The NNSA asked its seven M&O contractors to implement the systems both to assure their own performance and to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement plans to investigate Los Alamos National Security and National Security Technologies for “losses of contamination control of highly enriched uranium” at the Nevada National Security Site, according to two letters released this week. The incidents occurred at NNSS’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s cybersecurity controls contain weaknesses that create vulnerabilities for the agency’s information systems, according to an audit report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. The audit found that federal requirements were not followed and “the system’s cybersecurity controls had not […]

Workers at Bldg. 9731 Experience Respiratory Issues NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 At least five employees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant have experienced respiratory problems in recent months at Building 9731 – also known as the Pilot Plant because it was the original uranium-enrichment test facility during the wartime Manhattan Project. There are reports that the […]

NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 IN THE DNFSB Zachery Beauvais has been appointed as the new Site Representative for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at the Pantex Plant, the DNFSB announced this week. Beauvais, a DNFSB staff member since 2010 who previously conducted safety reviews at both Pantex and Sandia National Laboratories, will take on this […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration must better establish guidance for contractor oversight using information from contractor assurance systems (CAS), according to a Government Accountability Office report released publicly yesterday. In 2011 the NNSA asked its seven M&O contractors to implement the systems both to assure their own performance and to provide for enhanced NNSA oversight. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s cybersecurity controls contain weaknesses that create vulnerabilities for the agency’s information systems, according to an audit report released yesterday by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. The audit found that federal requirements were not followed and cybersecurity controls were not “adequately developed, documented, or implemented,” which caused gaps […]

The Department of Energy will investigate Los Alamos National Security and National Security Technologies for “losses of contamination control of highly enriched uranium” at the Nevada National Security Site, according to two letters of intent to investigate released by the DOE’s Office of Enforcement yesterday. The incidents occurred at NNSS’s National Critical Experiments Research Center […]

Zachery Beauvais has been appointed as the new Site Representative for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant, the DNFSB announced yesterday. Beauvais, a DNFSB staff member since 2010 who previously conducted safety reviews at both Pantex and Sandia National Laboratories, will take on this new role in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosts this week the 10th Annual Fuel Cycle Information Exchange (FCIX) at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Md. The meeting will take place June 9 and 10. According to the NRC website, fuel cycle topics to be discussed include licensing, certification and inspection of nuclear fuel facilities for uranium conversion and enrichment; […]

Following the revelation last week that the confidential personal information of millions was breached in a cyber-security event months ago, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz advised that “Department of Energy employee data has potentially been compromised in this incident,” according to a June 4 message to employees. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is notifying about […]

Y-12 Working to Address Conduct-of-Operations Issues NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 An unusual number of conduct-of-operations problems in a relatively short time has reportedly caused consternation at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and accelerated effort to address the common causes. According to an April 17 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board assigned to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Sandia National Laboratories committed six violations of the Department of Energy’s classified information security requirements and is facing a proposed penalty of more than half a million dollars, according to a Preliminary Notice of Violation the DOE Office of Enforcement released this week. The security concern, discovered at SNL’s New […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Questioning recent studies finding that downblending and disposal of surplus plutonium would be significantly less expensive than completing the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said this week those analyses are “rather incomplete.” A 2014 Department of Energy analysis of plutonium […]