Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is planning to award a sole-source contract to Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services for the downblending of up to 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium. Documents released late last week on fedconnect.net don’t reveal the value of the contract, but the deal would be […]

The Department of Energy would be required to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility until it completes an assessment of alternatives in language in the Senate Armed Services Committe’s release of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. DOE currently plans to put the plant into “cold standby” in FY’15 and […]

Characterizing the benefits changes and workforce reductions facing workers at Y-12 and Pantex as a “fair deal,” Jim Haynes, the president of new Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security said yesterday that the changes coming at the sites would benefit workers in the long-term. “We’ve been very honest with employees that in order for us to […]

House Approves Version This Week With No Funding Increase for Project Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014  The beleaguered Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project would see a significant boost in authorized funding for Fiscal Year 2015 under the Senate version of the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act, reported out of the Senate Armed Services Committee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Former Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon and former Deputy Energy Secretary T.J. Glauthier will chair a nine-member Congressionally mandated Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said this week as he announced the members of the panel. Moniz selected the members of the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 A new report by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability calls for a massive change to U.S. nuclear modernization plans, again recommending a “curatorship” approach that would halt current life extension efforts. “Rather than introduce uncertainty into the stockpile through unnecessary Life Extension Programs, NNSA should maintain the currently reliable US […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Despite White House opposition, the House approved a measure late this week that would significantly lower the maximum number of employees at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would cut the maximum number of employees the DNFSB has […]

Decision on M&O Contract Expected this Year NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy expects to make a decision by the end of this year on whether or not to exercise additional options in Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ contract to manage the Savannah River Site, DOE Savannah River Operations Office Manager Dave Moody said this […]

106 Employees Approved for Y-12 Voluntary Layoffs NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 B&W Y-12 President Dave Richardson announced internally this week  that 106 employees have been approved for the site’s Voluntary Separation Program, which was designed to meet the staffing needs identified by incoming Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security. CNS will replace B&W on July 1. The […]

NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 In the NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration has added a new satellite to the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System with the launch of an Air Force rocket late last week. The Delta IV rocket launched from Cape Canaveral May 16 carried a GPS IIF navigation satellite and a 300-pound Global […]

The following interview with Glenn Podonsky, Director of the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments; and Matthew Moury, acting Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 To start things off, what was the thinking behind the creation of this […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 An unnamed vendor provided nonconforming parts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant for nearly 30 years, according to a new Department of Energy Inspector General report that gives plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies’ quality assurance program a clean bill of health despite the issues. According […]

NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Guard Fired in Y-12 Break-in Seeking Job Back Kirk Garland, the security guard fired after three elderly protesters broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July of 2012, is continuing to try to get his old job back and is seeking reimbursement for lost wages. Garland, who was the first security […]

Project Also Moves to Again Cut Size of UPF Project Team Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 The Uranium Processing Facility project planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex is undergoing a major management shakeup with about a month left before Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security takes over management of the site. CNS said late this week […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Language in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee last week would require the National Nuclear Security Administration to come up with cost estimates for life extension programs and major construction projects when projects are in the concept definition phase of development. […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project has been "largely unsuccessful" in controlling project cost and schedule, according to a DOE Inspector General’s Office report released this week that includes several recommendations for a path forward. Rising costs prompted DOE earlier this year to announce plans to put the project […]

Board Hears from Experts on How To Assess and Address Culture Issues Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board begins gearing up to take a new look at whether workers across the Department of Energy complex feel safe to raise concerns, one Board member warned this week that there is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 A series of mishaps involving the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Roof Asset Management Project (RAMP) has drawn concern from the Office of Enforcement within the Department of Energy’s Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments, but DOE took a pass on fining the contractors involved. Despite noting that five incidents over the […]

NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz is scheduled to visit the Y-12 National Security Complex next week as part of an effort to visit all of the weapons complex sites during the first few months of his tenure. Klotz is set to visit Y-12 on Wednesday June 4, where he […]

New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will visit the Y-12 National Security Complex next week as part of an effort to visit all of the weapons complex sites during the first few months of his tenure. Klotz will visit Y-12 on Wednesday June 4, where he will tour production and storage facilities and […]

An unnamed vendor provided nonconforming parts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant for nearly 30 years, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that gives plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies’ quality assurance program a clean bill of health despite the issues. According to the IG report, the vendor […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project has been “largely unsuccessful” in controlling project cost and schedule, according to a DOE Inspector General report released yesterday that includes several recommendations for a path forward.  While a 2007 baseline for MOX came in at $4.8 billion with a 2016 completion date, that was pushed out to […]

B&W Y-12 President Dave Richardson has announced internally that 106 employees have been approved for the Voluntary Separation Program, which was designed to meet the staffing needs identified by incoming Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security. CNS will replace B&W on July 1. The VSP number is significantly below the total of 158 jobs that had […]

A Senate panel yesterday voted to authorize a $145 million increase for continued construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The Department of Energy’s FY’15 budget requested $221 million to put the MOX facility in “cold standby”, but the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and […]

A new report by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability that will be formally unveiled today calls for a massive change to U.S. nuclear modernization plans, again recommending a “curatorship” approach that would halt current life extension efforts. “Rather than introduce uncertainty into the stockpile through unnecessary Life Extension Programs, NNSA should maintain the currently reliable […]

Republicans turned away an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would’ve authorized an increase in nuclear weapons dismantlement work. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), would’ve boosted authorize funding for NNSA dismantlement work by $20 million, but it was opposed by […]

Security was off-limits in the initial round of job reductions planned as part of the Voluntary Separation Program at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, but that has changed. Federal and contractor officials confirmed that the VSP has been expanded to include some security personnel at Y-12, although it apparently will not include […]

The Red Team report on alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility has failed to sway one longtime critic of the massive facility. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance ripped the Red Team’s recommendations, which focused on moving operations from Y-12’s 9212 complex into a scaled down version of UPF and several other facilities and revamping […]

A new report from the Government Accountability Office said it’s unlikely that the National Nuclear Security Administration won’t meet its goals to dismantle all nuclear weapons retired prior to Fiscal Year 2009 by FY 2022, but it suggests slowing down the dismantlement work might help address a problematic gap in dismantlement work that is looming […]

Legislation introduced yesterday by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and 20 other Senate Republicans designed to respond to Russia’s actions in Ukraine would terminate U.S. cooperation with parts of the New START Treaty and prohibit arms control negotiations with Moscow. In a statement, Corker said the “Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014” would go beyond sanctions […]