Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

During a visit to Los Alamos National Laboratory yesterday, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz suggested a stronger partnership between the labs and NNSA could help solve the management issues that have plagued the agency over the last several years. Moniz visited Los Alamos as part of his first official visit to New Mexico as Energy Secretary […]

Former Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration official David Crandall has been hired by the science and engineering consulting firm TechSource, Inc. He’ll serve in a senior advisory role with the company. Crandall recently retired from DOE after serving as the advisor to the Under Secretary for Science. He previously served as the […]

Michael Voce will take over as the head of Department of Energy Oak Ridge security contractor National Strategic Protective Services, LLC, on Oct. 1, replacing Greg McDowell, who announced in July that he was resigning for personal reasons. McDowell’s announcement came only months after NSPS—a joint venture of Triple Canopy and Securiguard—won the Oak Ridge […]

Calling the National Nuclear Security Administration “big government on steroids,” the Albuquerque Journal yesterday blasted the agency for massive cost overruns on major projects and implored a Congressionally mandated governance panel to recommend massive changes for the semi-autonomous arm of the Department of Energy. “The panel should come up with a well-thought-out plan to either […]

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) yesterday cited several weaknesses in the Nonproliferation Treaty as among the nuclear security issues that should be addressed by Congress. “We must also take steps to strengthen the international nonproliferation regime enshrined in the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and also to explore continued bilateral arms reductions with the Russians. The great weakness […]

Former NNSA official Sandra Finan, the Air Force brigadier general who headed up a review of security in the wake of last year’s Y-12 security breach, suggested this week that the agency is on the right track with a proposed security reorganization that would overhaul security oversight at the agency. Finan, who left the NNSA […]

Following notice from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board finding that the Department of Energy has yet to complete key elements of its implementation plan for improving nuclear safety guidelines, DOE late last week provided an updated schedule and outlined steps taken so far. In a July letter following up on a 2010 DNFSB recommendation, […]

Following notice from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board finding that the Department of Energy has yet to complete key elements of its implementation plan for improving nuclear safety guidelines, DOE late last week provided an updated schedule and outlined steps taken so far. In a July letter following up on a 2010 DNFSB recommendation, […]

Early last month, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it would ask bidders for its combined Y-12/Pantex contract for more information about their cost savings proposals, but with nearly a month having elapsed—and a new energy secretary in office—speculation has grown that the agency could be changing its plans. Asked yesterday about the path forward […]

In another embarrassing security incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Y-12 guards last week allowed an unauthorized driver through the plant’s main entrance, the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed. The incident came less than a year after elderly peace activists penetrated the most secure portions of the Y-12 National Security Complex, which led to […]

U.S. Strategic Command Commander Gen. Robert Kehler said yesterday he has recently seen improvements in the relationship between the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Defense, but said that “significant issues” remain and he is undecided on  potential changes to NNSA governance. Kehler’s remarks come as a Congressionally-mandated NNSA governance  panel gets set […]

A review of the safety culture within the Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security found “a pervasive lack of trust” for senior management among HSS workers, according to a report released late last week. The review, performed early this year, identified “numerous areas” that needed improvement for HSS to achieve a “healthy” […]

A Babcock & Wilcox-led team bidding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex contract is again protesting the agency’s actions, raising concerns in a challenge filed yesterday with the Government Accountability Office about the “fairness” of the procurement and selection process as well as the “form and scope” of the revised Request for Proposals issued […]

The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday cleared the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which cuts nearly $200 million from the Obama Administration’s FY 2014 request for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. But Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the chairman of the subcommittee, said he believes the bill provides adequate […]

While Babcock & Wilcox has again protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s move to seek additional cost savings information from bidders on its Y-12/Pantex procurement, Bechtel—the lead of the team picked as the winner of the procurement in January—said it is moving forward with supplying the NNSA with the information it requested. B&W, which successfully […]

In a much-anticipated speech yesterday at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, President Obama said the United States could reduce the size of its strategic deployed nuclear arsenal by more than 500 warheads and pledged to pursue such cuts in arms control negotiations with Russia. In a wide-ranging speech that touched on climate change and poverty, […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is taking exception to a negative TV ad lampooning his support for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The ad sponsored by Friends of the Earth, which can be seen here, calls the MOX plant “Graham’s South Carolina plutonium fuel boondoggle,” and claims the project led by construction contractor Shaw AREVA […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration should allow bidders on its Y-12/Pantex procurement to revise their cost savings proposals to reflect new conditions at the sites, according to a protest lodged by a Babcock & Wilcox-led team last week that paints the existing cost savings initiatives being used in proposals as “fictitious” and the actual cost […]

House Appropriators yesterday criticized the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plans to slow down construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and study alternatives for plutonium disposition in its version of the FY 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. The NNSA cut funding for plant construction in its Fiscal Year 2014 budget to $320 million, […]

Senate appropriators have raised questions about the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to shift protective force management at the Y-12 National Security Complex under management and operating contractor B&W Y-12, suggesting that the new approach is not the most cost effective, or efficient way, to provide security across the weapons complex. In the report accompanying […]

Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex contract will submit new information to NNSA today in response to the agency’s request despite another protest looming over the procurement. A team led by Babcock & Wilcox protested the agency’s June 6 action to request more information from bidders about cost savings that were proposed […]

As the National Nuclear Security Administration examines alternatives for disposition of surplus plutonium under an agreement with Russia, a former AREVA official discounted the potential for immobilization of the material yesterday at an event on the fate of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Earlier this year the NNSA announced it plans to slow down […]

B&W Y-12 has named Bill Tindal as its new Vice President for Production, replacing Joel Duling, who has taken a new position at B&W subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services. Tindal has served as the deputy manager of Production since 2011, and has held a variety of positions during an 18-year career at Y-12. He served as […]

Responding formally to a recent Government Accountability Office report that sounded alarms about the growing price tag for the Uranium Processing Facility, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it has made significant efforts to improve estimating and project execution on the multi-billion-dollar project that will increase credibility when the agency eventually commits to a baseline. […]

Twenty-four peace activists were arrested Saturday after intentionally trespassing on the grounds of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant. The protest was organized by PeaceWorks, Kansas City to symbolically object to the non-nuclear production plant’s role within the weapons complex. The protesters had said that they would gather outside the gate of the […]

One option that could be on the table for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site should the National Nuclear Security Administration decide to move forward with the plant after an ongoing review of alternatives would be to stretch out the construction over a much longer period of time to manage […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has pressed the National Nuclear Security Administration to take a new look at the modeling techniques used to gauge the risk of a seismic-generated collapse at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, and now the Board is pushing the NNSA for information on the status of its “alternate” analysis. […]

Babcock & Wilcox Chief Operating Officer Mary Pat Salomone is retiring at the end of June, but she will stay with the company to head up the team bidding on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex contract, B&W said yesterday. B&W-led Nuclear Production Partners (NP2), LLC, which includes URS, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell, successfully protested […]

The three peace activists that reached one of the most secure areas at the Y-12 National Security Complex last July, making headlines across the nation and sending shockwaves across the weapons complex, will go on trial today in a U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Jury selection for the trial was completed yesterday, with 10 men […]

In federal court testimony Tuesday, NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart revealed that an inbound SST with nuclear weapons parts or materials was en route to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Saturday, July 28, 2012, and had to be delayed because of security concerns created by the break-in at Y-12 earlier that morning by […]