Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

On the heels of his participation in a review of physical security across the weapons complex, retired Air Force Gen. Donald Alston is set to begin a review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Secure Transportation. The NNSA said Monday that it intends to negotiate a labor hour purchase order with Alston to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reopening the Y-12/Pantex procurement in response to a recommendation last week from the Government Accountability Office, which upheld a pair of protests of the agency’s award to Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security. The NNSA said yesterday that the three bidders—including teams led by Babcock & Wilcox and Jacobs/Fluor, which protested […]

Three peace activists that broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July were convicted yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Knoxville of two felony charges, including damaging government property and damaging national defense. Megan Rice, an 83-year-old Catholic nun, as well as Michael Walli, 64, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 56, face up to 30 […]

Given the Obama Administration’s intent to reassess its plans for disposition of surplus plutonium, a coalition of activist groups is calling for the cancellation of an Environmental Impact Statement on the topic. The National Nuclear Security Administration released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in July that relies on converting surplus plutonium into Mixed Oxide […]

Michael Lempke, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s associate principal deputy administrator, will remain the Source Selection Authority for the agency’s combined Y-12/Pantex management procurement as it reopens the highly coveted contract competition, NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha confirmed to NW&M Monitor. Several key decisions by Lempke were challenged by teams protesting the lucrative Y-12/Pantex contract, but […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) may have relinquished his MOX-driven hold on Energy Secretary nominee Ernie Moniz, but he’s not giving up his push to get the Obama Administration to move forward with the multi-billion-dollar project. Held up for weeks by Graham, Moniz’s nomination is likely to be voted on by the Senate today, and while […]

The pending departure of acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Neile Miller will leave a void atop the agency’s senior leadership structure, but it won’t impact the NNSA’s Y-12/Pantex procurement, NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha told NW&M Monitor. The agency said on May 8 that it would seek more information “in the coming weeks” from bidders […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration unnecessarily reimbursed about $3.7 million to the contractor for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility for “inappropriate temporary living expenses,” the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General concluded in a report released yesterday. The IG found that the Shaw AREVA MOX Services paid $2.3 million in temporary living expenses […]

A founder of the Global Zero movement to eliminate all nuclear weapons yesterday criticized the Obama Administration’s approach so far toward its stated goal of a nuclear-free world. Bruce Blair of Global Zero said that the group’s goal can only be realized with a comprehensive long-term plan. “You don’t get there by a kind of […]

A New Mexico-based nuclear watchdog group is pushing for safety to play a more prominent role in the annual performance evaluation reviews at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and in particular, the agency’s Pantex Plant. In a letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Nuclear Watch New Mexico noted that improving safety culture at […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has extended the existing contracts of Babcock & Wilcox-led teams at Y-12 and Pantex through the end of July, giving the agency time to seek additional cost savings information from teams bidding for the combined management and operating contract of both sites. The contracts at the sites had previously been […]

In Congressional hearings, a host of reviews and various speeches, much has been revealed about the problems that allowed three elderly peace activists to reach the most secure portion of the Y-12 National Security Complex last summer, and a newly released review from the Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security provides another […]

The Department of Energy has extended the due date to June 4 for responses to a request for information regarding a potential contract for a transportation tracking system to facilitate waste shipments between sites and to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The Department released the RFI earlier this month with an original due date of […]

During a strong line of questioning from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) at his nomination hearing yesterday, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz did not come out in favor of completion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Moniz told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that in the 1990s as Under Secretary of Energy he […]

During a strong line of questioning from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) at his nomination hearing yesterday, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz did not come out in favor of completion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Moniz told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that in the 1990s as Under Secretary of Energy he […]

Bechtel executive Carl Strock is taking over as B&W Y-12’s project director for the Uranium Processing Facility with less than a month until the Government Accountability Office acts on protests that could decide the management of the Y-12 National Security Complex and its biggest construction project. Strock, a retired Army general who joined Bechtel in […]

During a strong line of questioning from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) at his nomination hearing yesterday, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz pointedly did not directly support completion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, instead emphasizing his general support for plutonium disposition agreement with Russia. Moniz told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that […]

With the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project expected to face a significant budget cut in the Administration’s budget request, a number of advocacy groups are weighing in on MOX. The Project on Government Oversight yesterday contacted supporters urging them to submit a form letter to lawmakers opposing funding for the project. “The project is […]

More details about the Obama Administration’s alternate plutonium strategy are emerging, including plans to build a series of smaller facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory to house capabilities that had been planned for the now-deferred Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility. Los Alamos Director Charlie McMillan first mentioned the approach in February, but an April […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) lashed out against the Administration’s decision to drastically cut funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project in yesterday’s budget request, and vowed to work in Congress to maintain funding for the program. “I am extremely disappointed in the President’s decision to reduce funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget request for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility does not project funding for the plant beyond Fiscal Year 2014. In budget details released by the NNSA yesterday, funding for the project in FY 2015 and beyond is marked “TBD.”  Notably, that is a change from an earlier version of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has named Scott Cannon as new federal project director to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. Cannon most recently led the NNSA’s Tritium Program as deputy manager and acting manager at the Savannah River Field Office, and from 2008 to 2011 he led the NNSA’s Pit Disassembly and Conversion […]

Administration officials plan to discuss plutonium disposition with Russian officials this Thursday. The April 25 meeting comes after the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to slow down construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and examine alternative means to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium as part of an agreement with Russia. […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) isn’t happy that the Obama Administration is pausing work on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility to examine the nation’s plutonium disposition options due to massive cost increases to the project, and he’s placed a hold on the nomination of Energy Secretary nominee Ernie Moniz in an attempt to get the […]

Lanky, 85-year-old Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. Attorney General during the LBJ administration, traveled from New York to Knoxville to argue nuclear policy yesterday on behalf of protesters facing serious federal charges for breaking into the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant last summer. He praised their work and said they did the U.S. a favor in […]

Responding to questions from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at a hearing before the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Neile Miller said she could not think of another way to keep the plutonium disposition program with Russia on schedule other than the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Plant project at the […]

Suggesting that modernization plans for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal were in “grave danger,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said yesterday that he would oppose any efforts by the Obama Administration to reduce the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Rogers, in his first […]

Former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine will serve as the co-chair of the Congressionally mandated panel on the governance of the National Nuclear Security Administration alongside former Strategic Command chief Richard Mies. Augustine was selected by Democratic lawmakers to his spot as the co-chair, with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and House […]

The Government Accountability Office is expected to issue a ruling today on one of the most anticipated protest decisions in the history of the Department of Energy. Teams led by Babcock & Wilcox and Fluor/Jacobs each protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s $22 billion decision to pick Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, to run the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reviewing the Government Accountability Office’s decision to uphold two protests of the agency’s Y-12/Pantex award to Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security and is keeping its options open, including ignoring the GAO’s recommendations. In a long-awaited decision on the $22.8 billion contract, the GAO yesterday ruled in favor of protests by […]