Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

WSI Oak Ridge, the Y-12 protective force contractor that was fired by B&W Y-12 Friday, said it will cooperate during the transition to new management. The company issued its first public statement yesterday since B&W Y-12—prompted by the NNSA—terminated its contract on Friday as officials continue to try to get a handle on Y-12 security […]

The Department of Energy and Energy Secretary Steven Chu are believed to still be in the process of putting together a panel to analyze its model for protecting nuclear materials across the weapons complex. The Department hasn’t said who will be on the panel, which was among the latest steps taken by DOE in response to […]

The Department of Energy has released another amendment to its scaled down Oak Ridge protective force contract, making more minor adjustments to the Request for Proposals but maintaining the Oct. 19 due date for bids. In response to questions from industry, the agency clarified how bidders should treat overtime and doubletime when preparing proposals as […]

In another blow to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s project management record, the agency confirmed yesterday that the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility must be redesigned to fit the necessary equipment into the 340,000-square-foot building that’s been under design for years. Project officials, including Federal Project Director John Eschenberg, had previously suggested that space issues were […]

In the wake of the stunning security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the prime contract of security contractor WSI-Oak Ridge has been assigned to site management and operating contractor B&W Y-12, NW&M Monitor has learned. The action in effect makes WSI’s contract a subcontract to B&W Y-12 rather than a prime contract to […]

In an investor call yesterday to discuss second quarter earnings, B&W CEO James Ferland said that the company is still studying what happened during the security breach at Y-12. “Obviously, we are working closely with the government to understand the incident,” Ferland said in response to an investor question. Ferland noted that B&W Y-12 Vice […]

The Department of Energy is continuing to take action in response to last month’s embarrassing security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, scrapping its plans to combine protective force management of Y-12 and the Pantex Plant and issuing a potentially devastating “show cause notice” to Y-12 contractor B&W Y-12. The notice, which was first […]

The high-profile July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex has exposed broader issues about “cultural mind set” and has raised concerns about lax procedures at other areas of the plant, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in an Aug. 10 “show cause” letter that threatens severing both B&W Y-12’s management and operating […]

Nuclear operations will resume today at the Y-12 National Security Complex, two weeks after the National Nuclear Security Administration temporarily shut down work at the site in the wake of a July 28 security breach. The NNSA said that all personnel at the site have undergone additional security training to “ensure compliance with all site […]

The July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex has generated a host of reviews and investigations, including one chartered by National Nuclear Security Administrator Tom D’Agostino to look at federal oversight of security across the weapons complex. The review will be headed up by Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan, the top active duty […]

MELE Associates’ MAX3 Team has been awarded a task order contract to provide support to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Enterprise Project Management. The task order is part of the NNSA’s existing technical services blanket purchase agreement, and continues the MAX3 Team’s run of success under the contract. The MELE-led team has won […]

Bidders on the combined Y-12/Pantex management contract are being given wide latitude in revising their bids—including submitting new key personnel—in the wake of a stunning July 28 security breach at Y-12. Bids for the contract were submitted in March, but under an amendment sent to the three bidders by the National Nuclear Security Administration late […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold a hearing on operations at Y-12 in Knoxville, Tenn. on Oct. 2, a meeting that comes amidst continued fallout from a high-profile security breach at the site in late July but does not appear to be specifically directed at the scandal. In a notice last week, the […]

A long and contentious battle over construction costs for the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility has ended with an out-of-court settlement, but it’s still not clear how much money is changing hands because the agreement reportedly contains a confidentiality clause covering all aspects of the deal. Caddell/Blaine Joint Venture, which managed construction of the $549 […]

Potential bidders for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge protective forces contract are getting a peek at the performance work statement for the scaled-back opportunity. DOE late last week released a draft of the performance work statement, outlining its security needs after a decision earlier this month to eliminate protective force work at the Y-12 […]

A Y-12 National Security Complex guard who was fired in the wake of last month’s security breach claims that he is being made a scapegoat for the high-profile incident, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Kirk Garland, 52, told the newspaper Aug. 25 that he was the first guard to confront three peace activists that […]

A draft version of the Republican National Committee’s 2012 platform takes square aim at the Obama Administration’s nuclear weapons policy, suggesting that President Obama’s decision to scale back plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal have weakened the nation’s nuclear deterrent. The 2012 platform is expected to be ratified at this week’s […]

Linda Bauer is set to take over as B&W Y-12’s Vice President of Facilities, Infrastructure and Services, B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Chuck Spencer said in a statement yesterday. Bauer, who takes over for Steve Little, joins B&W Y-12 after a stint at Los Alamos Technical Associates, where she worked on the Portsmouth Environmental […]

Leticia Barela has replaced Dan Saiz as the contracting officer on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract procurement as Saiz shifts back to a full-time supervisory role with the agency’s M&O contracting group, NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha confirmed to NW&M Monitor. McConaha said Saiz had filled in as the contracting […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has scrapped plans to reduce the size of the guard force at the Y-12 National Security Complex following last month’s security breach. NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt confirmed that a previously approved restructuring plan for security contractor WSI-Oak Ridge had been cancelled as a result of the July 28 break-in. WSI […]

The Project on Government Oversight reported last night that a force-on-force test is looming at Y-12. The watchdog group said that the Department of Energy’s Office of Independent Oversight would perform a review of Y-12 security “before the end of this month” that would include the force-on-force test. POGO also said that DOE was planning […]

David Jonas has been named as the new General Counsel for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Jonas previously served as Director of Legal Strategy and Analysis in the Department of Energy’s Office of the General Counsel; and as General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the National Nuclear Security Administration. From 1997 through 2001, […]

The Kansas City Council is expected to vote today on whether to allow local voters to have a say in whether the city is financially involved in future nuclear weapons construction efforts. Through a complicated financing arrangement, the Kansas City Council signed off on bonds that are financing the construction of the National Nuclear Security […]

The Department of Energy needs to take further steps to improve work control and planning at its various sites, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a new report issued late last week. The Board said it found “similarities between the weaknesses in activity-level work planning and control documented in recent DOE accident investigation […]

Still reeling from an unprecedented security breach in late July, Y-12 protective force contractor WSI-Oak Ridge is under fire again, this time over allegations that a senior manager improperly provided copies of testing and inspection materials to guards in advance of testing last week by the Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security. […]

Fallout from the July 28 security breach at Y-12 continues, this time reaching high atop the federal organizational structure at the National Nuclear Security Administration. NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino said in a message to employees Friday that the agency’s Defense Nuclear Security chief, Doug Fremont, had been “temporarily reassigned” within the agency while Brig. Gen. […]

The Democratic National Committee released its 2012 platform yesterday, and provisions involving nuclear weapons and nonproliferation policy not surprisingly mirror the Obama Administration’s nuclear security agenda. The platform, which is expected to be adopted at this week’s Democratic National Convention, indicates Obama’s interest in working with Russia on a new arms control agreement with “responsible […]

Y-12 protective force contractor WSI-Oak Ridge said yesterday that it is conducting its own investigation into allegations by the Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security that guards were given advance copies of tests and inspection materials during an investigation last week, urging patience with the process. “WSI Oak Ridge is conducting a […]

The late-July security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex will be a hot topic on Capitol Hill next week as two House committees are scheduled to hold hearings about the unprecedented break-in. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee scheduled a hearing for Wednesday on the topic last month, and the House […]

The three bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating procurement submitted revised proposals for the contract yesterday. In the wake of the Y-12 security breach last month, the NNSA amended the Request for Proposals in the procurement to include protective force work at Y-12 and Pantex and give bidders wide […]