Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, will have a new manager as of May 21. Jason Armstrong, currently manager of the NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office, will take over as manager of the Pantex manager for the production office beginning May 21st. This does not include leadership of […]

Though the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to dramatically ramp up plutonium pit production around the time a key arms control treaty expires in 2026, there are no plans to test fire any weapons, agency Administrator Jill Hruby said Monday in New Mexico. Hruby sat through two hours of questioning – and occasional haranguing – […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is hiring for senior acquisition and construction management professionals with imminent application deadlines.  Through Monday, the NNSA is accepting applications for a deputy associate administrator for partnership and acquisition services in Washington. Applications for this and other NNSA positions can be submitted through the federal government’s job site, USAjobs.gov. Last […]

An employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory was blown off a ladder and severely burned in 2015 after spraying cleaning solutions on parts of a power substation that turned out to be electrified, according to a report on the incident published last week. After the resulting arc-flash, nine employees were sent to Los Alamos Medical […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, will have a new manager as of May 21. Jason Armstrong, currently manager of the NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office, will take over as manager of the Pantex manager for the production office beginning May 21st. This does not include leadership of […]

A labor shortage initially blamed on COVID-19, but which has outlasted the nationwide response to the pandemic, hamstrung construction of new nuclear weapons factories and forced a construction triage at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency’s administrator told lawmakers Tuesday. The construction or “craft” labor shortages at various sites contributed to several program delays, […]

A labor shortage initially blamed on COVID-19, but which has outlasted the nationwide response to the pandemic, hamstrung construction of new nuclear weapons factories and forced a construction triage at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency’s administrator told lawmakers Tuesday. The construction or “craft” labor shortages at various sites contributed to several program delays, […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. March 28: Meeting, hybrid/in-person, Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board: DOE Efforts Related to Removing Spent Nuclear Fuel from  commercial Nuclear Power Plant Sites. The Florida Hotel and Conference Center, 1500 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, Fla. 32809. […]

Lawyers representing employees who accuse Consolidated Nuclear Security, manager of the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge Tenn., of withholding wages have withdrawn from a proposed class action lawsuit against the contractor.  The motion to withdraw as counsel was granted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville on Monday. Justin […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s longest-serving associate administrator Jeffrey Johnson, the chief of nuclear security, announced his retirement on Monday.  Johnson served eight years at NNSA following a 20-year career in uniform and seven years as a civilian employee with the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a statement from the NNSA. The NNSA did not […]

There are at least 500 too few employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which has contributed to a cost increase and schedule slip for the uranium processing facility under construction there, the Secretary of Energy testified in Congress Thursday. In its budget request for fiscal year 2024, the National Nuclear […]

Citing a national security memorandum that describes a reduced need for the B83 thermonuclear gravity bomb, the National Nuclear Administration proposed cutting funding for the weapon in its 2024 budget request.  The NNSA proposed cutting $28 million from funding for management of the B83 in its fiscal 2024 budget request, owing to “updated program requirements […]

Lawyers representing employees who accuse Consolidated Nuclear Security, manager of the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge Tenn., of withholding wages have withdrawn from a proposed class action lawsuit against the contractor.  The motion to withdraw as counsel was granted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville on Monday. Justin […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s longest-serving associate administrator Jeffrey Johnson, the chief of nuclear security, announced his retirement on Monday.  Johnson served eight years at NNSA following a 20-year career in uniform and seven years as a civilian employee with the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a statement from the NNSA. The NNSA did not […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. March 21-22: In-person/virtual hybrid meeting: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Chairs. U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Room 6E-069, Washington, D.C. 20585. Members of the public may not attend in person, DOE says. Members […]

Work continues on transfer of the Savannah River Site landlord authority to the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the top cleanup fed at the South Carolina complex told a DOE advisory panel this week. A joint team of DOE Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives should issue […]

Materials shortages, technology changes and other factors have pushed major enhancements to a nuclear-weapon testing facility in Nevada back three years and inflated the overall project cost to $1.8 billion, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s 2024 budget request. Supply chain disruptions and other problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the […]

Work continues on transfer of the Savannah River Site landlord authority to the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the top cleanup fed at the South Carolina complex told a DOE advisory panel this week. A joint team of DOE Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives should issue […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2024 includes a funding boost for plutonium pit production in New Mexico, with the goal of building 80 per year as close to 2030 as possible.  Also in the request, the NNSA provided a new cost and schedule estimate for completing the Uranium Processing Facility […]

Work continues on transfer of the Savannah River Site landlord authority to the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the top cleanup fed at the South Carolina complex told a DOE advisory panel Monday. A joint team of DOE Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives should issue a […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 13: Meeting: The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board hold a regular meeting starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at the HUB for Community Innovation 631 Chafee Avenue | Augusta, Ga.  The meeting can be watched via […]

A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the National Nuclear Security Administration found that technical limitations and exceptions for some nuclear warheads do not hamper the Defense Department’s planning or operations. Published March 90, the report highlights 90 technical nuclear weapons exceptions and limitations in six categories: Safety, operational considerations, reliability, performance, aircraft […]

The U.S. military lags behind both Russia and China in building and fielding low-yield nuclear weapons and can address that gap by diversifying the military’s nuclear options, the head of U.S. Strategic Command told Congress on Thursday. Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, in charge of U.S. nuclear forces since December, said he launched a review […]

Facing expanding mandates for information security at the two big nuclear-weapon production sites it manages, Consolidated Nuclear Security has launched a hiring spree for qualified information technology and cybersecurity experts. Over the past several years, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has found it difficult to meet its cybersecurity and IT staffing needs with its internal employee […]

The Biden Administration’s fiscal 2024 budget requests $23.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of about $1.5 billion from the current fiscal year.  Released Thursday, the president’s budget request aims to “make historic investments in the nation’s nuclear security enterprise to implement the President’s Nuclear Posture Review; support a safe, secure, and […]

Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs would get a roughly 6% boost under the budget request President Joe Biden (D) released Thursday, while weapons cleanup would be flat. For DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the Biden administration proposed roughly $23.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That’s over $1.5 billion […]

Facing expanding mandates for information security at the two big nuclear-weapon production sites it manages, Consolidated Nuclear Security has launched a hiring spree for qualified information technology and cybersecurity experts. Over the past several years, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has found it difficult to meet its cybersecurity and IT staffing needs with its internal employee […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: March 7: Nuclear Science Advisory Committee. Department of Energy Office of Science. 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel & Executive Meeting Center, Roosevelt Madison Room, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. In-person and virtual attendance […]

Machined uranium chips caused the fire that prompted last week’s evacuation of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Building 9212, a site spokesperson said this week. “In the event on February 22, chips of uranium metal from machining activity had been processed for storage in accordance with standard operating procedures,” a Y-12 spokesperson wrote Thursday in […]

PHOENIX —One year into its new 10-year deal at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge has finished demolishing some key structures at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the remediation prime’s CEO said Wednesday. All of the old contaminated buildings at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]