Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The National Nuclear Security Administration this week split its two headquarters-based procurement offices into three, the head of the agency said. Effective Monday, the agency’s Washington-based procurement bureaucracy comprises: the Office of Partnership Services; the Office of Infrastructure; and the Office of Environment, Safety, and Health. Peter Rodrik is the acting associate administrator for partnership […]

The final tab for getting the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear generator back in shape to produce power for homes and businesses and irradiate tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons will be about $600 million, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday in a regulatory filing. On July 1, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) finished installing four […]

The South Carolina plant that puts together the rods that help the National Nuclear Security Administration top off the tritium reservoirs of U.S. nuclear weapons cleared an environmental hurdle last week that sets the facility up to operate for another 40 years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recommended a 40-year renewal for the operating license […]

In the wake of three such incidents reported over the last year, Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, asked all hands to report racist acts and threats at nuclear-weapon sites. In an email dated Wednesday, Hruby slammed the acts as “offensive,” “inappropriate” and warned that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would […]

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Energy to provide more details on how its nuclear weapons and cleanup programs handle federal funds carried over from prior-year budgets. At the end of fiscal 2021 DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had about $10.9 billion in total carryover balances and the Office of Environmental […]

With the retirement of a top executive, Sharon Smoot will step in as president of BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Group effective Aug. 1, the company said in a press release Wednesday morning. In her new role, Smoot will be responsible for the operations group’s complete range of nuclear components and services, “including the manufacture of […]

Congress should enact legislation to clarify the Department of Energy’s authority to sell depleted uranium to private entities, the Government Accountability Office said this week, because such a move could curb the $7.2 billion cost to dispose of the material. As of September 2021, the feds estimate it could cost DOE $7.2 billion to convert […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday unveiled the year’s most generous 2023 budget proposal for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, beating the White House’s ask by almost $700 million and agreeing with authorizers’ plans to pile unrequested money into plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site. As the House of Representatives did in […]

Congress should enact legislation to clarify the Department of Energy’s authority to sell depleted uranium to private entities, the Government Accountability Office said this week, because such a move could curb the $7.2 billion cost to dispose of the material. As of September 2021, the feds estimate it could cost DOE $7.2 billion to convert […]

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Energy to provide more details on how its nuclear weapons and cleanup programs handle federal funds carried over from prior-year budgets. At the end of fiscal 2021 the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) had about $3.2 billion in total carryover balances, and the National Nuclear […]

About 2,500 union workers at Boeing manufacturing facilities in the St. Louis area could strike Aug. 1, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other news outlets reported Sunday after members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 voted to reject a contract offer. The St. Louis area plants specialize in national defense […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is preparing to lease office warehouse and storage space in northern New Mexico and Colorado, according to a notice posted online late last week. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency is considering leases within a 150-mile radius of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to an environmental impact […]

Northern New Mexico Integrated Security, a joint venture between incumbent Centerra Group and Tsay Construction and Services, a small business with tribal ownership, won a five-year security services contract at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the lab announced Wednesday. Triad National Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s management contractor for Los Alamos, […]

Bill Tindal retired as chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel National-led management contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two main nuclear-weapons production sites, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. “We shared with employees yesterday that Bill has retired,” the spokesperson said. Gene Sievers, site manager for Y-12 National Security Complex, is now […]

Joel Duling will resign as president of BWT Technology’s mainstay Nuclear Operations Group effective July 29, the company wrote in a regulatory filing dated Monday. Duling informed the company of his decision on July 12, according to the 8-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. “Joel Duling is retiring from BWXT to pursue other […]

The full House this week passed a bundle of six appropriations bills that would provide roughly the request funding for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs and, contrary to the will of House authorizers and President Joe Biden, keep the B83 nuclear gravity bomb in play. The bill also provides the requested funding for the […]

The full House on Wednesday approved a fiscal year 2023 Department of Energy budget bill that provides more or less the requested funding for DOE’s nuclear weapons and waste programs and a small increase over the request for nuclear energy programs.  The 2023 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, part of a package of six spending […]

Bill Tindal retired as chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel National-led management contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two main nuclear-weapons production sites, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. “We shared with employees yesterday that Bill has retired,” the spokesperson said. Gene Sievers, site manager for Y-12 National Security Complex, is now […]

A Consolidated Nuclear Security employee who in June hung a noose at a construction site at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., was fired from their job, according to a statement a building trades union posted online Friday. The North America’s Building Trades Unions had offered a $200,000 reward for information leading […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has selected a manager from the semi autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Cathy Tullis, to be its next chief of staff effective July 17. Tullis, currently chief of staff for the associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will fill the […]

Less than a month remains for anyone interested in selling domestic uranium to the government for a congressionally directed to submit their bids to the National Nuclear Security Administration. In a 2021 spending bill, Congress appropriated $75 million to the semiautonomous Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons agency to set up a 1-million-pound natural uranium reserve […]

The Congressionally-created safety watchdog for nuclear defense facilities was not denied access to any Department of Energy records or personnel during the first six months of 2022. In a regular update to Congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said July 1 that the Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for […]

The Department of Energy has approved its plan to speed up spent fuel removal from the L-Basin storage area at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a Monday press release, DOE announced approval of what it calls accelerated basin de-inventory ABD, which would use H Canyon to dissolve spent nuclear fuel without processing […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has selected a manager from the semi autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Cathy Tullis, to be its next chief of staff effective July 17. Tullis, currently chief of staff for the associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will fill the […]

The Department of Energy has approved its plan to speed up spent fuel removal from the L-Basin storage area at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a Monday press release, DOE announced approval of what it calls accelerated basin de-inventory ABD, which would use H Canyon to dissolve spent nuclear fuel without processing […]

The Department of Energy has issued an enforcement letter to an Amentum-Jacobs joint venture and its subcontractor GEM Technologies over “concerns with improper asbestos exposure monitoring” during cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Mouse House. The DOE’s Office of Enforcement, however, plans no additional action against URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) or GEM over asbestos […]

Less than a month remains for anyone interested in selling domestic uranium to the government for a congressionally directed to submit their bids to the National Nuclear Security Administration. In a 2021 spending bill, Congress appropriated $75 million to the semiautonomous Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons agency to set up a 1-million-pound natural uranium reserve […]

Confirmed active COVID-19 cases at National Nuclear Security Administration sites rose 40% during June and the first week of July and the rising case rates prompted at least one site to reinstate some pandemic rules for personnel that it had previously stopped observing.  The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency had 764 confirmed cases, up […]

A Honeywell-owned prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories said in a Tuesday filing a wrongful firing suit brought against it by a scientist who worked on data for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant should remain in federal court. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia said the wrongful termination suit brought by […]

The Department of Energy has taken care of seven of 25 priority issues identified by the Government Accountability Office in 2021 and should get to work on the rest, Congress’ investigative arm wrote in a letter to the agency. “We are also adding eight new recommendations related to project, program, and portfolio management; contract management; […]