Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Carlos Alvardo will temporarily step in as the No. 2 fed at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, with Gabriel Pugh, the plant’s most recent deputy manager, leaving for the Department of Energy’s National Training Center, according to an internal email. Sunday was Alvardo’s first day as acting deputy manager at […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said it established a new initiative to improve energy security and climate-change friendliness at its nationwide enterprise of labs, plants and sites. The Energy Resilient Infrastructure and Climate Adaptation (ERICA) initiative “will be a critical element of NNSA’s multi-faceted strategy to identify, prioritize, and implement infrastructure investments that increase […]

Michelle Reichert said she will retire May 20 as president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the outgoing management and operations contractor of the U.S.’ two main nuclear-weapon production plants. Bill Tindal, Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) chief operating officer, will become the acting president and CEO, according to a note from CNS board […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed the Tennessee Valley Authority to work some people harder during an ongoing service outage at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor, where the restart of tritium production for nuclear weapons has slipped to June from mid-May, the commission said. The outage now “is now scheduled to be completed by early […]

This week, the House Appropriations panel that writes the first draft of the Department of Energy’s annual budget bill called off a hearing with the agency’s top nuclear weapons and waste leaders minutes into the proceedings. The hearing got no further than opening statements and a few questions from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the chair, […]

Michelle Reichert said she will retire May 20 as president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the outgoing management and operations contractor of the U.S.’ two main nuclear-weapon production plants. Bill Tindal, Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) chief operating officer, will become the acting president and CEO, according to a note from CNS board […]

The House Appropriations subcommittee in charge of writing the first draft of the Department of Energy’s annual budget called off a Wednesday hearing with the agency’s top nuclear weapons and waste leaders minutes into the proceedings. The hearing got no further than opening statements and a few questions from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the chair, […]

Senior officials with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management were set to take questions about their fiscal year 2023 budget requests Wednesday from House appropriators. The House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee was scheduled to convene the hearing at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time on Capitol Hill. The […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed the Tennessee Valley Authority to work some people harder during an ongoing service outage at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor, where the restart of tritium production for nuclear weapons has slipped to June from mid-May, the commission said. The outage now “is now scheduled to be completed by early […]

The White House this week announced its nominees to fill the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s two open executive seats, including one former commissioner who left the agency last summer. If Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell’s nominations, which the Joe Biden administration announced in a press release Tuesday, get through Congress, they would fill two seats on […]

During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pronounced herself “really disappointed with this year’s request” by the Department of Energy for cleanup of the Hanford Site in her home state. The Joe Biden administration’s fiscal 2023 request of $2.5 billion for Hanford was not only […]

Kathryn Huff, the White House’s pick for assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy, cleared the full Senate this week, clinching her spot as head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office. The Senate voted 80-11 Thursday to confirm Kathryn Huff, who the Joe Biden administration first nominated in January to lead DOE’s Office […]

Authorities in New Mexico said Thursday afternoon they plan to use a controlled burn to give the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding county more protection from the Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Mountains. A controlled burn is planned along Alamo trail to combat the fire that has burned 29,000 […]

Authorities in New Mexico said Thursday afternoon they plan to use a controlled burn to give the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding county more protection from the Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Mountains. A controlled burn is planned along Alamo trail to combat the fire that has burned 29,000 […]

Employees placed on unpaid leave after receiving religious exemptions to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate were cleared to return to work this week after the lab declared a return to normal operations, an internal memo shows. “As of this spring, case rates have abated considerably, almost 100% of staff are vaccinated, and we […]

Earnings rose at Jacobs, Dallas, in the second quarter of its fiscal 2022 year, which the international engineering and construction company attributed to increased demand across virtually all business lines. Net earnings for the quarter ended April 1 were $89 million, or $0.68 a share, up from net earnings of zero in the year-ago quarter, […]

Swift & Staley could stay on as Infrastructure Support Services provider at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky through March 2023 while the company fights a court ruling that it should not have received a small-business set-aside follow-on contract for the work. The existing landlord would remain in place at Paducah through March […]

A federal court could soon decide whether to hear the case of several Consolidated Nuclear Security employees who sued the Y-12 National Security Complex prime contractor in 2020 alleging lost wages. Last week, the three employees, who seek to create a class-action lawsuit, filed a second amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for Eastern […]

Effective mid-July, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to split its two main procurement offices in Washington into three and, in the process, eliminate the Office of Acquisition and Project Management and the Office of Infrastructure and Operations, agency Administrator Jill Hruby said Monday in an email to all hands. After the split, the duties […]

Certain people sickened after exposure to radiation from either atmospheric nuclear-weapon tests or uranium mining would get two more years to file for government compensation if a bill passed unanimously by the Senate last week becomes law. The Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Extension Act of 2022 on Thursday, giving sickened atmospheric […]

After the summer, DOE could launch a competitive funding opportunity aimed at potential host communities for an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel, the Secretary of Energy told Senators Thursday. The award, which the Department of Energy has been planning for some time as part of its quest to site an interim storage facility, […]

NuScale Power Corp, a Corvallis, Ore., developer of small modular reactors, went public on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. The company on April 28 formally completed a merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, to form NuScale Power Corp., the company announced Monday. The acquisition company is a […]

During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pronounced herself “really disappointed with this year’s request” by the Department of Energy for cleanup of the Hanford Site in her home state. The Joe Biden administration’s fiscal 2023 request of $2.5 billion for Hanford was not only […]

Members of the joint Department of Energy-Pentagon body that coordinates nuclear weapon procurements were set to testify late this afternoon before a Senate Armed Services panel. The six-member Nuclear Weapons Council is dominated by Pentagon personnel and chaired by the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment — William LaPlante, in the Joe Biden administration. […]

As of late Tuesday, the Cerro Pelado fire in New Mexico was five-and-a-half miles away from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, with no evacuations ordered so far around the federal facility. Lab management could reduce its on-site headcount, however, if the fire inches much closer to Los Alamos National Laboratory or the […]

Effective mid-July, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to split its two main procurement offices in Washington into three and, in the process, eliminate the Office of Acquisition and Project Management and the Office of Infrastructure and Operations, agency Administrator Jill Hruby said Monday in an email to all hands. After the split, the duties […]

A federal court could soon decide whether to hear the case of several Consolidated Nuclear Security employees who sued the Y-12 National Security Complex prime contractor in 2020 allegeding lost wages. Last week, the three employees, who seek to create a class-action lawsuit, filed a second amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for Eastern […]

The Cerro Pelado fire in New Mexico was only six miles from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory’s property as of 9:45 p.m. local time, the laboratory announced via its Twitter account (@LosAlamosNatLab) late Sunday. The fire is “pushing southeast” and no Los Alamos County evacuations are planned currently and a section of […]

Prospective bidders on a Department of Energy contract for long-term storage of domestic elemental mercury now have two extra weeks, until May 20, to submit proposals. In an update on its procurement page for Elemental Mercury Long-term Management and Storage, the DOE said Thursday April 21 that the submission deadline is being extended to May […]

The procurement arm of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office is requesting information from contractors capable of storing and disposing of low-level or mixed low-level hazardous waste, according to a recent online notice. The DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center issued a sources sought/request for information (RFI) on Thursday April 21, trying to […]