Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

In a revised order, the Department of Energy has relaxed the firewall it attempted to erect between personnel at nuclear-weapon sites and the federal agency responsible for sniffing out potential threats to public safety from those operations. The Energy Department shared a draft of the revised Order 140.1 with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in […]

In a revised order, the Department of Energy has relaxed the firewall it attempted to erect between personnel at nuclear-weapon sites and the federal agency responsible for sniffing out potential threats to public safety from those operations. The Energy Department shared a draft of the revised Order 140.1 with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board […]

The White House on Tuesday nominated a former staff member at the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB) to become a member of the panel. Matthew Moury has since June 2017 served as Energy Department associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety, and security. His nomination to the DNFSB will be considered first by the Senate […]

After some logistical and regulatory road bumps, an Atlanta-area small business has shipped nearly a quarter-million respirator masks to U.S. nuclear weapons sites, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). “All 225,000 masks have been shipped and are in transit to their respective NNSA facilities,” a spokesperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week finalized environmental paperwork that completes a court-ordered re-review of earthquake risks at the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — but environmental groups with a live lawsuit over the plan are complaining that the agency’s second look was not adequate. The finalized supplement analysis, published July […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to host another virtual job fair, this time on July 22. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency set a goal of hiring 130 people this summer, specifically in Albuquerque, N.M.; Amarillo, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Livermore, Calif.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Aiken, S.C., and Washington, D.C,  […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will soon consider alternatives to breaking down nuclear-weapon cores for disposal at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as part of a plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of excess plutonium, an agency official said this week. Dilute and dispose, officially the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program, involves […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not missed a single milestone in the six months since the first case of COVID-19 was recorded on U.S. shores and four months since the World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic, the agency’s leader said this week. “Faced with the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 […]

An employee at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee died this week from COVID-19, as confirmed cases of the disease across the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complex again shot up by double digits. The Y-12 worker “reportedly contracted the virus from a contact outside of work,” an agency spokesperson wrote Friday in an […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to host another virtual job fair, this time on July 22. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency set a goal of hiring 130 people this summer, specifically in Albuquerque, N.M.; Amarillo, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Livermore, Calif.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Aiken, S.C., and Washington, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will soon consider alternatives to breaking down nuclear-weapon cores for disposal at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as part of a plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of excess plutonium, an agency official said this week. Dilute and dispose, officially the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program, involves […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not missed a single milestone in the six months since the first case of COVID-19 was recorded on U.S. shores and four months since the World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic, the agency’s leader said Monday. “Faced with the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, […]

As part of what it has dubbed a good-faith effort to better cooperate with the federal government’s independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this month delivered an updated plan for implementing safety recommendations for the Pantex Plant in Texas. Whether the changes will convince the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

The Senate last week reappointed the three serving members on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) and filled one of its vacant positions. The Senate on July 2 by voice vote approved the nominations of Thomas Summers, Joyce Connery, Jessie Hill Roberson, and Bruce Hamilton, according to the website Congress.gov. Summers is the only […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has replaced nearly 10,000 sprinkler heads at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, completing a $46 million retrofit of safety hardware last touched in the 1960s, according to a press release this week. The new sprinkler heads, installed in six different facilities, replace some that were at or near the […]

There were 23 new active cases of COVID-19 this week at National Nuclear Security Administration sites, marking a second consecutive week of double-digit increases across the civilian nuclear security enterprise. That makes for a total of 69 active cases, up from 46 just before the Independence Day holiday, a spokesperson for the semiautonomous Energy Department […]

It is “likely” that some of a group of 15 Los Alamos National Laboratory employees were internally contaminated with plutonium-238 oxide that leaked out of a ruptured glove-box glove on June 8, the Department of Energy nuclear-weapon facility said this week. “Early bioassay results indicate low level intakes are likely in some of these workers,” […]

The Senate last week reappointed the three serving members on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) and filled one of its vacant positions. The Senate on July 2 by voice vote approved the nominations of Thomas Summers, Joyce Connery, Jessie Hill Roberson, and Bruce Hamilton, according to the website Congress.gov. Summers is the only […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has replaced nearly 10,000 sprinkler heads at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, completing a $46 million retrofit of safety hardware last touched in the 1960s, according to a press release this week.  The new sprinkler heads, installed in six different facilities, replace some that were at or near the […]

The Senate has approved the nominations of Thomas Summers and Joyce Connery to seats on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The Senate approved the two by voice vote on July 2, according to the website Congress.gov. That came after both were nominated in May and then reported out of the Senate Armed Services […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) three major production sites have returned to normal operations with maximum telework even as cases of COVID-19 rise again around the nation. This means many support services workers are back on-site at the nuclear-weapon facilities, even while people who can easily work remotely continue to do so. A spokesperson […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was tracking 13 new cases of COVID-19 across the civilian nuclear weapons enterprise last week ahead of the Independence Day holiday. The weekly count of active cases rose to 46 from 33 as of Thursday, a spokesperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency told Weapons Complex […]

National Nuclear Security Administration sites this week started receiving respirators ordered in April to help protect personnel from COVID-19. It was forward progress in a week where COVID-19 cases nationwide continued to spike, and DOE headquarters cleared more federal employees to return to Washington-area buildings in the second phase of the agency’s return-to-the-office plan. As […]

To settle a 2018 lawsuit over storage of plutonium, the Department of Energy has tentatively agreed not to send more of the weapon-usable material to Nevada. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced the development in a June 26 press release summarizing the unpublished settlement between the Silver State and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). […]

About one-tenth of the 225,000 wearable personal respirator masks the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous nuclear weapons agency ordered in April had arrived at facilities as of Wednesday, and the rest are on their way. All of the masks ordered by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) from Atlanta-area small business American Dream Builders LLC have shipped […]

More National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) employees may return to work in Washington, D.C.-area headquarters buildings today at the start of Phase 2 of the Department of Energy’s return-to-work plan for federal personnel. There are about 1,000 NNSA employees at the Forrestal Building in downtown D.C., and the Germantown Building in nearby suburban Maryland. They […]

To settle a 2018 lawsuit over storage of plutonium, the Department of Energy tentatively agreed not to send more of the weapon-usable material to Nevada, the state said Friday. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced the development in a press release summarizing the unpublished settlement between the Silver State and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The next issue of Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will be published on Thursday, July 2, in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

The labor group representing some 1,450 workers at the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex last week struck a new five-year labor deal with the Tennessee site’s Bechtel National-led manager. Members of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council (ATLC), an umbrella organization representing upward of 20 unions, ratified the agreement June 18. The previous […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ordered 2,000 custom lapel pins at a cost of about $5.45 each from Medalcraft Mint, of Green Bay, Wis., to mark the agency’s 20th anniversary. The NNSA did not specify, in its award to Medalcraft Mint, the people to whom it plans to distribute the pins. There are enough […]