Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Congress’ third coronavirus relief package, passed Friday, should help blunt the financial repercussions of the soaring unemployment and depressed stock market that have accompanied the outbreak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week during a press conference just before the vote. “The most important part of the bill was making it clear that the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Friday confirmed nine cases of COVID-across its national network of nuclear-weapon design laboratories and production sites. All three national laboratories had locked out all but essential employees at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Weapons Production sites were still operating normally, despite the viral disease cropping up […]

Having already taken its financial lumps during the past year, Energy Department contractor Fluor announced a measure Wednesday meant to ensure its shareholders get a fair shake “in the event of any proposed takeover.” The limited-duration stockholder rights agreement will also shield against “abusive tactics to gain control of the Company without paying all Fluor […]

The Waste Management Symposia on Tuesday said both attendees at this year’s event who showed signs of possible COVID-19 infection had tested negative. Test results for “Attendee #1” were received Tuesday, one day after the results for “Attendee #2,” according to a statement from James Gallagher, chairman of the board for the annual nuclear cleanup […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a March 30 “virtual meeting” to discuss the results of its latest performance assessment for URENCO USA’s uranium enrichment plant in Eunice, N.M. The assessment period covered the entirety of 2018 and 2019. Agency staff determined URENCO did not need to make improvements in five operational spheres: safety operations, […]

The organization planning Canada’s deep geologic repository for spent fuel from nuclear power plants hopes engagement with First Nations peoples can help it avoid a major complication that recently befell a similar project for radioactive waste disposal. In February, Ontario Power Generation terminated plans to build a repository for low- and intermediate-level waste on the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it is considering a request from New Mexico’s congressional delegation for more time to submit comments on a key document in licensing a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the state. The NRC, like agencies at all levels of government, is wrestling with managing its regular operations while […]

The Senate voted 96-0 Wednesday night to approve a $2 trillion relief package to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. The House of Representatives will vote Friday on the measure, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure soon afterward. This would mark Congress’ third legislative […]

Centrus Energy Corp. closed out 2019 by boosting revenues and trimming its losses from the prior year, but management said the COVID-19 pandemic has for now dimmed the company’s hopes of returning to profitability in 2020.  On Tuesday, the Bethesda, Md.-based uranium-fuel broker and centrifuge developer reported a 2019 net loss of about $16.5 million, […]

Top Navy officials have not seen any shipyard delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet, but they are expecting and planning for future issues. “[T]o date we haven’t seen any sort of perturbations in that right now but we are anticipating that there will be, and we’re looking at what that might cost with respect […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico on Tuesday followed its sister site, the Lawrence Livermore lab in California, into minimum safe operations amid the worsening the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Tuesday evening, there were no confirmed cases of the viral disease at either facility.  On Monday, Los Alamos posted a memo from Director Thom […]

The Energy Department and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Tuesday increased the amount government procurements officers can pay on “micro-purchases” and “simplified’ acquisitions in order to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The updates are outlined in an emergency purchasing flexibility document posted by DOE. The federal procurement officers can […]

The Waste Management Symposia on Tuesday said both attendees at this year’s event who showed signs of possible COVID-19 infection had tested negative. Test results for “Attendee #1” were received Tuesday, one day after the results for “Attendee #2,” according to a statement from James Gallagher, chairman of the board for the annual nuclear cleanup […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to further improve the contentious relationship between the federal agencies. That would be an additional measure on top of DOE’s revision to the controversial Order 140.1 that revised its interactions with the board. The revision comes after Congress last […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it expects shortly to decide on a request from New Mexico’s congressional delegation for more time to submit comments on a key document for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the state. “An announcement should come soon,” agency spokesman David McIntyre said by email. In a draft […]

The organizer of a major nuclear cleanup and waste industry conference held earlier this month said Monday one participant has tested negative for COVID-19 after a potential exposure. Results from testing of one other participant are pending, possibly by today, according to Waste Management Symposia. “We hope to receive the results of the first attendee […]

South Carolina’s attempt to wrench hundreds of millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines from the Department of Energy is headed to oral arguments before a panel of appeals judges May 5, according to a Friday court filing. South Carolina has been trying to extract the money from DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

COVID-19 has hit the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons production complex, with one employee at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., testing positive for the respiratory disease, a spokesperson for the site’s management and operations contractor said Tuesday. Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) manages both Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, […]

Decommissioning and spent-fuel offloading will continue at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), but with added safety measures to prevent any transmission of COVID-19, according to majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE). “We’re monitoring the situation very closely, on a day-to-day basis, with plans in place to ensure the appropriate levels of safety and […]

The Deartment of Energy’s nuclear-weapon sites are starting to track the financial effects of reordering day-to-day operations amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak, even as weapons-production continues and restrictions increase. “Due to state, local and national work restriction orders, NNSA [the National Nuclear Security Administration] has asked us to track expenses related to COVID-19,” the Sandia […]

As part of a much larger spending request, the White House has requested $28 million in emergency 2020 funding to help the Department of Energy telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOE share will pay “for additional information technology requirements and telework support, also including increased cybersecurity costs, in response to coronavirus,” according to a […]

By Richard Abott Defense Daily A bipartisan group of over 100 lawmakers pushed House appropriators in a letter to fund a second Virginia-class submarine in the fiscal 2021 defense budget bill. Led by the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the letter […]

A federal judge last week rejected a request to dismiss the government’s February 2019 fraud lawsuit against a former contractor and subcontractor for the Department of Energy’s never-completed plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Project prime MOX Services and subcontractor Wise Services failed to explain why the case should be […]

Nevada and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are attempting to resolve the lawsuit seeking the immediate removal of 500 kilograms of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site, court papers filed Tuesday show. To comply with a court order in a separate federal lawsuit, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency shipped […]

Someone at Minot Air Force Base, home to a missile wing that operates nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement this week. “There is 1 positive case of COVID-19 of an adult, non-military member on base,” Minot stated Wednesday on its official Twitter account. “[B]ase leadership has declared a public health […]

James Taiclet will become president and  chief executive officer of aerospace and defense titan Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Md., effective June 15. He will succeed Marillyn Hewson, who has led the company since 2013, according to a press release. Taiclet, who came up in the defense industry through Pratt & Whitney and was later president […]

President Donald Trump will nominate a familiar face, Joyce Connery, to serve a new term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the White House said Tuesday morning. If confirmed by the Senate, Connery would serve a term expiring Oct. 18, 2025, according to the intent to nominate announcement. Initially nominated by President Barack […]

On top of the $6.5 billion required to build the Uranium Processing Facility by 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will have to spend nearly $1 billion to modernize other facilities needed to support the next-generation weapon-uranium hub, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The spending figure comes from an integrated master schedule […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is soliciting bids for a potential five-year contract, encompasssing a one-year base and four single-year options, to store low-enriched uranium required for tritium production. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch, civilian steward of the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile, released the solicitation last week. The agency wants new deals in place […]

Despite massive work-pattern shifts at a couple of the nuclear weapons laboratories due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first recorded case at Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C., production sites under the agency’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) were operating without disruption as of Friday. Even as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in […]