Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Brian Zieroth on Oct. 29 replaced Valerie McCain as Bechtel National’s project manager on the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) being built at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a company spokesperson said Monday. Zieroth will now manage construction of a roughly $6.5 billion facility designed to mold uranium into shapes usable in […]

The lead attorney at the Savannah River Site was honored by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for helping the agency pivot away from processing surplus weapon-usable plutonium at the South Carolina facility’s now-canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). Mary-Ellen Noone, counsel for the NNSA Savannah River Field Office, won the NNSA General Counsel […]

The Department of Energy said this week it has started work to move a metric ton of plutonium out of South Carolina, after three federal appeals judges affirmed a lower court’s order to remove the material from the state by Jan. 1, 2020. Barring an escalation to the U.S. Supreme Court, or a rehearing in the U.S. […]

The Department of Energy and the Pentagon could be studying a new nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile by this time next year, the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week in an annual report on its nuclear-weapon programs. The Donald Trump administration called on DOE to research the weapon in the Nuclear […]

After about a month of negotiations, the Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility could not agree to settle their differences over some $1 million in disputed payments related to raises the company gave 55 employees a few years ago. “Unfortunately, the parties’ efforts have not resulted […]

While it did not generate the same level of attention as a security scare last week at the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Nevada National Security Site also dealt with an incident — for which the culprit was an ultimately harmless cell phone. According to a Department of Energy summary posted Wednesday, a suspicious package […]

A Democratic House with a Democratic Armed Services Committee chairman who is openly skeptical of the established nuclear modernization program is perhaps the most plausible consequence of the 2018 midterm elections, for those who watch the National Nuclear Security Administration. Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) are not in particularly competitive races. In […]

After about a month of negotiations, the Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility could not agree to settle their differences over some $1 million in disputed payments related to raises the company gave 55 employees a few years ago. “Unfortunately, the parties’ efforts have not resulted […]

While it did not generate the same level of attention as a security scare last week at the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Nevada National Security Site also dealt with an incident — for which the culprit was an ultimately harmless cell phone. According to a Department of Energy (DOE) summary posted Wednesday, a suspicious […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said it has started moving a metric ton of plutonium out of South Carolina. The statement came after three federal appeals judges on Friday shot down the agency’s argument that a lower court’s order to remove the material from the state by Jan. 1, 2020, was legally flawed. Barring an escalation to […]

In another sign the final end of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) might be near, South Carolina is trying to negotiate a settlement with the Department of Energy over $100 million the state says it is owed because the unfinished, now-terminated plant never processed plutonium. That is according to an order filed Tuesday […]

The first round of layoff notices at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will be issued at some point in November, with impacted employees expected to exit in early 2019, the contractor building the Department of Energy plant said in an Oct. 22 letter to employees. The notice was first reported Tuesday […]

The internal emergency response organization at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, responded Tuesday to what the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) described as a “security event" involving an ultimately harmless parked car. “Just before noon on October 23, a routine inspection at Pantex identified a potential concern with a vehicle in the John C. […]

Former government officials suggested this week that the Donald Trump administration could reach for either the retired W84 warhead or the workhorse W80 if it wants a nuclear-tipped missile after walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Trump announced Saturday, and reaffirmed Monday, that his administration would cease complying with the 1987 accord that forbids […]

Representatives of seven companies attended a mandatory preproposal briefing for a contract to build custom road equipment needed to transport tritium to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., from a commercial nuclear power plant in Tennessee, according to a document the Department of Energy published online Tuesday. The companies that attended the August meeting, […]

In another sign the final end of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) might be near, South Carolina is trying to negotiate a settlement with the Department of Energy over $100 million the state says it is owed because the unfinished, now-terminated plant never processed plutonium. That is according to a Tuesday order filed […]

Representatives of seven companies attended a mandatory preproposal briefing for a contract to build custom road equipment needed to transport tritium to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., from a commercial nuclear power plant in Tennessee, according to a document the Department of Energy published online Tuesday. The companies that attended, and the number […]

The first round of layoff notices at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will be issued at some point in November, with impacted employees expected to exit in early 2019, the contractor building the Department of Energy plant said in an Oct. 22 letter to employees. The notice was first reported Tuesday […]

The internal emergency response organization at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, responded Tuesday to what the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) described as a “security event" involving an ultimately harmless parked car. “Just before noon on October 23, a routine inspection at Pantex identified a potential concern with a vehicle in the John C. […]

Former government officials suggested Mondayy the Donald Trump administration could reach for either the retired W84 warhead or the workhorse W80 if it wants a nuclear-tipped missile after walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Trump announced Saturday — and reaffirmed Monday — his administration would cease complying with the 1987 accord, which forbids the […]

One of two Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board resident inspectors at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant has left to join the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, a board spokesperson said Thursday. “Ramsey Arnold left the Board on September 21,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “He will be working for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). […]

A September review by the Department of Energy compounded the agency’s alleged transgressions of federal environmental law stemming from a 2016 design change to a next-generation uranium plant under construction at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a band of environmental groups said this week in an amended federal lawsuit. The supplemental analysis DOE’s semiautonomous […]

A longtime lobbyist for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility was laid off today as the Department of Energy closes in on its goal of ending the project. Veteran government-affairs hand Stephen Marlo acknowledged his termination by APTIM in a telephone interview with Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. The Woodlands, Texas, company was created by a private equity […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week postponed a confirmation hearing for the Donald Trump administration’s nominee to be second-in-command at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). William Bookless, a senior physicist form the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, was scheduled to testify before the panel Tuesday, but “this hearing has been postponed,” the committee […]

Honeywell, which through its Federal Services division is a member of four prime contractors for the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear enterprise, said Friday it raked in more sales in a strong quarter than benefited in part from a onetime tax benefit. Third-quarter sales at the parent company rose about 5 percent to a little […]

A delegation of high-profile South Carolina politicians met Thursday with President Donald Trump at the White House to make a last-minute plea to save an embattled plutonium-disposal plant in the Palmetto State — a facility the Department of Energy wants to convert into a weapon factory. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), along with Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), […]

A September review by the Department of Energy compounded the agency’s alleged transgressions of federal environmental law stemming from a 2016 design change to a next-generation uranium plant under construction at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a band of environmental groups said this week in an amended federal lawsuit. The supplemental analysis DOE’s semiautonomous […]

Shooting down a claim to the contrary by his opponent in the upcoming midterm election, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said he would indeed attend a scheduled Thursday meeting at the White House, during which he and other palmetto state pols plan to ask President Donald Trump to the reverse the Department of Energy’s decision to […]

Four universities will split more than $40 million in grant funding under a National Nuclear Security Administration program designed to bolster fundamental science applicable to nuclear weapons, and encourage students to come to work in the nuclear security enterprise, the agency announced Monday. The four universities funded under the recently announced round of the National […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week cancelled a scheduled nomination hearing for the man the Donald Trump administration’s nominated to be second-in-command at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). William Bookless, a senior physicist form the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, but […]