Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

As House and Senate lawmakers this week debate whether to tighten congressional scrutiny of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons production contract, the agency is pressing ahead on all cylinders with the deal, which was extended for two years just this spring. The Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, passed in June, mandates that […]

Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command and effectively customer-in-chief for the nuclear weapons maintained by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), toured the Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week. Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor sister publication Weapons Complex Morning Briefing was first to confirm Hyten’s visit this week. Hyten on Thursday […]

Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command and effectively customer-in-chief for the nuclear weapons maintained by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is scheduled today to tour the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Hyten was set to tour the site’s tritium facilities, which process a crucial hydrogen isotope that magnifies the explosive power […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is considering a radical restructuring of its nuclear weapons mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, including moving some work to another location. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency, said she must at least consider winding down certain operations at the Aiken, S.C., […]

As House and Senate lawmakers this week debate whether to tighten congressional scrutiny of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons production contract, the agency is pressing ahead on all cylinders with the deal, which was extended for two years just this spring. The Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, passed in June, mandates that […]

Among the jurists who President Donald Trump could tap to fill an impending Supreme Court vacancy are two who were involved with the case of an octogenarian nun who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and , and defaced a uranium storehouse. Judge Amul Thapar, presently of the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]

Among the jurists who President Donald Trump could tap to fill an impending Supreme Court vacancy are two who were involved with the case of an octogenarian nun who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and defaced a uranium storehouse. Judge Amul Thapar, presently of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons sites, reached a new collective bargaining agreement with a union representing Y-12 security personnel in Tennessee. The five-year contract with International Guards Union of America will go into effect in August and run through Aug. 15, 2023, according […]

Among the jurists who President Donald Trump could tap to fill an impending Supreme Court vacancy are two who were involved with the case of an octogenarian nun who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and , and defaced a uranium storehouse. Judge Amul Thapar, presently of the U.S. Court of Appeals […]

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Tuesday helped to formally begin construction of a new office building for agency employees in New Mexico. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty was joined by, among others, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) to break ground on the Albuquerque Complex: office space for nearly 1,000 NNSA headquarters employees. The […]

Safety procedures that would prevent radiological injuries and fatalities must be implemented at the Savannah River Site’s tritium facilities, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a recent letter addressing unfinished revisions to SRS safety documents. The safety watchdog laid out its concerns in a June 4 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) last week elected a new member to its Board of Directors and re-elected another six members. First-time board member Bob Miklos is director of Production Facilities and Infrastructure at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex. He has 30 years of experience with nuclear facilities and also chairs EFCOG’s project […]

Consolidated National Security said last week it has since 2015 awarded some $725 million in purchase orders and subcontracts for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. “Some of the largest awards included structural steel, rebar, specialized equipment and a subcontract for an onsite concrete batch plant,” the project prime […]

The Department of Energy could be allowed to develop new nuclear warheads, or modify existing ones, without permission from Congress, after the Senate on Thursday defeated an amendment to its 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The version of the defense policy bill pending before the Senate would still authorize $65 million in 2019 spending […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) this week resumed casting enriched uranium at the World War II-vintage Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a company spokesperson said Thursday. Casting was offline for about two-and-a-half months after an unspecified quantity of fissile material leaked into machinery at the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

Consolidated National Security said Thursday it has since 2015 awarded some $725 million in purchase orders and subcontracts for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. “Some of the largest awards included structural steel, rebar, specialized equipment and a subcontract for an onsite concrete batch plant,” the project prime said […]

A federal judge ruled Thursday the U.S. Department of Energy cannot legally stop work at the Savannah River Site’s multibillion-dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility plutonium recycling plant, finding the agency did not follow safety and environmental protocols before attempting to shutter the project. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled in favor of the […]

The House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation that fully funds a new low-yield warhead in fiscal 2019, shies away from a future warhead usable by both Air Force and Navy missiles, and potentially trips up the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to make warhead cores in two states. The House voted 235-179, essentially along […]

The Senate adjourned for the week Thursday without passing a 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would authorize work on a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, and delay the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to begin producing plutonium pits in South Carolina. A report appended to the massive military policy bill would also ratchet up […]

A federal judge in South Carolina could rule by Friday whether to prohibit the U.S. Department of Energy from issuing a full stop work order at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said Tuesday. The state is asking U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs for a preliminary injunction to prevent DOE from fully […]

The Senate’s version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which could hit the floor for debate this week, is the third piece of federal legislation produced this year to block the Department of Energy’s plan to cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on […]

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday will ask a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Energy from stopping construction of its plutonium conversion plant at the Savannah River Site. The state filed a preliminary injunction request and full lawsuit on May 25 in U.S. District Court with the […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to start planning for accommodating 34 metric tons of processed plutonium that was supposed to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. Energy Secretary Perry officially canceled the MOX […]

The House and Senate disagree about whether to fund construction of new tritium facilities at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019, according to their latest appropriations proposals. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in a bill approved late last week, fully backed the Trump administration’s $27 million request for new tritium-related infrastructure at the South Carolina […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to start planning for accommodating 34 metric tons of processed plutonium that was supposed to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. Energy Secretary Perry officially canceled the MOX […]

Making good on a recent threat, South Carolina on Friday sued the Department of Energy over its plan to halt construction of a plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site. In a 42-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said shuttering the MOX program will breach a deal between […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved Charles Verdon of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense programs office. The committee approved Verdon’s nomination by a voice vote. The nuclear engineer, currently principal associate director at Livermore’s weapons and complex integration directorate, now needs approval from the […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration does not think it needs to conduct additional environmental study of the next-generation Uranium Processing Facility being built at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. That is the preliminary conclusion of the semiautonomous civilian steward of the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, expressed Monday in a 69-page […]

South Carolina could sue the Department of Energy today over plans to terminate the Savannah River Site’s MOX project, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a letter Tuesday to DOE Secretary Rick Perry. The Energy Department earlier this month formalized plans to convert the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) for production of […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved Charles Verdon of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense programs office. The committee approved Verdon’s nomination by a voice vote. The nuclear engineer, currently principal associate director at Livermore’s weapons and complex integration directorate, now needs approval from the […]