Plutonium Pit Production

A local community advisory board wants the U.S. Department of Energy to complete a plutonium downblending mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina a decade earlier than the current projection for fiscal 2046. In a 19-0-1 vote Tuesday, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) agreed to ask the Energy Department to apply more […]

Three U.S. senators — two Democratic presidential candidates and one of the party’s premier nuclear doves — urged House and Senate lawmakers negotiating the final version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to tightly limit future U.S. production of plutonium nuclear-weapon cores. That is according to a letter dated Sept. 13 and delivered to […]

Nevada should not be allowed to seek removal of one-half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from its borders by amending a lawsuit it filed against the Department of Energy last year, according to the federal government. “With no success in convincing this Court that DOE’s transportation of plutonium into the state is so dangerous that […]

Three U.S. senators — two Democratic presidential candidates and one of the party’s premier nuclear doves — urged House and Senate lawmakers negotiating the final version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to tightly limit future U.S. production of plutonium nuclear-weapon cores. That is according to a letter dated Sept. 13 and delivered to […]

As Congress moves to fund Department of Energy conversion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) into a new nuclear-weapon parts plant, a federal attorney is urging the Supreme Court to bury a South Carolina lawsuit that seeks to block the government from shuttering the facility. Redeploying the same legal argument that helped seal […]

As Congress moves to fund Department of Energy conversion of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) into a new nuclear-weapon parts plant, a federal attorney is urging the Supreme Court to bury a South Carolina lawsuit that sought to block the government from shuttering the facility. Redeploying the same legal argument that helped seal […]

Calling the Department of Energy’s 2018 shipment of plutonium to Nevada a “nuclear incident” and a nuisance, the state is asking a federal judge to boot half a metric ton of the fissile material out of the Nevada National Security Site (NSS) and prohibit further shipments. The draft amended complaint filed late last week is the latest […]

Calling the Department of Energy’s 2018 shipment of plutonium to Nevada a “nuclear incident” and a nuisance, the state is asking a federal judge to boot half a metric ton of the fissile material out of the Nevada National Security Site (NSS) and prohibit further shipments. The draft amended complaint filed Friday is the latest change of legal […]

As expected, South Carolina appealed a federal judge’s refusal to force the Department of Energy to pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the state. The state docketed its appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court on Thursday, but had not at deadline Friday filed […]

Merrick & Co. has opened a new office in Aiken, S.C., to support subcontract work on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) expanding plutonium mission, the Greenwood, Colo., nuclear, defense, and infrastructure contractor said. Bill Taylor will manage the new Aiken office, the company said in a press release. Taylor spent the last 15 years […]

Merrick & Co. has opened a new office in Aiken, S.C., to get its foot in the door of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s expanding plutonium mission, the Greenwood, Colo., nuclear, defense, and infrastructure contractor said. Bill Taylor will manage the new Aiken office, the company said in a press release. Taylor spent the last […]

As expected, South Carolina on Friday said it is appealing a federal judge’s refusal to force the Department of Energy to pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the state. That is according to a notice of appeal filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The state had not […]

A federal court on Tuesday declined to make the Department of Energy pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from South Carolina, depriving the state of some leverage in its ongoing court press to rid itself of the surplus nuclear material. “Under the circumstances of this case, plaintiff’s proper course to […]

In the latest turn in a nearly year-old legal battle, Nevada plans to ask a federal judge to force the Department of Energy to remove half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium shipped to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in 2018, according to court papers. The state revealed its plan in a procedural motion […]

A federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to overturn a lower court’s refusal to stop the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) from carrying out an already-completed shipment of plutonium to Nevada. After deciding the appeal on briefs, without an oral argument from either Nevada or attorneys representing the NNSA, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in […]

A “trace amount of plutonium” found inside a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 27 did not endanger any employees, a spokesman for the Department of Energy facility in New Mexico said Wednesday. Employees discovered an “unexpected powdery residue” underneath a brush in a material management room glove box at the […]

A “trace amount of plutonium” found inside a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 27 did not endanger any employees, a spokesman for the Department of Energy facility in New Mexico said Wednesday. Employees discovered an “unexpected powdery residue” underneath a brush in a material management room glove box at the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week it has shipped 1 metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium out of South Carolina as ordered by a federal court in 2017. The Department of Energy and its semiautonomous nuclear-weapon branch “have removed not less than one metric ton of defense plutonium or defense plutonium materials from the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to start building the replacement for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) some time after Sept. 30, 2021, according to the agency’s latest annual report on its nonproliferation programs. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon branch formally terminated construction of the Savannah River Site facility in October, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said late Wednesday it has shipped a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium out of South Carolina, as ordered by a federal court in 2017. The Department of Energy and its semiautonomous nuclear-weapon branch “have removed not less than one metric ton of defense plutonium or defense plutonium materials from the […]

A “trace amount of plutonium” found inside a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 27 did not endanger any employees, a spokesman for the Department of Energy facility in New Mexico said Wednesday. Employees discovered an “unexpected powdery residue” underneath a brush in a material management room glove box at the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to start building the replacement for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) some time after Sept. 30, 2021, according to the agency’s latest annual report on its nonproliferation programs. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon branch formally terminated construction of the Savannah River Site facility in October, […]

As the calendar flipped to August, the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility delivered nearly 30 more layoff notices that will reduce the facility to a skeleton crew of around 350 employees, according to a recent post on a South Carolina government-affiliated website.  CB&I Project Services delivered 29 more pink slips on Aug. 2, according to […]

South Carolina wants the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to raid its defense nuclear nonproliferation budget to pay $200 million in fines for failing to remove weapon-usable plutonium from the state, according to the latest filing in a long-running federal lawsuit. The state claimed in last week’s filing in U.S. District Court that the NNSA’s own […]

The Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) have made “significant progress” settling a $200-million-plus lawsuit, according to a Wednesday court filing. CB&I AREVA MOX Services, now majority owned by McDermott International, sued DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in 2016, alleging the agencies […]

The Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF)  have made “significant progress” settling a $200-million-plus lawsuit, according to a Wednesday court filing. CB&I AREVA MOX Services, now majority owned by McDermott International, sued DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in 2016, alleging the agency […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has demanded the U.S. Supreme Court consider the case of South Carolina and the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), which the state’s senior senator says has turned the Savannah River Site into a permanent plutonium dumping ground. Graham made his argument in an amicus curiae brief filed with the court on July […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has demanded the U.S. Supreme Court consider the case of South Carolina and the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), which the state’s senior senator says has turned the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., into a permanent plutonium dumping ground. Graham made his argument in an amicus curiae brief filed […]

After settlement talks collapsed, a federal judge this week cleared the way for a long-awaited decision in a $200-million lawsuit between South Carolina and the Department of Energy over the federal government’s failure to remove plutonium from the state. The Energy Department and the state had for more than a year tried to settle the […]

South Carolina and the Department of Energy said last week they had failed to settle a $200-million lawsuit over the federal government’s failure to begin removing weapon-usable plutonium from the state by Jan. 1, 2016. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims case had been on hold for about a year, during which DOE made only […]