Plutonium Pit Production

Oral arguments are set for May 23 between the contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) and its customer, the National Nuclear Security Administration, over some $800,000 in interest the contractor says it is owed. CB&I Areva MOX Services sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in 2016, and repeatedly afterward in […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) indicated Monday it will not start disposal of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium in South Carolina until 2028 — a date by which the agency could accrue more than $1 billion in financial penalties for failing to remove the material from the South Carolina facility. The semiautonomous […]

The Department of Energy’s contractor for the now-terminated plutonium recycling facility at the Savannah River Site is suing to recoup what it says is nearly $53 million the federal government failed to pay for its work. CB&I AREVA MOX Services added in its May 2 lawsuit that the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) suspended work for two weeks last month after an employee accidentally cut the tip of a glove while handling metal samples that contained tritium, according to a recent report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The employee, a principle investigator, was not injured. But, according to the […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration were set to meet Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in Nevada on Friday, about a week after after the Silver State’s senior senator stopped blocking nominees for senior Department of Energy jobs because of a contentious plutonium shipment last […]

The management and operations contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has hired 900 employees to date in fiscal 2019, part of its efforts to offset workforce attrition and to ramp up current and upcoming missions. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) plans to hire up to 300 more workers before the fiscal year […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) indicated Monday it will not start disposal of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium in South Carolina until 2028 — a date by which the agency could accrue more than $1 billion in financial penalties for failing to remove the material from the South Carolina facility. The semiautonomous […]

The Department of Energy’s contractor for the now-terminated plutonium recycling facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is suing to recoup what it says is nearly $53 million the federal government failed to pay for its work. CB&I AREVA MOX Services said in its May 2 lawsuit that the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) this week agreed to stop blocking nominees for high-level Department of Energy jobs after securing an in-person meeting in Nevada with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The senator, her staff, and the DOE top-dogs are set to tour the […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory management contractor Triad National Security must quickly change the issues-management practices it inherited from its predecessor to prevent problems with plutonium facilities from spiraling out of control and derailing planned production of nuclear-weapon cores starting in 2026, the Energy Department said in a report Monday. The report comes from DOE’s Office of Nuclear […]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration should reconsider their decision to make nuclear-weapon cores in two states beginning in 2030 after yet another study concluded the plan cannot meet a White House production deadline, a key lawmaker said this week in a hearing here. “The Institute for Defense Analyses found that […]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration should reconsider their decision to make nuclear-weapon cores in two states beginning in 2030 after yet another study concluded the plan cannot meet a White House production deadline, a key lawmaker said here in a Wednesday hearing. “The Institute for Defense Analyses found that none […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) on Tuesday agreed to stop blocking nominees for high-level Department of Energy jobs after securing an in-person meeting on storage of plutonium in Nevada with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The senator, her staff, and the DOE top-dogs are set […]

An appeals court will “likely” hear arguments about why the Department of Energy should remove half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from Nevada by August, attorneys for the state wrote in a Monday court filing. The news dropped in a filing with the U.S. District Court for Nevada, in which the state reasserted its […]

A key figure in federal lawsuits involving weapon-usable plutonium moved last year to the Nevada National Security Sitehas retired from the Department of Energy, the agency confirmed this week. Henry Allen Gunter left DOE after a long federal career, a spokesperson for DOE’s Environmental Management Office at Savannah River confirmed in an email Tuesday. The […]

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon danced around questions this week about whether the National Nuclear Security Administration can support the planned deployment of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles if Congress allows the civilian agency to build only a single plutonium pit-production plant. But with lawmakers headed back to Washington next week to prepare bills that will […]

WASHINGTON – A senior Pentagon official declined to say here Wednesday whether he believes the Department of Energy can deliver nuclear warheads for next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles on time if Congress does not fund both the plutonium-pit production plants the civilian agency wants to build. “I’m aware of the issue, but I wouldn’t want to […]

A panel of appeals judges will hear oral argument from Nevada by early October about why the Department of Energy should remove a half metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site’s Device Assembly Facility. That is according to a Monday order in which the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals told the […]

South Carolina says the U.S. Department of Energy owes another $100 million for failing to meet its commitment for disposal of plutonium from the Savannah River Site, and will owe more in 2020 even if the agency meets its federal court-mandated deadline to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from the state by the end […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce the fissile nuclear-weapon cores known as plutonium pits in two states is “potentially achievable,” according to a new study the agency publicized, but did not release, this week. Congress last year ordered the secretary of defense, in consultation with NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, to commission a […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week revealed new details about its proposed dilute-and-dispose plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium — including that the agency is close to beginning a yearlong environmental review of its new approach. The agency will release its draft dilute-and-dispose supplemental environmental impact statement “in the very […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce the fissile nuclear-weapon cores known as plutonium pits in two states is “potentially achievable,” according to a new study the agency publicized, but did not release, on Wednesday. Congress last year ordered the secretary of defense, in consultation with NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, to commission a […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a Monday procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]

After Nevada demanded in a lawsuit that the Department of Energy produce detailed records of all plutonium shipments to and within the state during the last 20 years, the agency on Thursday asked a federal judge to dismiss the case entirely. Nevada sued DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in November to stop […]

Nevada is demanding that the Department of Energy produce detailed records of all plutonium shipments to and within the state during the last 20 years, a Monday court filing shows. It was only one of 65 demands from Nevada in a 28-page list made public Monday by the U.S. attorney representing DOE and its National Nuclear […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was not moved by a Department of Energy statement this week that plutonium stored in the Nevada National Security Site’s Device Assembly Facility is safe from earthquakes that might cause high explosives to detonate in the facility and spew plutonium into the air beyond the site’s borders. “The […]

Democratic members of Nevada’s congressional delegation on Monday called on key House appropriators to prevent the federal government from moving forward with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository or shipping any more plutonium to the state. Nevada’s leaders have for decades fought the U.S. government’s effort to make their state home to the nation’s stockpile […]

South Carolina has named its terms for settling a $200-million plutonium lawsuit against the Department of Energy, according to a late Tuesday court filing. South Carolina on Jan. 30 gave attorneys at the Justice Department “a list of potential terms for negotiation” in the ongoing settlement talks that began in October, according to a status […]

On Wednesday, only days after announcing he will not stand for re-election, Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) again roasted Energy Secretary Rick Perry for the decision to move most of the agency’s plutonium-pit production out of New Mexico. The Donald Trump administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review directed DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to make […]

South Carolina has named its terms for settling a $200-million plutonium lawsuit against the Department of Energy, according to a late Tuesday court filing. South Carolina on Jan. 30 gave attorneys at the Justice Department “a list of potential terms for negotiation” in the ongoing settlement talks that began in October, according to a status […]