Plutonium Pit Production

Water leaked into a plutonium pit-storage area at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, after an August thunderstorm, the Department of Energy disclosed this month. On Aug. 13 and 14, thunderstorms dumped about 2 inches of rain on the north Texas city, according to data compiled by the National Weather Service. During the storm, “rain […]

Workers responsible for a breach of criticality safety procedures at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are back on the job, the lab’s prime contractor confirmed this week. The workers had been temporarily “disqualified” from working at Los Alamos’ Plutonium Facility after moving a shell — part of a nuclear-weapon core — into […]

There was another criticality safety scare at the Los Alamos National Laboratory over the summer, the federal government’s independent defense-nuclear watchdog disclosed in a recent report. On Aug. 18, personnel at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Plutonium Facility moved a shell into an area that already contained plutonium, according to a report uploaded to the […]

At the prodding of a senior U.S. senator, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is working on a “thorough review” of its primary plutonium-pit production facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a spokesman for the semiautonomous Energy Department agency said Tuesday. In early August, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) — after reading […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) is improving its nuclear criticality safety program, amid reporting this week of ongoing safety issues at the New Mexico site. Perry said during a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing that Los Alamos has “made significant progress with hiring […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) is improving its nuclear criticality safety program, amid reporting this week of ongoing safety issues at the New Mexico site. Perry said during a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing that Los Alamos has “made significant progress with hiring […]

National Nuclear Security Administration head Frank Klotz has disputed in a new statement a recent investigative report on safety issues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4). The Center for Public Integrity in a June 18 article wrote about the 2013 shutdown of operations at the site’s PF-4 due to criticality safety program […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reviewing options for the future location of plutonium pit production, an agency official has said, leaving open the door for that capability to potentially be moved away from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. James McConnell, the NNSA’s associate administrator for safety, infrastructure and operation, said June […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold its first public hearing of the Donald Trump administration in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday, when the independent nuclear watchdog will consider the nuclear-safety of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium production program. The hearing, “Understanding the Safety Posture of the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” […]

The Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal sustains its predecessor’s plan to terminate the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, a decision the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said is unrelated to carryover in leadership at his agency. The NNSA’s $13.9 billion budget proposal includes $1.8 billion […]

The Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal sustains its predecessor’s plan to terminate the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s $13.9 billion budget proposal includes $1.8 billion for the defense nuclear nonproliferation account, of which $279 million would go toward nonproliferation construction – a […]

While negotiating the best path forward to remove plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the state is also looking for resolution for the $200 million it is seeking from the federal government. Under a court order, the state and federal governments are in talks to resolve the plutonium dispute. The South Carolina […]

The Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal sustains its predecessor’s plan to terminate the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s $13.9 billion budget proposal includes $1.8 billion for the defense nuclear nonproliferation account, of which $279 million would go toward nonproliferation construction – a […]

While negotiating the best path forward to remove plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the state is also looking for resolution for the $200 million it is seeking from the federal government. Under a court order, the state and federal governments are in talks to resolve the plutonium dispute. The South Carolina […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Friday it has scheduled a public hearing in Santa Fe, N.M., on June 7 to discuss safety concerns at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s main nuclear production area, the Technical Area 55 Plutonium Facility. The session will begin at 5 p.m. Mountain time and runs through 9:45 p.m. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission offered another positive assessment of contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services’ work in building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The regulator said in a May 10 letter to contractor President and COO David Del Vecchio that “no violations or deviations were […]

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 31 in Columbia, S.C., for one of two men accused of stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site’s MOX program. Aaron Vennefron, the founder of Ohio-based AV Security, pleaded not guilty to a host of charges in February. If he wants to plead guilty, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission offered another positive assessment of contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services’ work in building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The regulator said in a May 10 letter to contractor President and COO David Del Vecchio that “no violations or deviations were […]

The Department of Energy is months late in providing Congress with a mandatory annual report on the MOX program at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to documents released Thursday. SRS Watch, a local nuclear watchdog, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on March 15 asking DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to provide […]

President Donald Trump is expected today to sign into law an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2017 that largely maintains funding for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina while leaving room to study former President Barack Obama’s proposed alternative method of plutonium disposition. This means questions about the future of […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday released an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2017 that suggests congressional support for former President Barack Obama’s proposed alternative method of plutonium disposition, raising questions about the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction in South Carolina. The omnibus bill provides $12.9 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, […]

A company hired to provide specialty steel bars for construction of the MOX facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has agreed to pay $4.6 million in damages after being accused of supplying “defective steel reinforcing bar,” the Department of Justice said this week. Energy & Process Corp., a Georgia-based supplier […]

A company hired to provide specialty steel bars for construction of the MOX facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has agreed to pay $4.6 million in damages after being accused of supplying “defective steel reinforcing bar,” the Department of Justice said this week. Energy & Process Corp., a Georgia-based supplier […]

A federal judge has granted the state of South Carolina and the Energy Department an additional three months to come up with proposed deadlines and schedules for removing 1 ton of plutonium from the state. The removal order is the result of the state’s 2016 lawsuit against DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last year, which […]

Ten members of the House of Representatives from South Carolina and Georgia are urging Energy Secretary Rick Perry to sustain construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The Obama administration tried to cancel the decade-old project, through which Washington would meet its commitment to a nonproliferation […]

Ten members of the House of Representatives from South Carolina and Georgia are urging Energy Secretary Rick Perry to sustain construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The Obama administration sought to cancel the facility, through which Washington would meet its commitment to a nonproliferation agreement […]

Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in New Ellenton, S.C., on April 18 to discuss the agency’s latest performance evaluation of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The regulator gave a positive review of 2016 operations at the plant intended to process 34 […]

Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in New Ellenton, S.C., on April 18 to discuss the agency’s latest performance evaluation of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The regulator gave a largely positive review of 2016 operations at the plant intended to process […]

A federal judge on Monday ordered that 1 metric ton of plutonium be removed from South Carolina, but did not set a schedule for that to happen. The state sued the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last year, claiming they had breached a 2003 agreement to by Jan. 1, 2016, […]

CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the contractor managing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility near Aiken, S.C., said in a new letter to the National Nuclear Security Administration that the agency is attempting to terminate the project through a campaign of consistent obstruction. NS&D Monitor obtained the March 8 letter, a response to the […]