Plutonium Pit Production

South Carolina and the federal government are in talks on a potential settlement for a lawsuit in which the state alleged the government breached an agreement by not processing plutonium through the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in February 2016 sued the Energy Department, then-Energy Secretary […]

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 regularly obstructs MOX construction in an effort to terminate the project. NS&D Monitor obtained the March 8 letter, a response to the NNSA’s […]

A federal judge dismissed Tuesday part of South Carolina’s lawsuit in which it alleged the federal government had breached an agreement with the state by not processing plutonium through the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Specifically, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs dismissed the state’s assertion that the government’s failure to meet the […]

South Carolina and the federal government are conducting discussions toward settling a lawsuit in which the state has alleged that the government breached an agreement by not processing plutonium through the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in February 2016 sued the Energy Department, then-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission lauded CB&I AREVA MOX Services, which is building the embattled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, for its construction program and oversight in an assessment of the contractor’s construction activities and safety performance during 2016. The regulatory body said in a March 2 letter to CB&I AREVA MOX Services that the […]

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. We’ll check in with one long, big-picture update every 25 days, with a regular flow of updates in between to keep you up on news affecting the U.S. nuclear deterrent during […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission lauded CB&I AREVA MOX Services, which is building the embattled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, for its construction program and oversight in an assessment of the contractor’s construction activities and safety performance during 2016. The regulatory body said in a March 2 letter to CB&I AREVA MOX Services that the […]

The contractor building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility received less than 9 percent of its possible award fee in its latest performance evaluation, along with a stinging rebuke from the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA on Feb. 21 released to Savannah River Site Watch its fiscal 2016 performance evaluation report and […]

One of two men accused of stealing more than $4 million from the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site’s MOX program could face up to five years in prison after entering into a plea agreement on Friday. Meanwhile, the other suspect has waived his right to a speedy trial and wants the […]

Operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 65-year-old Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building could extend two years past their latest intended end date, according to management at the Department of Energy facility. The “potential slip” of programmatic operations from 2019 to 2021 was reported in a December letter from lab Director Charles McMillan to […]

Plutonium metal operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site resumed last month, following a yearlong suspension that started with a safety pause induced in September 2015 by facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Plutonium metal operations, in which plutonium is repackaged from its original storage container in K Area, to […]

Plutonium metal operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site resumed last month, following a yearlong suspension that started with a safety pause induced in September 2015 by facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Plutonium metal operations, in which plutonium is repackaged from its original storage container in K Area to […]

Plutonium metal operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site resumed last month, following a yearlong suspension that started with a safety pause induced in September 2015 by facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Plutonium metal operations, in which plutonium is repackaged from its original storage container in K Area, to […]

A federal judge on Monday would not dismiss a South Carolina lawsuit seeking redress for the Energy Department’s failure to remove plutonium from the state, but she did ask the sides whether the dispute should be moved to a different court. In declining to rule on DOE’s claim that South Carolina has no standing to sue […]

A federal judge on Monday would not dismiss a South Carolina lawsuit seeking redress for the Energy Department’s failure to remove plutonium from the state, but she did ask the sides whether the dispute should be moved to a different court. In declining to rule on DOE’s claim that South Carolina has no standing to sue […]

A federal judge on Monday would not dismiss a South Carolina lawsuit seeking redress for the Energy Department’s failure to remove plutonium from the state, but she did ask the sides whether the dispute should be moved to a different court. In declining to rule on DOE’s claim that South Carolina has no standing to sue […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has concluded that the contractor for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility project in South Carolina committed two violations involving structural welding. A Sept. 28 letter from the NRC to CB&I AREVA MOX Services said the base civil penalty of $35,000 would be waived “to encourage prompt and comprehensive […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Plutonium Facility (PF-4) has returned to full operations following a years-long pause in the facility’s fissile material operations, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Fissile material operations at the nation’s only fully capable plutonium research and processing facility were suspended in June 2013 because of criticality safety […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has concluded that the contractor for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility project in South Carolina committed two violations involving structural welding. A Sept. 28 letter from the NRC to CB&I AREVA MOX Services said the base civil penalty of $35,000 would be waived “to encourage prompt and comprehensive […]

This month, the Energy Department will begin preparing some 6 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., a senior agency official said last week at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit. “We’re going to start the downblending activities […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is only 27 percent complete and will cost $17.2 billion, including the $5 billion already spent, according to a recent cost estimate from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration discussed the estimate Thursday during a media briefing and tour of the […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is only 27 percent complete and will cost $17.2 billion, including the $5 billion already spent, according to a recent cost estimate from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration discussed the estimate Thursday during a media briefing and tour of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) may have overstated the cost savings of its updated plutonium analysis strategy, which may not meet the agency’s planned rates of plutonium pit production for nuclear weapons life-extension programs, the Government Accountability Office determined in a report released Tuesday. The NNSA approved the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Chemistry […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has implemented new criticality safety controls at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) after completing a causal analysis on a nuclear material movement error last month, according to lab spokesman Kevin Roark. A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report for the week ending July 8 found that workers […]

A federal judge on Thursday heard arguments for motions in South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium processing at the Savannah River Site, but gave no indication how or when she might rule on the requests. The federal government is seeking immediate dismissal of the state lawsuit demanding $100 million and […]

A federal judge on Thursday heard arguments for motions in South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium processing at the Savannah River Site, but gave no indication how or when she might rule on the requests. The federal government is seeking immediate dismissal of the state lawsuit demanding $100 million and […]

The Department of Energy and South Carolina are set to have it out in federal court Thursday in the first scheduled hearing of a $100 million lawsuit in which the state alleges the DOE blew a legal deadline to dispose of 1 ton of plutonium now stored at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Under a 2003 deal with […]

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday denied the Department of Energy’s request for a delay in proceedings for South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the federal agency. DOE had requested that Judge J. Michelle Childs postpone a June 30 hearing on the state’s request for summary judgment in the civil case charging DOE with failing […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is in its final stages of its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) restart project, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report for the week ending May 20. The report said LANL sent the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Field Office for review and approval a plan […]

The state of South Carolina filed papers on Monday reasserting its request for summary judgment in its multi-million-dollar plutonium disposal lawsuit against the Department of Energy. Also this week, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs rejected DOE’s request to delay a decision on summary judgment until after ruling on the federal agency’s motion to dismiss the […]