Vol. 4, No. 60 Senate Confirms Brouillette as 15th Energy Secretary
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National Laboratories
Sandia Lab Gets New Director
James Peery will become director of the Sandia National Laboratories on Jan. 1, after current director Stephen Younger retires, the multi-state Department of Energy nuclear-weapon-engineering lab announced Monday. Peery is now associate laboratory director of national security sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. In that role, he succeeded Brent Park, who […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
New NNSA Albuquerque Protective Services Contract Due This Month
Some time before the new year, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will award a new protective forces contract to guard its Albuquerque Complex at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M. The three-year contract will include a one-year base period and two one-year options, according to a Nov. 19 solicitation from the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Washington State Ecology Chief to Retire
Washington state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon said Monday she would retire at the end of this month. Ecology is the state regulator for the U.S. Department of Energy’s sprawling Hanford Site through a variety of permits including the dangerous waste, or site-wide, permit. Bellon announced her pending retirement Monday after 25 years as […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
AECOM Parts Ways with Chief Legal Officer
AECOM disclosed Nov. 29 that Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Carla Christofferson was resigning her post effective immediately. The Los Angeles-based infrastructure multinational said its leadership and Christofferson “mutually agreed” she would resign her management position, but would remain a “non-executive” employee of AECOM through Dec. 16, according to a filing with the […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
BWXT Taps Broussard to Run Ohio Reactor-Parts Factory
BWX Technologies has tapped Dave Broussard, a former contractor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, to be general manager of the company’s nuclear-naval parts factory in Barberton, Ohio. Broussard will take over the 750-person manufacturing site as it prepares to hire 80 more people and spent $80 million to ramp up production of […]
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Transuranic Waste
Advocacy Groups Question Why WIPP Needs New Utility Shaft
The U.S. Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is optimistic the state will green light its plans for a new utility shaft that is opposed by two local advocacy groups. “The project remains on course as we prepare for the construction process,” Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesman Bobby […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Steel From Terminated MOX Plant Donated to School Welding Programs
Thousands of pounds of stainless steel originally intended for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., has been donated to welding programs at nearby high schools and colleges. Fifteen high schools and colleges each received a ton of metal from the U.S. Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
NRC Nuclear Waste Fund Spending Remains Minimal
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $485 of its remaining balance from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving it with $405,992 absent further appropriations from Congress. As has been the case for most of the year, the agency spent just a few hundred dollars on unspecified program planning and support, according to the […]
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Non-Proliferation
NRC Preparing Supplement to Environmental Impact Statement on SHINE Isotope Plant
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is accepting comments from the public through Jan. 13 on the scope of an add-on to its environmental impact statement (EIS) for SHINE Medical Technologies’ isotope production plant in Janesville, Wis. The agency issued the original document in October 2015 for SHINE’s application for a construction permit for its facility, […]