Vol. 20, No. 40 
Lockheed Submits GBSD Bid, Announces Teaming Contractors
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
NNSA OKs Safety Plan for Y-12 Buildings’ Extended Life Program
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office (NPO) has signed off on a safety plan for extending the service lives of two key facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. Next up is completion of an Extended Life Program implementation plan for Buildings 9204-2E and 9215 by Nov. 1 of this year, according […]
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Budget & Policy
Members of Congress Again Urge No-First-Use Nuke Policy
Members of Congress have again called on President Barack Obama to adopt a policy of nuclear no-first-use despite the administration’s indication that it will not make such a change during the remainder of the president’s term. The Oct. 13 letter to Obama, signed by 22 members of Congress – including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Keith Ellison […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
PF-4 in Full Operation at LANL
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 […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
NRC Confirms Structural Welding Deficiencies at MOX, Waives Penalty
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 […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Audit: No Long-Term Strategy for SRS H Canyon Facility
A recent audit found that the Department of Energy has not developed a long-term strategy for operating the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon – a nuclear materials processing facility that is scheduled to remain open through 2024. The audit, conducted by the DOE Inspector General’s Office, was released on Sept. 26, and also says H Canyon […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Wrap Up: NNSA Completes First Phase of Underground Nuclear Explosive Experiments
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday detonated a conventional explosive underground at the Nevada National Security Site, the sixth in a set of experiments meant to enhance U.S. abilities to monitor low-yield nuclear testing and detect underground explosions. The activity, part of the agency’s Source Physics Experiment research, involved the detonation of chemical […]