Vol. 21, No. 33

Contracts & Procurement

Contractors Cram in for Meetings on New LANL Ops Pact

It was a packed house at the Los Alamos National Laboratory this week, when the Energy Department hosted would-be bidders on a new, decade-spanning contract to manage and operate the nuclear weapons facility. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is managing the forthcoming procurement for DOE, did not release an official headcount or attendees […]
  • Budget & Policy

    Expected Stopgap Spending Bill Would Slow Modernization, Prevent Excess Facility Transfers

    The National Nuclear Security Administration will apparently wait until at least December for the funding increase the White House has proposed, as Congress is expected to move quickly on a short-term spending bill that will hold the federal budget at current levels for the first three months of fiscal 2018. The move would, at least temporarily, […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Senate to Take Up NDAA Next Week

    The Senate is scheduled to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018 when Congress returns from recess next week. A spokesman for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday the annual military authorization legislation “will be on the floor next week,” although the exact timing of debate was yet to be decided. The bill […]

  • National Laboratories

    Gibbs to Return to LANL as Deputy Director

    Scott Gibbs is returning to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico more than three years after retiring from a senior management position at the Department of Energy facility. Gibbs will be back at LANL on Sept. 5 as deputy director for mission assurance, lab spokesman Matthew Nerzig said by email Monday. Gibbs’ […]

  • Plutonium Pit Production

    NNSA Working on ‘Thorough Review’ of LANL Pit Production

    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 […]

  • Transuranic Waste

    NNSA Satisfied With Review at Los Alamos Transuranic Waste Facility

    The National Nuclear Security Administration said Thursday it is is pleased with the outcome of a federal operational readiness review (FORR) for the Transuranic Waste Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, in which 12 of the 13 functional areas passed muster. “This was a successful review in the eyes of […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    Some Striking Savannah River Security Personnel Have Returned to Work

    A portion of the Savannah River Site’s security personnel with union representation are on the job this week even as nearly 300 of their colleagues remain on strike in the wake of failed labor negotiations. Of the 337 security employees represented by the United Professional Pro-Force of Savannah River (PPSR), 48 are currently working. That […]

  • National Laboratories

    SRS Security Industry Day Draws Dozens

    About four dozen people representing a host of security companies and Energy Department contractors attended the Aug. 14 industry day for the new paramilitary services contract for DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Among the companies represented were current security provider Centerra, BWX Technologies, Wastren Advantage, the Government Training Institute, Paragon Systems, Professional Project […]

  • Non-Proliferation

    NNSA Touts Role in Removing HEU From Ghana

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Tuesday it helped remove 1 kilogram of Chinese highly enriched uranium from Ghana, clearing the last cache of such nuclear weapon-usable material out of the West African nation. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said in a press release it cooperated with Ghana, China, and the International Atomic […]

  • Non-Proliferation

    IAEA, Kazakhstan, Mark Ceremonial Opening of LEU Bank

    The International Atomic Energy Agency ceremonially opened a $150-million facility in Kazakhstan to store and distribute nuclear-power fuel for peaceful uses, the United Nations-chartered body announced Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank Storage Facility at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk will eventually distribute LEU to IAEA member states that […]

  • Life Extension Programs

    NNSA Reveals New Flight Tests for B61-12

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Monday revealed it tested components of the B61-12 gravity bomb intended it is developing as part of the U.S. nuclear modernization effort. The two qualification flights took place Aug. 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the NNSA said in a press release published on its website. […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Top HASC Dem Dings DOD for ‘Rushing’ Nuke Missile Contracts

    The Pentagon should not have rushed to hand out more than $1 billion in contracts to modernize U.S. nuclear missiles before the Donald Trump administration completes the Nuclear Posture Review it started in January, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said Sunday. “We should not be doubling down on these legacy nuclear […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Lockheed Won’t Protest Air Force GBSD Contracts

    Lockheed Martin, which recently lost a competition to mature designs for the U.S. Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), announced Aug. 30 that it has chosen not to challenge the contracts awarded to two rivals. “After receiving a debrief and reviewing information provided, Lockheed Martin has accepted the Air Force’s decision on the Ground […]

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