Vol. 23, No. 28 
Nuke, ICBM Programs Spared From Further Reductions in 2020 House NDAA; W76-2 Banned
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Centrus Starts Work on New Enrichment Cascade Under Letter Contract From DOE
Centrus Energy Corp. has started work on a next-generation uranium enrichment cascade that could give the company a leg up in the competition to build the next domestic enrichment facility for national defense, according to a document published Wednesday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a June 27 letter to the federal regulator, the Bethesda, Md., […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Z Machine Back Online After Massive Generator Failures in June
The Z Pulsed Power Facility at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., was back online this week after a serious accident in June knocked the facility out of commission for three weeks, a senior laboratory employee said this week. The June 17 accident, which shook Sandia’s high-energy density physics lab longer and harder than […]
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Defense Low-Level Waste
Energy Dept. Rad Waste Shipments to NNSS Violated Site’s Acceptance Criteria, Nev. Gov. Says
The Department of Energy acknowledged Wednesday that for six years it sent nuclear weapons waste to the Nevada National Security Site in violation of its waste acceptance criteria. The agency confirmed the information the same day Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) made it public in a press release. Senior DOE officials including Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Appeals Judges Won’t Bother With Oral Arguments in Nev. Plutonium Case
A federal appeals court decided last week it does not need to hear oral arguments about whether the U.S. government violated environmental law when it sent half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada in 2018. In what could be a sign that judges will rule swiftly on Nevada’s appeal of a lower […]
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Non-Proliferation
Former NNSA Leadership Duo Urges New START Extension
WASHINGTON — The Barack Obama administration’s National Nuclear Security Administration leadership duo whipped the Donald Trump administration here Wednesday to immediately extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia and forget, for now, about modifying the pact. The bilateral treaty, which limits Moscow and Washington to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 […]
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Non-Proliferation
Cesium-137 From Busted Irradiator Leaving Seattle Next Week for DOE Lab
The Department of Energy is scheduled next week to send a cesium-137 source that contaminated a University of Washington building in May to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for “forensic analysis,” an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Until then, the damaged irradiator’s cesium-137 source remains in the Research and Training Building near the university’s Harborview […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Preparations Begin for H Canyon Roof Repair at Savannah River
Preparations began this week for repairing the roof on the H Canyon facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, with the physical repairs due to start later this summer. In January, the Energy Department announced plans to spend an estimated $1 million from the SRS fiscal 2019 maintenance and […]
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National Laboratories
DOE Inspector General Continues Probe of Grant Money Use by Los Alamos Group
The Department of Energy inspector general has “potential concerns” about agency oversight of $500,000 in grant money awarded to a regional group that promotes economic development around the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the assessment offered in a July 2 memorandum from Deputy Inspector General Michelle Anderson to DOE Undersecretary for […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Northrop Grumman’s Warden Adds Chairman Role To Leadership Duties
As expected, Northrop Grumman on Tuesday said that its board has elected Kathy Warden as its chairman effective Aug. 1, adding to her current duties of president and CEO of the $30 billion defense company. Warden succeeds Wes Bush, who has been the company’s chairman since July 2011. Bush will resign from the board effective July […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
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