Vol. 23, No. 34 
First B61-12, W88 Alt-370 Units Face 16-18 Month Delay
-
Plutonium Pit Production
Nevada Calls Plutonium Shipment ‘Nuclear Incident’; Seeks Removal, Ban
Calling the Department of Energy’s 2018 shipment of plutonium to Nevada a “nuclear incident” and a nuisance, the state is asking a federal judge to boot half a metric ton of the fissile material out of the Nevada National Security Site (NSS) and prohibit further shipments. The draft amended complaint filed late last week is the latest […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Hurricane Dorian No Longer a Threat to Savannah River Site
After three days of bracing for impact from Hurricane Dorian, officials at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site determined Friday that the storm was no longer a local threat as it moved up the North Carolina coast. According to the emergency status page for the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C., “there are currently no Operational Emergencies or scheduled delays for […]
-
Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
DNFSB Wants October Briefing on Y-12 Criticality Safety
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes to receive a briefing in early October from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) regarding criticality safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. Board member Joyce Connery, writing on behalf of DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton, indicated in an Aug. 23 letter to NNSA Administrator Lisa […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Cesium-137 Spill in Seattle Will Take Several Months to Clean Up
It will take at least “the next several months” to clean up a cesium-137 spill from May at a University of Washington medical research building in Seattle, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Thursday. The public has been barred from the seven-floor Research and Training Building near the Harborview Medical […]
-
Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
DNFSB Demands DOE Formally Accept or Reject Pantex Safety Recommendations
The U.S. Department of Energy has until late September to either accept or reject the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) recommendation that the agency fix perceived safety defects at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, the board said in a recent letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry. According to the Aug. 22 letter, newly […]
-
National Laboratories
McIlroy Taking Over Sandia’s California Campus
Andrew McIlroy has become associate laboratories director for the Sandia National Laboratories California campus in Livermore, Calif., the New Mexico-based laboratory system said Wednesday. McIlroy now will lead the smaller, satellite campus of the main U.S. nuclear-weapon engineering laboratory, which employs about 1,000 people. Among other things, the campus includes the combustion research facility that studies […]