Vol. 23, No. 39 
NNSA Formalizes Decision to Continue UPF Construction Following Court Paperwork Order
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Budget & Policy
NNSA Boss Visits With Key House Appropriator
The head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) got some face time this week with a key House appropriator, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who would play a major part in closed-door 2020 budget negotiations later this year. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty visited with Kaptur in the latter’s 9th Congressional District of Ohio. Kaptur […]
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Budget & Policy
House’s Top DOE Appropriator Interested in Leading Committee
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the House’s top appropriator for the Department of Energy, is interested in taking over the full Appropriations Committee in 2021 after her colleague, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), retires early that year at the end of the 116th Congress. In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Kaptur, chair of the House […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Centerra Inks Four-Month Extension as SRS Security Contractor
The security contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina received a four-month extension Friday, keeping the company on the job through Feb. 7, 2020. Centerra-SRS, a subsidiary of Florida-based Centerra, will receive $35.8 million during the extension, the Energy Department said, just three days before the company’s initial 10-year, […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Supreme Court Could Announce Decision on Hearing MFFF Case Early Next Week
After the federal holiday on Monday, South Carolina will find out whether the Supreme Court will hear its case that an appellate court illegally allowed the U.S. Department of Energy to cancel construction down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) last year. On Friday, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hold a conference, in […]
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Budget & Policy
Senate Appropriations Panel Wants DOE Data on Livermore Excess Facilities
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a report from the U.S. Energy Department on what it will take to decommission excess facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over the next 10 years. The panel made the request on Sept. 12 in a report accompanying its version of the $49-billion energy and water development […]
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Non-Proliferation
Latest New START Numbers Show Little Change in U.S., Russian Nuke Forces
The United States and Russia both remained in compliance with the New START nuclear arms-control treaty through Sept. 1, with each signatory making only minor changes across their strategic nuclear forces, the U.S. State Department reported in its latest update. Under the bilateral pact, which entered into force in 2011, the State Department publishes a […]
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Non-Proliferation
Missouri Lawmakers Request NRC Hearing on Weapon-Grade Uranium Export Application
Two members of Congress from Missouri are calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold an open hearing on a license application for export of weapon-grade uranium to Europe. The Department of Energy on July 31 filed an application for export of nearly 4.8 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to the Institute for Radioelements […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Testing and Training Ongoing Ahead of SRNL Plutonium Recovery Mission
Equipment testing and staff training is ongoing at a mock-up facility that will recover plutonium from metal cylinders used decades ago in nuclear reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The $100 million plutonium recovery mission at the 310-square-mile site near the city of Aiken is slated to begin […]
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Budget & Policy
Business as Usual for Some DOE Advisory Committees After Culling Deadline
At least some of the advisory committees chartered to provide independent perspective on nuclear matters to the Department of Energy — including one that represents the neighbors of Cold War nuclear-weapon sites — continued to operate beyond a Sept. 30 presidential deadline to cull such groups. President Donald Trump on June 14 ordered federal department heads to […]
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Decommissioning
Centrus Energy Finishes $15M Decommissioning Project at Oak Ridge
Centrus Energy on Wednesday said it had finished the $15 million decontamination and decommissioning of the K-1600 plant at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Bethesda, Md.-based nuclear fuel supplier met its budget and schedule commitments for the job, according to a press release. “I’m pleased our team was able […]