Vol. 24, No. 13 
Nine COVID-19 Cases Confirmed Within NNSA Weapons Complex, Hundreds Affected
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Stimulus Bill Passes With Relief for DOE Workforce
Congress’ third coronavirus relief package, passed Friday, should help blunt the financial repercussions of the soaring unemployment and depressed stock market that have accompanied the outbreak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week during a press conference just before the vote. “The most important part of the bill was making it clear that the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Fluor Girds Against Possible Takeover During COVID-19 Stock Plunge
Having already taken its financial lumps during the past year, Energy Department contractor Fluor announced a measure Wednesday meant to ensure its shareholders get a fair shake “in the event of any proposed takeover.” The limited-duration stockholder rights agreement will also shield against “abusive tactics to gain control of the Company without paying all Fluor […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Centrus Boosted Revenue, Cut Losses in 2019, but Virus Obscures Path to Profit
Centrus Energy Corp. closed out 2019 by boosting revenues and trimming its losses from the prior year, but management said the COVID-19 pandemic has for now dimmed the company’s hopes of returning to profitability in 2020. On Wednesday, the Bethesda, Md.-based uranium-fuel broker and centrifuge developer reported a 2019 net loss of about $16.5 million, […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Nuke Waste Conference Goers Negative for COVID-19
The Waste Management Symposia on Tuesday said both attendees at this year’s event who showed signs of possible COVID-19 infection had tested negative. Test results for “Attendee #1” were received Tuesday, one day after the results for “Attendee #2,” according to a statement from James Gallagher, chairman of the board for the annual nuclear cleanup […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Navy Anticipates COVID-19 Will Affect Shipyards
Top Navy officials have not seen any shipyard delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet, but they are expecting and planning for future issues. “[T]o date we haven’t seen any sort of perturbations in that right now but we are anticipating that there will be, and we’re looking at what that might cost with respect […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Court Arguments Over Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Plutonium Fines Set for May
South Carolina’s attempt to wrench hundreds of millions of dollars in fines over Department of Energy management of plutonium in the state is headed to oral arguments before a panel of appeals judges May 5, according to a recent court filing. The South Carolina state government has been trying to extract the money from DOE […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
DNFSB Wants Memo of Understanding With DOE to Fix Order 140.1 Concerns
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to further improve the contentious relationship between the federal agencies. That would be an additional measure on top of DOE’s revision to the controversial Order 140.1 that revised its interactions with the board. The revision comes after Congress last year directed […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Procurement, Production Inexperience Contributed to Contamination at Nevad Site After Subcritical Test
The containment vessel that blew a leak during a subcritical nuclear test last year in Nevada was not properly designed or procured, the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory concluded in a final report about the accident. The independent federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) summarized the lab’s unreleased report in a recent monthly review […]