Vol. 25, No. 40 
Sandia, LLNL to Add COVID Vaccine Mandates; Refusers at LANL, Savannah River, Sue
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Biden Admin Might be Warming to SLCM-N, Ex-Trump Nuke Official Says
The proposed nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile might yet survive the Joe Biden administration’s nuclear posture review thanks among other things to the reported discovery of new Chinese missile silos, the official who coordinated the Donald Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review said Wednesday. “I thought perhaps at the beginning of this process that this particular weapon […]
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Transuranic Waste
Downblended Pu From South Carolina Should Ship to WIPP Next Summer
Personnel at the Savannah River Site should wrap up commissioning of transuranic waste characterization equipment by March, in time to get a shipment of proliferation-resistant plutonium-oxide mixture shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant next summer, a site spokesperson said Wednesday. Testing and certification of the transuranic waste-characterization equipment at the site’s recently completed K-Area […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Centerra to Continue as SRS Security Provider in Near Term
While no details were provided, a Department of Energy spokesperson officially confirmed last week that Centerra will continue at least in the short term as security contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. “Yes, they’ll be extended,” the spokesperson said. The most recent extension for Centerra, provider of security services […]
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National Laboratories
Alleged Sandia Swindler Hits Back at Feds in Fight to Shave Sentence; Hearing Set for November
A former Sandia employee who pleaded guilty to ripping off the labs for tens of thousands of dollars or more worth of merchandise is still fighting with the government over the exact value of the ill-gotten goods — a figure that could mean an extra two months in prison, or not, court papers show. Joshua […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Navy Employee Busted in Spy Sting for Trying to Sell Virginia-class Reactor Secrets
A government employee and his wife were arrested last week for attempting this summer to sell classified information about the Virginia-class attack submarine’s nuclear reactor to a foreign government, according to an unsealed criminal complaint dated Oct. 8. Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, were in federal custody by Saturday, according to a filing […]
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International
Plutonium-Hauling Cargo Carrier That Called on S.C. Port Dismantled, Recycled, U.K. Decom Authority Says
A decommissioned U.K. cargo vessel that once helped ship weapon-usable plutonium to the U.S. from Sweden has been completely recycled, ship operator Nuclear Transport Solutions announced this week. The INF3-class Oceanic Pintail, a 3,865 metric-ton (4,260 U.S. tons) vessel, was decommissioned in Scotland by Dales Marine Services of Leith near Edinburgh, Scotland, said Nuclear Transport Solutions, a […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
John Pasko, ex-DNFSB Hand, USS Wyoming Commander, Dies at 64
Funeral services were scheduled for Nov. 9 at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., for a submarine officer who had a second career in the civilian nuclear world as a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staffer for most of the last decade. Captain John Pasko (Ret.) died Sept. 7, according to a memorial post published […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CORRECTION
The story “NNSA Active COVID Cases Hit Summer High in September; Three Deaths This Week” [Vol. 25, No. 37] should have said that an employee at the Sandia National Laboratory’s California campus died of complications related to COVID-19.