Vol. 26, No. 35 
Mass production of refurbished nuclear weapons could begin soon, NNSA says
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Nuclear programs especially susceptible to supply chain crunch, STRATCOM nominee says
Ongoing problems moving goods from one place to another has affected schedules across the Department of Defense and nuclear-weapon programs have been hit especially hard, the nominee to lead U.S. nuclear forces told Senators Thursday. Even in the face of what he called “herculean efforts” by defense contractors, “what we are now finding is the […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC schedules late-September meeting about fatal fire at BWXT plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission planned to hold a predecisional enforcement conference at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md., on Sept. 22 as part of a continuing investigation of a fatal fire BWX Technologies’ Lynchburg, Va., facility in 2020. The commission announced the planned meeting in a notice dated Monday and posted online. No one from BWX […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, maker of NNSA’s tritium rods, gets 40-year license extension
The South Carolina factory that serves as one of the pillars of U.S. nuclear weapons maintenance received a 40-year license extension from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency said Monday. The Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, whose main business is making uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors, was cleared to operate through Sept. 12, 2062. […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
U1a mining expansion to wrap in 2026, NNSA says
The second and larger of two nearly round-the-clock mining projects in Nevada to expand the main U.S. zero-yield, nuclear-weapon test site should wrap up in 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. The agency approved the final design for the U1a Complex Enhancement Project (UCEP) 20 subproject June 23, about a week before […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Draft LANL environmental review coming in about a year, NNSA says
A draft site-wide environmental impact statement for the Los Alamos National Laboratory should appear in the summer or fall of 2023, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week during public scoping meetings about the extensive environmental review of the nuclear weapons lab. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency took public comment on Tuesday […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Parsons lands $160M DOE construction management deal
Department of Energy contractor Parsons Corp. has been awarded a potential five-year contract worth up to $160 million for enterprise construction management services for DOE and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the company said last week. The contract is a blanket purchase agreement with a one-year base period with four single-year options, the company […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Jacobs chief retiring, Pragada becomes CEO in January
Dallas-based Jacobs announced Thursday that Steve Demetriou, the CEO of the international engineering, construction and procurement company for seven years, is stepping down from the top job in January but will stay with the company as executive chair of the board. Jacobs current president and chief operating officer Bob Pragada will succeed Demetriou as CEO […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Raines hooks on at Atkins after retiring from NNSA
Robert Raines, the former National Nuclear Security Administration procurement boss of 10 years, went to work for Atkins Nuclear Services, the company said this month in a press release. Raines “ joined the organization supporting strategic business development, performance assurance and governance of large programs,” Atkins wrote in a press release dated Sept. 1. Raines […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Round Up: Anti-nukers sue for full performance evals; Hecker’s think-tank post; Lillian Johns, Calutron Girl; more
In a new lawsuit, the anti-nuclear group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Santa Fe, demanded that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) turn over “full and complete Performance Evaluation Reports” for the contractors managing the agency’s nuclear-weapon sites. The group, which has tried the tactic before, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico. […]