Vol. 28, No. 03 
NNSA Releases Site Performance Evaluation Reports for fiscal 2023
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Budget & Policy
DOE budget would be extended through March 1 under bill approved this week
President Joe Biden (D) on Friday signed a spending bill to keep agencies including the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration open until March 1. The Senate passed the bill 77-to-18 on Tuesday afternoon. The House followed quickly after, approving the month-and-a-half stopgap budget 314-to-108. The measure will keep DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
HII appoints Lempke to shepherd AUKUS efforts down under
Michael Lempke is now leading Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Australia business, where he will shepherd the shipbuilder and nuclear-site manager’s portion of the tripartite AUKUS agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Lempke, most recently president of the company’s Nuclear and Environmental Services group, took the post on Jan.1, Huntington Ingalls (HII) said in a statement […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Los Alamos sees spate of radiological contamination episodes around plutonium facility
There were at least six separate contamination incidents at Los Alamos National Laboratory between December and January, according to a series of safety watchdog reports. Most recently, two incidents occurred within a week in early January in Technical Area 55, according to summaries by the lab. Just before 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 4 an employee […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Savannah River prime starts shopping for sub to build emergency ops center
The Department of Energy prime for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is shopping around for subcontractors interested in building a new emergency operations center. The request for information and expressions of interest by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was published online Wednesday. Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 5 […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Northrop Grumman tests Sentinel stage-two solid rocket motor
Northrop Grumman has conducted a live, static-fire test of a stage-two solid rocket motor for the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile at the Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tenn., the company announced Jan. 16. Northrop is the Air Force’s Sentinel prime contractor and is responsible for building the solid rocket motor for […]
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Innovation & Infrastructure
Washington State University students help develop realistic training gloveboxes
Through a partnership with Washington State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing new ways to make its Operational Technology Assurance course, sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration, more realistic for attendees. The partnership resulted in development of a mock vintage-style glovebox, used daily by NNSA scientists to manipulate hazardous radioactive material, that students […]
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International
IAEA team gains access to sixth and final reactor at embattled Ukraine nuclear plant
After more than a year of trying, International Atomic Energy Agency teams experts on Monday were granted access to the sixth and final reactor hall at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Situated on the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the plant has been under Russian occupation almost since the beginning of Moscow’s February 2022 […]