Vol. 28, No. 5 
NNSA to extend most expiring contracts, starting with Y-12; Pantex transition a month late
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Plutonium Pit Production
Thirty pits a year in 2028 at Los Alamos meets STRATCOM needs, commander says
WASHINGTON — The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plan to produce 30 nuclear weapon cores annually by 2028 satisfies current military needs, the head of U.S. Strategic Command said here Friday. That date, given earlier in the summit by the head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, “meets my needs in that regard for W87-1” Gen. […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
Late delivery of new underground testing lab might not affect design of Navy warhead
WASHINGTON — A three-year slip for a new x-ray imager will not necessarily result in a bigger, more massive W93 nuclear warhead, senior officials from Los Alamos National Laboratory said here Thursday. That was a slight change in tune compared with an appraisal one of these people made last year. For the last three years, […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
SRS advisory board members getting more comfortable with NNSA takeover
Departing officers of an advisory board for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said this week they are feeling less anxious about the National Nuclear Security Administration taking over the 310-square-mile property on Oct. 1. That’s when the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) , a semi-autonomous branch of DOE, is scheduled […]
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National Laboratories
Post COVID, recruiting okay, retention still challenging at nuke labs, directors say
WASHINGTON — A tech-industry downturn and a federal permission to boost worker compensation helped with hiring at U.S. nuclear-weapons labs, but hanging on to recruits is still tough, the lab directors said here Wednesday. “We’re actually in quite a good place right now,” Kimberly Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
NRC says BWXT ‘challenged’ license standards in events leading to flash-fire death of worker
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found BWX Technologies violated safety protocols in the runup to a fatal 2020 flash fire sparked by exposed wires and alcohol-soaked rags. However, the commission will not fine the company, which has already paid a separate penalty to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an NRC spokesperson […]
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National Laboratories
Livermore investigated for nuclear contamination on and off-site
The prime contractor of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is being investigated for an April incident in which radioactive contamination from the nuclear weapons lab was found on and off-site. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Enterprise Assessments announced its intent to investigate Lawrence Livermore National Security on Jan. 26. Anthony Pierpoint, director […]