Vol. 30, No. 33 
EXCLUSIVE: Williams seeks to shake up NNSA’s ‘business as usual’
-
Budget & Policy
Trump signs continuing resolution and shutdown averted, Cole still criticizes Senate
The House of Representatives voted 370-48 Tuesday to pass a conferenced, short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding the federal government through Dec. 11, but the House Appropriations chair still criticized the Senate for not working on its individual appropriations bills. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown. The resolution […]
-
Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Sandia sounding rocket test yields data for W93 warhead development
Sandia National Laboratories has completed a sounding rocket flight test designed to provide real-world reentry data that will inform development of nonnuclear components for the Navy’s W93 nuclear warhead. The Atrax test, conducted at Sandia’s Kauai Test Facility, collected data on the aerodynamic loads and vibrations a reentry vehicle experiences as it travels toward its […]
-
Non-Proliferation
Parsons wins NNSA counter-nuclear smuggling task orders
Parsons has secured two task orders from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to design and deploy counter-nuclear smuggling systems across the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East Region 3 and Africa Region 2 task orders cover counter-nuclear smuggling initiatives in 25 countries, according to an Aug. 27 company announcement. NNSA is a semiautonomous […]
-
Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Sub maintenance, decommissioning delays cost billions of dollars, GAO finds
Submarine maintenance delays have cost the Navy $3.4 billion over the past decade and could add $3.1 billion more as it prepares to retire aging Los Angeles-class attack submarines, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds. In an analysis of attack submarine (SSN) data from fiscal years 2008 to 2025, GAO said it found […]
-
Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE national labs, NNSA using uranium oxide from DUF6 operations
The Department of Energy’s national laboratories as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration have made use of uranium oxide produced by conversion plants at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. That was one of the takeaways from an Aug. 20 meeting of the Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, according to […]
-
International
U.S. removes cobalt-60 source from Guatemala in ongoing security effort
The National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Threat Reduction Agency removed a disused cobalt-60 source from Guatemala, transporting the material to secured storage in the United States. The operation, which started in May, involved the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and Guatemalan officials from the National Centre of Radioactive Wastes and Ministry of […]
-
Climate Policy & Regulation
NNSA plans new ammo storage at Los Alamos live-fire range
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to install two new ammunition storage magazines at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Outdoor Live Fire Range, replacing existing structures that no longer meet current security requirements. The project, detailed in an August floodplain assessment released by the Department of Energy, would take place at Technical Area 72, where […]
-
International
Syria reportedly had undeclared nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Syria was constructing an undeclared nuclear reactor at Deir al-Zor under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to published reports. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report viewed by some news outlets such as Al Jazeera its inspectors verified that cooling infrastructure uncovered at the site is […]
-
National Laboratories
Mikolanis to leave NNSA Savannah River for Los Alamos field office
Michael Mikolanis, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Field Office, will move back to Los Alamos in September to lead the agency’s field office there, local publication Aiken Standard reported. Mikolanis will succeed Ted Wyka, who retired in June after five years as manager of the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office, according […]
-
International
IAEA says Zaporizhzhya plant could face blackout within days
The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant could face a station blackout within roughly 10 days if external power is not restored or additional diesel fuel is delivered, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week. The plant has been without off-site power since Aug. 20, when military activity damaged its connection to the 330-kilovolt Ferosplavna-1 […]
-
Contracts & Procurement
Responses to WIPP transportation RFI now due Sept. 10
Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]
-
Defense & Military
Wrap up: Trump nominates Cao for SecNav; AtkinsRéalis selects Canadian Air Force vet for defense VP; Longtime DOE nuclear official to retire soon
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he was nominating Hung Cao as Secretary of the Navy after serving in the role in an acting capacity for over four months. “I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy. We need Patriots like Hung leading our Navy […]