The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) furloughed around 1,400 employees, 80% of its workforce, with only 375 exempted as critical personnel that will still come into work Monday.
“Today, roughly 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration is being furloughed,” Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Monday. “This is unacceptable. We cannot allow delays or interruptions to our nuclear programs during this shutdown. This is not a partisan issue, and for the sake of our national security, my Democrat colleagues should work with us to adopt the clean Continuing Resolution, which would immediately reopen the government and put an end to these risks.”
A source told the Exchange Monitor Monday the current focus is keeping the Y-12 National Security Complex and Pantex Plant running since both sites run out of funding first. NNSA is requesting additional funding and authorities for the other sites, though.
The source added it is unclear whether the returning personnel will be working without pay.
“The Y-12 National Security Complex remains in full operational status using contract funds from Fiscal Year 2025 carryover that are allowing our important national security work to continue,” a spokesperson from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing and operating contractor at Y-12, said in an email to the Monitor.
PanTeXas Deterrence, the managing and operating contractor in charge of the Pantex Plant, said in a statement emailed to the Monitor Wednesday that “Individuals working for PXD are not employees of the federal government. No PXD employees have been furloughed. Management and Operating Contractor operations have continued to date, and the overall safety and security of the site will continue to be maintained.”
The agency in charge of maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile sent a notice to lawmakers last week saying its available funding would be exhausted Saturday, Oct. 18, as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.
An NNSA document, viewed by the Monitor, said funding in the Federal Salaries and Expenses account specifically had been exhausted. But the document said NNSA sites, plants and labs run by outside management and operating contractors can continue operations throughout October “with the possibility to continue operations past October if necessary.”
House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) alluded to the notice at a news conference at the Capitol Friday. “These are not employees that you want to go home,” he said, citing the furloughs as a national security consequence of the shutdown. “They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.:”
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright alluded earlier this month to NNSA running out of funding, but said it would be on around Oct. 10. NNSA administrator Brandon Williams warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that nuclear security programs would need to be temporarily suspended if the shutdown is prolonged. Wright was expected to discuss the shutdown impact on NNSA Monday at the Nevada National Security Site.
The U.S. is in the fourth week of the government shutdown.