Los Alamos National Laboratory

The former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist is set today to change his plea of not guilty to charges that he lied about alleged connections to a Chinese-sponsored talent-recruiting program, a new court filing shows. Turab Lookman’s plea-change hearing is slated for 10 a.m. local time in U.S. District Court for New Mexico in Albuquerque. The […]

The former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist is set Friday to change his plea of not guilty to charges that he lied about alleged connections to a Chinese-sponsored talent-recruiting program, a new court filing shows. Turab Lookman’s plea-change hearing is slated for 10 a.m. local time in U.S. District Court for New Mexico in Albuquerque. […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 292 shipments of transuranic waste during 2019, dipping from 311 the year before, according to the latest figures on the site’s publicly available website. The last shipment recorded on the website was Dec.7, although the database typically runs a couple weeks behind […]

The JASON group of scientists has endorsed a plan for the U.S. Department of Energy to immediately begin building new infrastructure to produce fresh nuclear-weapon cores, according to a letter written by the group’s program manager and published Monday by the Federation of American Scientists. “[W]e urge that pit manufacturing be re-established as expeditiously as […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to produce 80 pits a year would generate more than 1,110 cubic meters of transuranic waste a year, according to an environmental review the semiautonomous Department of Energy weapon steward released this week. Over 50 years — enough time at an 80-a-year throughput to produce two new pits, and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to produce 80 pits a year would generate more than 1,110 cubic meters of transuranic waste a year, according to an environmental review the semiautonomous Department of Energy weapon steward released this week. Over 50 years — enough time at an 80-a-year throughput to produce two new pits, and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to produce 80 pits a year would generate more than 1,110 cubic meters of transuranic waste a year, according to an environmental review the semiautonomous Department of Energy weapon steward released this week. Over 50 years — enough time at an 80-a-year throughput to produce two new pits, and […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 10 shipments of transuranic waste during November, bringing the total to 285 for the first 11 months of 2019. The figures, from WIPP’s publicly available database, show the underground transuranic waste disposal site has again fallen behind its 2018 pace. It received 291 […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) will hold a meeting on Jan. 9 to explore continuing cleanup issues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, under the 2016 Compliance Order on Consent governing remediation of Cold War weapons production at the Department of Energy site. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. MT at the University […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has scheduled a Jan. 9 public meeting to discuss a consent order signed with the U.S. Energy Department in 2016 that updated remediation plans for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. MT at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos campus on University Drive, NMED […]

Interim containment measures are underway on the eastern boundary of the chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) Manager Doug Hintze recently told the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities board. In his Nov. 15 briefing to the board, Hintze highlighted […]

House Democrats opted not to fall on their swords this week to slow the ongoing nuclear arsenal modernization program, when they overwhelmingly supported passage of a National Defense Authorization Act that approves just about all the Department of Energy weapons spending requests for fiscal 2020. That means that through the Sept. 30 end of the […]

A risk of combustion linked to calcium prompted suspension in November of transuranic waste shipments from the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant further south in New Mexico, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Workers discovered calcium metal in certain transuranic material that can ignite […]

A risk of combustion linked to calcium prompted suspension in November of transuranic waste shipments from the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant further south in New Mexico, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Workers discovered calcium metal in certain transuranic material that can ignite […]

Two U.S. Energy Department contractors in fiscal 2019 together cited 48 violations of the New Mexico hazardous waste permit for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), including incorrectly recording the whereabouts of 250 drums of radioactive waste. In September, about 250 waste drums shipped to the DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad were incorrectly […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday it has selected a longtime Department of Energy manager to lead its field office for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Michael Weis comes to Los Alamos after nearly 25 years with the department, most recently as site office manager for the Fermi National […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 275 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the first 10 months of this year, compared to 272 during the same period in 2018. October is the last full month for which shipment information is available through WIPP’s public database. It shows that the […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday it has selected a longtime Department of Energy manager to lead its field office for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Michael Weis comes to Los Alamos after nearly 25 years with the department, most recently as site office manager for the Fermi National […]

AECOM, the international infrastructure company that is preparing its exit from contracting for the U.S. Energy Department, on Tuesday reported record annual revenue but a net loss for its fiscal 2019. Company-wide revenue of almost $20.2 billion was up 2% from $20.15 billion in fiscal 2018, according to AECOM’s latest earnings report. But the net […]

BWX Technologies President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday the U.S. Energy Department should soon issue one multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, while another probably won’t arrive until mid-2020. “In the coming weeks we expect to hear about the Hanford Plateau Central Cleanup contract for which we are competing,” Geveden said […]

Prospects for timely passage of a full 2020 budget for the Department of Energy and other agencies dimmed a little this week, when most Senate Democrats refused to curtail debate on spending legislation that includes funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall. The Senate failed Thursday to invoke cloture on a basket of […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s Long-Term […]

Nevada will be allowed to seek removal of half a metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium sent to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site by amending a nearly year-old lawsuit, a federal judge ruled Monday. The state sued DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in U.S. District Court for Nevada […]

Navy Vice Adm. Charles Richard, the Donald Trump administration’s nominee to lead U.S. Strategic Command, on Thursday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that there are “issues” with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce 80 new nuclear weapon cores a year by 2030. “That requirement is sound,” Richard said, but “there are […]

President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry as head of the agency responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and Cold War nuclear-waste cleanup. Brouillette has been Perry's deputy secretary for just over two years. When Trump first nominated him, a source said the longtime insurance […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s […]

A regional group that promotes communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of a just-released […]

A regional group that promotes communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of a just-released […]

A regional group meant to promote communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government for up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of […]

Fluor, the Texas-based engineering and construction giant trying to reverse its worsening financial condition, said Tuesday it will sell off its government contracting business that includes its work for the U.S. Department of Energy. While long a major player in government services, Fluor sees the business as a valuable property that can be moved in […]