Archive

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico designs nuclear weapons and serves as the NNSA’s lead site for plutonium pit production. Coverage tracks pit manufacturing milestones, safety and security findings, the laboratory’s management contract, budget requests, and legacy waste cleanup.

  • Nuclear Industry Veteran Joins Longenecker

    Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates has hired Brian Bielecki, a longtime manager with experience at Department of Energy sites and the nuclear power industry, as its group vice president for mission assurance. The Energy Department subcontractor announced the addition Monday, the same day Bielecki joined the company. Bielecki, who reports to Senior Vice President for […]

  • DOE Tells Los Alamos to Fix Old Issues Management Practices Ahead of New Plutonium Mission

    Los Alamos National Laboratory management contractor Triad National Security must quickly change the issues-management practices it inherited from its predecessor to prevent problems with plutonium facilities from spiraling out of control and derailing planned production of nuclear-weapon cores starting in 2026, the Energy Department said in a report Monday. The report comes from DOE’s Office […]

  • Expert Wanted for Deposition in Nevada Plutonium Lawsuit Retired From DOE

    A key figure in federal lawsuits involving weapon-usable plutonium moved last year to the Nevada National Security Sitehas retired from the Department of Energy, the agency confirmed this week. Henry Allen Gunter left DOE after a long federal career, a spokesperson for DOE’s Environmental Management Office at Savannah River confirmed in an email Tuesday. The […]

  • Triad Seeks Bids for Pit Waste Treatment

    The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a recent procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]

  • Congressionally Mandated Study Finds NNSA Pit Plan ‘Potentially Achievable’

    The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce the fissile nuclear-weapon cores known as plutonium pits in two states is “potentially achievable,” according to a new study the agency publicized, but did not release, this week. Congress last year ordered the secretary of defense, in consultation with NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, to commission a […]

  • Energy Department IG Reportedly Looking at Los Alamos Communities Group

    The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

  • Triad to Seek Bids for Pit-Waste Treatment Plant at LANL

    The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a recent procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]

  • Energy Department IG Looking at Los Alamos Communities Group

    The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

  • Reopened Los Alamos Facility Makes First TRU Shipment to WIPP since 2014

    The newly reopened Radioactive Assay Nondestructive Testing (RANT) facility at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has made its first shipment of transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in nearly five years. Prior to last week, there had been no TRU waste loading at the facility since May 2014. […]

  • Energy Department IG Looking at Los Alamos Communities Group

    The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

  • Energy Department IG Reportedly Looking at Los Alamos Communities Group

    The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

  • Triad to Seek Bids for Pit-Waste Treatment Plant at LANL

    The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a Monday procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]

  • Reopened Los Alamos Facility Makes First TRU Shipment to WIPP since 2014

    The newly reopened Radioactive Assay Nondestructive Testing (RANT) facility at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has made its first shipment of transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in nearly five years. Prior to last week, there had been no TRU waste loading at the facility since May 2014. […]

  • Los Alamos Cleanup Contractor Names New President

    Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos has named Glenn Morgan as its new president and program manager overseeing legacy cleanup operations at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Morgan replaces Nick Lombardo, who retired in January, according to N3B. Morgan has been serving as acting program manager since January after joining N3B […]

  • Los Alamos Cleanup Contractor Names New President

    Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos has named Glenn Morgan as its new president and program manager overseeing legacy cleanup operations at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Morgan replaces Nick Lombardo, who retired in January, according to N3B. Morgan has been serving as acting program manager since January after joining N3B […]

  • Big Savings Anticipated in ‘End State’ Cleanup Approach, DOE Says

    The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management (EM) expects to speed cleanup of its nuclear sites by decades and save “$100s of millions” in life-cycle costs, according to the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget request. The request, issued in March, would trim the DOE nuclear remediation appropriation from $7.2 billion in fiscal 2019 to […]

  • Texas Approves Continued Storage of Los Alamos Waste at WCS

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has given its blessing for Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to continue storing transuranic waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory through late December 2020. The commission on March 20 issued an amendment to Waste Control Specialists’ state radioactive materials license allowing it to retain the potentially […]

  • WIPP Marks 20th Anniversary

    The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received its first shipment of defense transuranic waste 20 years ago this week. The Energy Department, WIPP prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, and officials in southeastern New Mexico plan various activities in March and April to mark the 20th anniversary of the inaugural shipment, which […]

  • Wrap Up: Auditor Retained to Look at Hanford Tank Proposals

    The Department Energy’s Office of Environmental Management retained a firm to audit proposals for the potential 10-year, $13 billion Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A contract valued at about $415,000 was awarded to Maryland-based CohnReznick, which has done fee-reasonableness audits for DOE in the past. The contract for the proposal […]

  • Texas Set to Approve Continued Storage of Problem Los Alamos Waste at WCS

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is poised to give its blessing for Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to continue storing potentially problematic transuranic waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory through late December 2020. The chief clerk for TCEQ is expected this week to issue an amendment to Waste Control Specialists’ state […]

  • Los Alamos Cleanup Contractor Plans Industry Day in April

    The legacy cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has scheduled an industry day for prospective subcontractors April 10-11 in Santa Fe. Current and future subcontracting opportunities will be the focus of the event planned by Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B). On the slate are mandatory pre-bid meetings […]

  • N3B Awards 1 Los Alamos Subcontract, Issues RFP for Another

    The legacy cleanup vendor for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has awarded a subcontract for a company to tear down an old processing building for radioactive liquid waste and do certain other work at Technical Area 21. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) said Thursday the contract went to Albuquerque-based […]

  • Labs Face Funding Cuts for DOE Environmental Cleanup

    The Department of Energy indicated Monday it intends in the upcoming budget year to cut tens of millions of dollars from environmental remediation funding at some of its national laboratories. As part of the continuing rollout of the Trump administration budget plan for fiscal 2020, the Energy Department released preliminary funding tables for its laboratories. […]

  • Nevada Site Exec Rejoins LANL, Heads to NNSA HQ to Aid Pit Mission

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) tapped John Benner, who in early March returned to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, to aid the agency with future warhead core production at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The lab subsequently detailed Benner to Washington, where the longtime Los Alamos staffer will work […]

  • Nevada Site Exec Rejoins LANL, Heads to NNSA HQ to Aid Pit Mission

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) tapped John Benner, who in early March returned to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, to aid the agency with future warhead core production at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The lab subsequently detailed Benner to Washington, where the longtime Los Alamos staffer will work […]

  • DOE Labs Face Funding Cuts for Environmental Cleanup

    The Department of Energy indicated Monday it intends in the upcoming budget year to cut tens of millions of dollars from environmental remediation funding at some of its national laboratories. As part of the continuing rollout of the Trump administration budget plan for fiscal 2020, the Energy Department released preliminary funding tables for its laboratories. […]

  • South Carolina Asks Appeals Judge Not to Block Additional Plutonium Shipments to Nevada

    A federal appeals court should throw out Nevada’s request to block further shipments of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site, since the Department of Energy has already shipped the material there, according to a Friday filing by the state of South Carolina. Nevada is trying to get the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of […]

  • DOE Inspector General Criticizes Former Los Alamos Contractor’s Management of Waste Project

    The former management and operations contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico failed to fully overcome setbacks in development of a new radioactive waste facility at the site, according to the Energy Department. In a March 1 report, DOE’s Office of Inspector General cited problems Los Alamos National Security faced with an […]

  • NNSA to Tackle Two-State Pit Complex, MFFF Replacement With Slight Budget Boost in 2020

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans in fiscal 2020 to begin converting a canceled plutonium disposal facility in South Carolina into a plutonium pit factory while starting work on a replacement disposal facility. At a total of about $2 billion, the agency’s requested 2020 Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation budget “provides significant resources for strategic materials […]

  • DOE Inspector General Criticizes Former Los Alamos Contractor’s Management of Waste Project

    The former management and operations contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico failed to fully overcome setbacks in development of a new radioactive waste facility at the site, according to the Energy Department. In a March 1 report, DOE’s Office of Inspector General cited problems Los Alamos National Security faced with an […]