Los Alamos National Laboratory

Triad National Security remains on course to take over management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico on Nov. 1, the president and chief executive office of the incoming management contractor told regents of the University of California last week. Thomas Mason, who will also be lab director, reaffirmed his stance that restoring Los […]

An employee for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico returned to work after suffering cuts from broken glass caused by a chemical reaction, a DOE spokesperson confirmed Friday. “A small chemical reaction occurred on September 14th which was contained in a chemical hood at Technical Area 35. No radioactive material was […]

When President Donald Trump signed a multiagency appropriations package Sept. 21, it assured the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management about $7.2 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The DOE-funding “minibus,” approved by Congress earlier this month, provides the largest budget for the department’s nuclear cleanup office since it received […]

The Department of Energy and South Carolina are set today to deliver oral arguments in a pair of appeals cases over the future of plutonium and plutonium operations in the state. Arguments in both cases ― separate lawsuits the state brought against the federal agency in 2016 and 2018 ― are set for 9:30 a.m. […]

The head of Triad National Security is slated Wednesday to brief the University of California Board of Regents’ National Laboratories Subcommittee about the company’s progress in assuming the management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Thomas Mason, president and CEO of the UC-led company, “will brief the Regents on the leadership, organization, […]

After a pause this summer, the contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects during the first week of October to resume salt mining to dig out more disposal space. This will be the first mining in storage Panel 8 since July 22, according to Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman […]

Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to keep stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico for an additional two years. The Dallas-based company asked the agency for an extension until Dec. 23, 2020, to allow the state of Texas, the Department of Energy, […]

The New Mexico Environment Department has wrapped up the public comment period on an application by the Energy Department to amend the state hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The state received about 100 pages of comments by Sept. 20, from dozens of individuals and groups, both praising […]

Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to keep stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico for an additional two years. The Dallas-based company asked NRC for an extension until Dec. 23, 2020, to allow the state of Texas, the Energy Department, the NRC, […]

Errors and poor policy have fueled the controversy over reimbursement of expenses at a regional group intended to promote communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the crux of an Aug. 28 analysis by Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess, addressing financial irregularities by the Regional Coalition of […]

Errors and poor policy have fueled the controversy over reimbursement of expenses at a regional group intended to promote communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the crux of an Aug. 28 analysis by Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess, addressing financial irregularities by the Regional Coalition of […]

Errors and poor policy have fueled the controversy over reimbursement of expenses at a regional group meant to promote communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the crux of an Aug. 28 analysis by Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess, addressing financial irregularities by the Regional Coalition of […]

While two reports made public this month in New Mexico have illustrated poor accounting practices at the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess rejects the suggestion county employees, acting as the group’s fiscal agency, have engaged in wrongdoing. The New Mexico attorney general is investigating any potential fraud in reimbursements […]

Honeywell, a top contractor for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons sites, also sees opportunities on the environmental remediation side of the federal agency’s operations, one newly reassigned executive said recently. Former Air Force colonel David “DJ” Johnson last month became vice president and general manager at Honeywell Federal Solutions, where he oversees the company’s four […]

The Energy Department last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a small business set-aside contract, potentially worth almost $25 million over five years, to tackle low-risk, low-complexity characterization and remediation for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee. The Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the […]

The Department of Energy is said to be reviewing a study on options for dealing with troublesome transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico that remains stranded at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas. A source Wednesday said the feasibility study is complete and has been delivered to […]

The Department of Energy is said to be reviewing a study on options for dealing with troublesome transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico that is currently stranded at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas. A source Wednesday said the feasibility study is complete and has been delivered […]

While two reports made public this month in New Mexico have illustrated poor accounting practices at the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess rejects the suggestion county employees, acting as the group’s fiscal agency, have engaged in wrongdoing. The New Mexico attorney general is investigating any potential fraud in reimbursements […]

William Crooks has replaced Andrew Wysong as head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, a lab spokesperson said Monday. The change, effective July 20, was first disclosed publicly in a weekly Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site report from the nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico. Crooks will be responsible for […]

BWX Technologies still hopes its team can win the multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, executives said Aug. 7. The Lynchburg, Va., company partnered with Bechtel and Honeywell in Savannah River EcoManagement, which last fall initially won a 10-year, $4.7 billion contract to take over the […]

A dispute over irregularities in expense reimbursements for the former executive director of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) has attracted the attention of the New Mexico attorney general. “We can confirm the Office of the Attorney General has received a public referral and this matter is under review,” David Carl, spokesman for New […]

Incoming Los Alamos National Laboratory manager Triad National Security will indeed have to pay a state gross receipts tax of just over 7 percent, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department said this week. Triad — a nonprofit organization encompassing nonprofit, tax-exempt senior partners Battelle Memorial Institute, the University of California, and […]

The Board of Regents of Texas A&M University, one of the senior partners on incoming Los Alamos National Laboratory Manager Triad National Security, last week appointed Katherine Banks vice chancellor for engineering and national laboratories. The move reflects Banks’ ascent to Triad’s governing board, an A&M spokesperson wrote in an email Monday. Banks was formerly […]

The New Mexico State Auditor’s Office has questioned whether the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) is improperly engaged in lobbying. Most press attention generated by an Aug. 7 report from State Auditor Wayne Johnson has focused on reimbursement of travel and entertainment expenses by the nongovernmental group’s former executive director, Andrea Romero. The organization […]

Irene Qualters, most recently with the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been selected as associate laboratory director for simulation and computing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, incoming lab manager Triad National Security said Tuesday. In her new role, Qualters will be “responsible for high performance computing, theory, and simulation in support of the NNSA […]

The Board of Regents of Texas A&M University, one of the senior partners on incoming Los Alamos National Laboratory Manager Triad National Security, on Thursday said it appointed Katherine Banks vice chancellor for engineering and national laboratories. The move reflects Banks’ ascent to Triad’s governing board, an A&M spokesperson wrote in an email Monday. Banks […]

A new report out of New Mexico raises further questions about the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) has handled reimbursement of expenses for travel, meals, alcoholic beverages, and entertainment. The report, critical of the RCLC Board of Directors and former Executive Director Andrea Romero, was issued Aug. 8 by the Adams+Crow Law Firm of […]

To support a manufacturing effort crucial to future U.S. nuclear arms-modernization programs, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) still plans to drastically increase the amount of plutonium permitted inside a building at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to a recently completed environmental review. In a final environmental assessment dated July 18 […]

BWX Technologies still hopes its team can win the multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, executives said Tuesday. The Lynchburg, Va., company partnered with Bechtel and Honeywell in Savannah River EcoManagement, which last fall initially won a 10-year, $4.7 billion contract to take over the work. […]

A new report from the New Mexico State Auditor’s Office faults both the board of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) and the organization’s former executive director for not complying with state standards on reimbursement of mileage and other expenses for public officials. This is the latest twist in a controversy that arose after […]