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.
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National Laboratories
NNSA manager is new environmental field boss at Los Alamos
Jessica Kunkle. a Los Alamos, N.M., native and longtime National Nuclear Security Administration executive, will lead the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management field operation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory starting in June. Kunkle has been with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about 15 years and is a deputy administrator with NNSA’s […]
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National Laboratories
NNSA manager is new environmental field boss at Los Alamos
Jessica Kunkle. a Los Alamos, N.M., native and longtime National Nuclear Security Administration executive, will lead the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management field operation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory starting in June. Kunkle has been with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about 15 years and is a deputy administrator with NNSA’s […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos advisory board meeting called off
The Department of Energy today canceled its Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board that was scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. Mountain Time. The next board meeting, for the panel which offers advice on DOE Office of Environmental Management issues affecting the Los Alamos National Laboratory, will be July 17, according to a staff email […]
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Contracts & Procurement
N3B inks Los Alamos subcontracts for building upkeep, health clinic
The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory said this week it has signed two subcontracts, worth a combined $36.5 million, with small businesses for building maintenance and health services. Newport News Nuclear BWTX Los Alamos (N3B) said in a Wednesday press release it has signed a roughly $30-million contract […]
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Contracts & Procurement
N3B inks Los Alamos subcontracts for building upkeep, health clinic
The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory said this week it has signed two subcontracts, worth a combined $36.5 million, with small businesses for building maintenance and health services. Newport News Nuclear BWTX Los Alamos (N3B) said in a Wednesday press release it has signed a roughly $30-million contract […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
At S.C. meeting, some head-nodding over anti’s stance that SRS should make all pits
At a Monday meeting of the South Carolina governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, the Savannah River Site’s prime contractor discussed starting plutonium pit production in the early 2030s and an antinuclear activist from New Mexico said the state should take on the government’s entire pit mission. “We have put a stake in the ground that we […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
At S.C. meeting, some head-nodding over anti’s stance that SRS should make all pits
At a Monday meeting of the South Carolina governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, the Savannah River Site’s prime contractor discussed starting plutonium pit production in the early 2030s and an antinuclear activist from New Mexico said the state should take on the government’s entire pit mission. “We have put a stake in the ground that we […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Top end of pit-plant acquisition north of $35B, NNSA administrator says
It could cost up to $37 billion to acquire the pair of plutonium pit production facilities needed to produce new nuclear weapon cores for the rest of this century, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said at a conference last week. The range, provided by Administrator Jill Hruby at the annual Strategic Weapons […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap up: Ex-Miss America joins nuclear workforce; Los Alamos ships waste; NNSA replaces aging Nevada power lines and more
There are lots of new workers joining the nuclear industry these days, but Baltimore-based Constellation Energy has perhaps the only one to list “former Miss America” on her resume. Constellation announced in a Monday press release it hired former Miss America Grace Stanke as a full-time employee working as both an engineer and a spokesperson […]
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Transuranic Waste
11 transuranic waste shipments from LANL in first half of fiscal ‘24
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico sent 11 shipments of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant between October and March, the lab’s cleanup contractor said recently. The shipments totaled a little more than 32.5 cubic meters in volume, according to a second-fiscal-quarter update posted on the website of Newport News Nuclear […]
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Contracts & Procurement
SMSI sold to Bernhard Capital Partners
Strategic Management Solutions, a small contractor for the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration, has been acquired by a Louisiana-based private equity management firm led by a former Shaw Group executive. The purchase of Strategic Management Solutions, LLC (SMSI) was announced Tuesday in a press release by Bernhard Capital Partners. The buyer […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Los Alamos hexavalent chromium review won’t dither, says former DOE cleanup boss
An expert review team led by Inés Triay, a former head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, hopes to have most of its research done by this fall on a chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “We think we can finish this endeavor by the end of the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Former DOE cleanup boss to review Los Alamos hexavalent chromium project
Inés Triay, one-time head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, will discuss the hexavalent chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico this week. Triay, currently interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University, is leading an expert review team on the longstanding chromium plume […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Deal close? DOE, NMED get 90 more days for Los Alamos settlement talks
New Mexico and the Department of Energy will get until July 8 to continue settlement talks on revising a 2016 consent order governing legacy waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a federal court said this week. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar issued a Monday order extending the timeline following the latest joint status […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE plans DUF6 extension; Spent fuel hearing set; ex-EM Los Alamos boss takes NNSA post and more
As expected, the Department of Energy said this week it plans to issue a six-month contract extension to Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services for operation of depleted uranium conversion facilities at former gaseous diffusion plants in Kentucky and Ohio. DOE’s justification for going without competitive bids said the extension would run from April 1 through Sept. […]
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Budget & Policy
DNFSB touts 2023 safety work in report to Congress
During 2023, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board advised the Department of Energy on issues ranging from on-site transportation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to overseeing aging nuclear infrastructure across the weapons complex. Those are some highlights of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)’s 34th Annual Report to Congress published […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos manager Mason hosts virtual town hall
Thom Mason, the directory of the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is scheduled to answer questions about laboratory operations this evening. Lab employees, family members and New Mexico residents are invited to ask questions of Mason between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Mountain Time, Wednesday, April 3, according to a […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DNFSB touts 2023 safety work in report to Congress
During 2023, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board advised the Department of Energy on issues ranging from on-site transportation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to overseeing aging nuclear infrastructure across the weapons complex. Those are some highlights of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)’s 34th Annual Report to Congress published […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: LANL electric comments reviewed; Oak Ridge list posted; DOE awards $24.7M worth of grants and more
The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is drafting its formal response to public comments filed on the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration field office said last week. The environmental assessment public comment period ended Feb. 20 on the upgrade project for the […]
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National Laboratories
Easy does it: Speed cameras planned at Los Alamos
Speed cameras will soon be installed to help curb speeding and aggressive driving along the truck route at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s top local fed told county officials last week. The laboratory is “finding ways to try and better manage traffic flow,” National Nuclear Security Administration […]
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National Laboratories
Easy does it: Speed cameras planned at Los Alamos
Speed cameras will soon be installed to help curb speeding and aggressive driving along the truck route at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s top local fed told county officials last week. The laboratory is “finding ways to try and better manage traffic flow,” National Nuclear Security Administration […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos lab prepares responses to electric upgrade comments
The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is drafting its formal response to public comments filed on the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration field office said last week. The environmental assessment public comment period ended Feb. 20 on the upgrade project for the […]
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National Laboratories
Los Alamos lab prepares responses to electric upgrade comments
The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is drafting its formal response to public comments filed on the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration field office said last week. The environmental assessment public comment period ended Feb. 20 on the upgrade project for the […]
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National Laboratories
Easy does it: Speed cameras planned at Los Alamos
Speed cameras will soon be installed to help curb speeding and aggressive driving along the truck route at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s top local fed told county officials last week. The laboratory is “finding ways to try and better manage traffic flow,” National Nuclear Security Administration […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford remediation could extend to nearly 22nd century
A 21-year-old who starts working at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state this year could have a 50-plus-year career and still retire before the former plutonium production facility is officially cleaned up. DOE currently projects, with between 50% and 80% confidence, the Hanford Site will be deemed clean sometime between 2078 and […]
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International
Nuclear increasingly seen as part of worldwide carbon control strategy, IAEA chief says
PHOENIX— Contaminated old buildings at U.S. nuclear weapons sites are being torn down and, internationally, nuclear power is increasingly seen as a legitimate source of carbon-free electricity, participants in the Waste Management Symposia heard Monday. “For people familiar with EM [the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management], there is no better illustration of progress […]
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International
Nuclear increasingly seen as part of worldwide carbon control strategy, IAEA chief says
PHOENIX— Contaminated old buildings at U.S. nuclear weapons sites are being torn down and, internationally, nuclear power is increasingly seen as a legitimate source of carbon-free electricity, participants in the Waste Management Symposia heard Monday. “For people familiar with EM [the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management], there is no better illustration of progress […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: New Idaho cleanup boss starts soon; West Valley bidders get extension; New Mexico fines LANL and more
Mark Brown, deputy manager of Department of Energy nuclear cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory, will become manager of the field operation earlier than announced, the agency said Thursday. Brown will assume the Idaho Cleanup Project manager job starting Sunday, March 10, a DOE spokesperson said by email. Connie Flohr will remain on staff serving […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Legacy contractor closes book on DP Road cleanup in Los Alamos
The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory officially closed out its remediation of a stretch of public road, previously thought to be clean, where contamination was discovered in 2020, the contractor said this week. In February, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) said the investigation and cleanup of contaminated […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Legacy contractor closes book on DP Road cleanup in Los Alamos
The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory officially closed out its remediation of a stretch of public road, previously thought to be clean, where contamination was discovered in 2020, the contractor said Monday. In February, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) said the investigation and cleanup of contaminated soil […]







