National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The U.S. Senate will vote Dec. 2, its first day back in Washington after Thanksgiving holiday break, on Dan Brouillette’s nomination to head the U.S. Department of Energy. The floor vote should occur around 5:30 p.m. ET that day, according to a Thursday Twitter post by the Senate’s Republican majority staff. Earlier Thursday, the Senate […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) strategy to reboot its tritium-production enterprise went about as smoothly as it could have in fiscal 2019. And even if it is not a perfect microcosm of the whole nuclear security enterprise, it’s tough to ignore the similarities. First, as with just about everything else it makes or […]

The U.S. government on Nov. 15 urged a federal judge to dismiss a revised lawsuit from the state of Nevada requesting the removal of half-a-metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium from the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The U.S. District Court for Nevada “lacks subject matter jurisdiction to decide this matter because Plaintiff […]

Just over six years after the last U.S.-built uranium enrichment centrifuge closed down, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is poised to take a milestone step: choosing a technology to power the next domestic, defense-uranium-enrichment cascade. It’s a major, if preliminary, step toward a world in which the United States no longer relies on the […]

AECOM said Friday that CEO and Chairman Michael Burke plans to retire by next year, either once his successor is found or ahead of the company’s 2020 yearly shareholders meeting scheduled for March. Burke will be the last executive to hold the dual title, the Los Angeles-based infrastructure and engineering multinational said in a press […]

A multinational medical isotope company jumped the gun in demanding that the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “show cause” against termination of its application for a federal license to export weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a lawyer for the agency. In any case, the argument laid out by Curium has no merit, NNSA […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed another stopgap spending bill that will keep the federal government running nearly three months into the 2020 budget year. Major news organizations reported the president signed the agreement after the Senate earlier in the day voted 74-20 to pass a House amendment that extends the current continuing resolution to […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Tuesday it has reached a contract closeout settlement with the company that was hired to build and operate a now-terminated plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The settlement covers all “contract closeout matters” with MOX Services, according to a press release from […]

A multinational medical isotope company jumped the gun in demanding that the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “show cause” against termination of its application for a federal license to export weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a lawyer for the agency. In any case, the argument laid out by Curium has no merit, NNSA […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Tuesday it has reached a contract closeout settlement with the company that was hired to build and operate a now-terminated plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The settlement covers all “contract closeout matters” with MOX Services, according to a press release from […]

The U.S. government on Nov. 15 urged a federal judge to dismiss a revised lawsuit from the state of Nevada requesting the removal of half-a-metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium from the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The U.S. District Court for Nevada “lacks subject matter jurisdiction to decide this matter because Plaintiff […]

A Bechtel subsidiary on Nov. 15 received three contract modifications worth over $1.4 billion in total to supply parts for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The U.S. Navy issued cost-plus-fixed-fee modifications to existing awards to Bechtel Plant Machinery, based in Monroeville, Pa. The modifications are respectively worth $913.5 million, $483.7 million, and $31.8 million. The […]

The U.S. Air Force has not yet addressed any plans to export the B-21 Raider as the next-generation bomber moves through development, Will Roper, the service’s acquisition chief, told reporters Nov. 12. “I’m going to keep my head focused on getting to initial operational capability on time and then I’ll let the debate go where […]

The U.S. Department of Energy should be required to “show cause” why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not dismiss its license application for shipment of weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a company that opposes the request. Failing that, Curium and other parties should be authorized to intervene in the NRC proceeding, according to a […]

International Isotopes said Thursday it incurred over $2.1 million in expenses through the end of September in connection with a radiological contamination incident last spring that occurred as its workers were removing a blood irradiator from a hospital research facility in Seattle. However, the Idaho Falls, Idaho, nuclear medicine company said it also received $964,958 […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) dinged the National Nuclear Security Administration recently for not providing 10 years’ worth of cost forecasts in an annual report to Congress on defense nuclear spending. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency by law must write a joint report each year with the Defense Department profiling the expected costs […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons programs would be funded at prior-year levels almost through the end of December, under a second stopgap spending plan announced Thursday to keep the federal government operating while Congress tries to finalize its fiscal 2020 budget. Meanwhile, the top Democrat and Republican members of the House and Senate […]

International Isotopes said Thursday it incurred over $2.1 million in expenses through the end of September in connection with a radiological contamination incident last spring that occurred as its workers were removing a blood irradiator from a hospital research facility in Seattle. However, the Idaho Falls, Idaho, nuclear medicine company said it also received $964,958 […]

Parsons on Tuesday posted higher third-quarter earnings due to a tax benefit, sales up on acquisitions in its Federal Solutions Segment, and to a lesser degree on an increase in organic revenue. Net income climbed 38% to $56.8 million, $0.57 earnings per share (EPS), from $41.2 million ($0.52 EPS). Adjusted earnings were up a percent to […]

The U.S. Department of Energy should be required to “show cause” why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not dismiss its license application for shipment of weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a company that opposes the request. Failing that, Curium and other parties should be authorized to intervene in the NRC proceeding, according to a […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) dinged the National Nuclear Security Administration recently for not providing 10 years’ worth of cost forecasts in an annual report to Congress on defense nuclear spending. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency by law must write a joint report each year with the Defense Department profiling the expected costs […]

BWX Technologies, trumpeting strong third-quarters earnings results Tuesday, said it is not under contract to build any more common missile compartment tubes for U.S. naval submarines, beyond those already contracted for production by 2021. After announcing in 2018 it had botched welds on 12 of the tubes, which were destined for both Columbia- and Virginia-class […]

Even a temporary pause on construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee could cost the federal government nearly $1 billion, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week in asking a federal judge to refuse a request from a group of environmental organizations for a stop-work […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The head of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program had reassuring words for the nuclear shipbuilding industry and its suppliers here Thursday. “I … want you to know that contrary to what you might read or hear … submarine force leadership values our close, enduring relationships with our industry partners,” Adm. […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday officially nominated Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry, who will resign as secretary of energy on Dec. 1. Brouillette, a former auto-insurance lobbyist with some turn-of-the-millennium Washington experience on his rapidly expanding resume, must be confirmed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before he […]

A radiation detection system developed at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory went into service at the Port of New York and New Jersey this year, lab management contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) announced. The On-Dock Rail Straddle Carrier Portal Monitoring System is designed to detect radiation inside intermodal shipping containers: ubiquitous […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) said this week it has commissioned a second furnace to prepare for four planned tritium extractions next year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. The Fluor-led site management and operations contractor said in a press release Tuesday that it fired up a “previously unused” second […]

With members of the House out of town this week, Congress made little progress on authorizing and appropriating government funding, including for Department of Energy defense-nuclear programs. However, Armed Services Committee staffers worked behind the scenes this week to hash out differences in the House and Senate versions of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act: […]

WASHINGTON — Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, said Thursday she would give serious thought to remaining at her post if President Donald Trump wins a second term in office and wants her on the job. “If the president so chooses to seek my advice and counsel, I would consider that […]

Even a temporary pause on construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee could cost the federal government nearly $1 billion, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week in asking a federal judge to refuse a request from a group of environmental organizations for a stop-work […]