National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

A hole in a calibration valve caused the hydrogen fluoride leak that prompted the operations contractor of the Y-12 National Security Complex to evacuate the main U.S. uranium processing building in early April, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). “Based on a visual inspection, a hole was identified […]

A big, mostly Democratic group of lawmakers from both sides of Capitol Hill wants the Pentagon to explain why it ditched its decades-old consultancy contract with the MITRE Corp.’s JASON group of scientists, a move that prompted the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to step in and fund the contract That is according to a […]

The Department of Energy’s contractor for the now-terminated plutonium recycling facility at the Savannah River Site is suing to recoup what it says is nearly $53 million the federal government failed to pay for its work. CB&I AREVA MOX Services added in its May 2 lawsuit that the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) suspended work for two weeks last month after an employee accidentally cut the tip of a glove while handling metal samples that contained tritium, according to a recent report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The employee, a principle investigator, was not injured. But, according to the […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration were set to meet Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in Nevada on Friday, about a week after after the Silver State’s senior senator stopped blocking nominees for senior Department of Energy jobs because of a contentious plutonium shipment last […]

Thirteen people at a University of Washington research facility were exposed to cesium-137 last week when a contractor attempted to remove a blood irradiator as part of a Department of Energy-funded program. Personnel were removing a cesium irradiator manufactured by J. L. Shepherd and Associates from the premises on May 3 when the workers “nicked […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will be late with initial deliveries to the Pentagon of two refurbished nuclear weapons, the head of the semiautonomous nuclear-weapons agency said here Wednesday. The Air Force was supposed to get its refurbished B61, to be called B61-12, in 2020. The Navy was supposed to get its […]

The management and operations contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has hired 900 employees to date in fiscal 2019, part of its efforts to offset workforce attrition and to ramp up current and upcoming missions. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) plans to hire up to 300 more workers before the fiscal year […]

A big, mostly Democratic group of lawmakers from both sides of Capitol Hill wants the Pentagon to explain why it ditched its decades-old consultancy contract with the MITRE Corp.’s JASON group of scientists, a move that prompted the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to step in and fund the contract That is according to a […]

Thirteen people at a University of Washington research facility were exposed to cesium-137 last week when a contractor attempted to remove a blood irradiator as part of a Department of Energy-funded program. Personnel were removing a cesium irradiator manufactured by J. L. Shepherd and Associates from the premises on Friday when the workers “nicked the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) indicated Monday it will not start disposal of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium in South Carolina until 2028 — a date by which the agency could accrue more than $1 billion in financial penalties for failing to remove the material from the South Carolina facility. The semiautonomous […]

There are no problems with the data from a recent subcritical plutonium experiment in Nevada, despite the unprecedented breach of the protective steel container in which the explosive test took place, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday. The breach also has not set back the schedule for other planned subcritical tests, despite personnel […]

The Department of Energy’s contractor for the now-terminated plutonium recycling facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is suing to recoup what it says is nearly $53 million the federal government failed to pay for its work. CB&I AREVA MOX Services said in its May 2 lawsuit that the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National […]

A hole in a calibration valve caused the hydrogen fluoride leak that prompted the operations contractor of the Y-12 National Security Complex to evacuate the main U.S. uranium processing building in early April, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). “Based on a visual inspection, a hole was identified […]

More than 30 piping repairs were made last month at the Savannah River Site’s aging H Canyon nuclear materials processing facility during a planned maintenance outage. Along with the repairs, site personnel used the outage to calibrate the facility’s electrical breakers and inspect its air tunnel, which has sustained corrosion over the years. “Regularly scheduled […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday posted a big drop in net income in its first quarter due to less favorable pension adjustments, but the company’s top line growth was strong and the outlook for further growth in the coming years was buoyed by strong orders and a record backlog. Net income […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) this week agreed to stop blocking nominees for high-level Department of Energy jobs after securing an in-person meeting in Nevada with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The senator, her staff, and the DOE top-dogs are set to tour the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) still has not decided how much funding it will steer to an upcoming contract to keep the JASON group of independent science advisers on life support through most of January, or whether the agency wants to rely on the group over the long term. A spokesperson told Nuclear Security […]

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 of Nuclear […]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration should reconsider their decision to make nuclear-weapon cores in two states beginning in 2030 after yet another study concluded the plan cannot meet a White House production deadline, a key lawmaker said this week in a hearing here. “The Institute for Defense Analyses found that […]

Editor’s Note 05/14/2019, 9:50 a.m. Eastern: the story was corrected to read that the U.K. shipped highly-enriched uranium to an undisclosed U.S. location. The United Kingdom has finished shipping 700 kilograms of excess highly enriched uranium to the United States from the former fast-reactor research site at Dounreay, Scotland, the U.S. and U.K. said Friday. The […]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration should reconsider their decision to make nuclear-weapon cores in two states beginning in 2030 after yet another study concluded the plan cannot meet a White House production deadline, a key lawmaker said here in a Wednesday hearing. “The Institute for Defense Analyses found that none […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) on Tuesday agreed to stop blocking nominees for high-level Department of Energy jobs after securing an in-person meeting on storage of plutonium in Nevada with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The senator, her staff, and the DOE top-dogs are set […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) on Tuesday again tried to put New Mexico in line for a piece of the high-assay low-enriched uranium market the Department of Energy is trying to spark with a promised sole-source contract award to Centrus Corp. The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy in January announced it planned to award Bethedsa, Md.-based […]

An appeals court will “likely” hear arguments about why the Department of Energy should remove half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from Nevada by August, attorneys for the state wrote in a Monday court filing. The news dropped in a filing with the U.S. District Court for Nevada, in which the state reasserted its […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) still has not decided how much funding it will steer to an upcoming contract to keep the JASON group of independent science advisers on life support through most of January, or whether the agency wants to rely on the group over the long term. A spokesperson told Weapons Complex […]

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 […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy locked Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff out of meetings at least one defense nuclear site, a member of the independent federal nuclear health-and-safety watchdog said here Tuesday. At a public meeting, board member Joyce Connery said DNFSB staff at a site she did not identify were denied access […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation office needs to end programs that have served their purpose, the head of that office told a panel of scientists here this week. “We know how to start a project, but we don’t know how to kill it,” Brent Park, NNSA deputy administrator for defense […]

A panel of appeals judges will hear oral argument from Nevada by early October about why the Department of Energy should remove a half metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site’s Device Assembly Facility. That is according to a Monday order in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals told the […]