National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

CB&I AREVA MOX Services and a former subcontractor say they should not have to pay the $19.2 million the United States is seeking in a fraud lawsuit. In separate documents filed over the last week in federal court, the companies said they had no knowledge of alleged schemes to defraud the government during construction of […]

The independent JASON panel of scientists appears set to receive a reprieve from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration after the Pentagon last month said it would not renew MITRE Corp.’s expiring contract. “The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) anticipates the award of a firm-fixedprice/cost Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) hybrid contract to support the JASON program […]

The State Department has kept the moribund U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) in a congressionally mandated annual report of arms-control compliance concerns. The agency expended some 80 words of the roughly 5,000-word Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments report to warn that Moscow’s 2016 supension of adherence to […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy locked Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff out of meetings at 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 […]

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 […]

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon danced around questions this week about whether the National Nuclear Security Administration can support the planned deployment of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles if Congress allows the civilian agency to build only a single plutonium pit-production plant. But with lawmakers headed back to Washington next week to prepare bills that will […]

WASHINGTON – A senior Pentagon official declined to say here Wednesday whether he believes the Department of Energy can deliver nuclear warheads for next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles on time if Congress does not fund both the plutonium-pit production plants the civilian agency wants to build. “I’m aware of the issue, but I wouldn’t want to […]

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 Wednesday. “We know how to start a project, but we don’t know how to kill it,” Brent Park, NNSA deputy administrator for defense nuclear […]

CB&I AREVA MOX Services and a former subcontractor say they should not have to pay the $19.2 million the United States is seeking in a lawsuit. In separate documents filed in federal court, the companies said they had no knowledge of alleged schemes to defraud the government while working at the now-canceled plutonium recycling facility […]

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

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 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week accepted the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) recommendation to improve the safety of nuclear explosives handling at the Pantex weapons service plant in Amarillo, Texas. Some of these tweaks to operations at the Pantex Plant are complete already, NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty wrote in a letter to […]

South Carolina says the U.S. Department of Energy owes another $100 million for failing to meet its commitment for disposal of plutonium from the Savannah River Site, and will owe more in 2020 even if the agency meets its federal court-mandated deadline to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from the state by the end […]

Watchers of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear waste and weapons budgets will endure another week of added uncertainty about those programs after Congress blew town for an extended spring break without making progress on a deal to avert automatic spending cuts that will kick in on Oct. 1. The House did make an opening […]

The prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) sought and received a federal judge’s help Tuesday in ensuring that the rapidly downsizing company retains control of proprietary information at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. MOX Services has been shedding jobs since the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in October […]

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 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week revealed new details about its proposed dilute-and-dispose plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium — including that the agency is close to beginning a yearlong environmental review of its new approach. The agency will release its draft dilute-and-dispose supplemental environmental impact statement “in the very […]

As the National Nuclear Security Administration ramps up spending on nuclear-weapon refurbishments, the Kansas City, Mo., plant that produces the non-nuclear components of these weapons is rushing to expand the footprint it right-sized in 2012, and preparing to lease more production space this summer. That is according to a report released last week by the Government Accountability […]

A bipartisan pair of senators last week introduced a bill to tighten ethics and transparency requirements for members of federal advisory committees: expert groups that advise federal agencies including the Department of Energy. The bill from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) would require, among other things, that agencies creating and maintaining such committees openly nominate […]

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 […]

The House Armed Services panel that writes nuclear weapons law will reveal its plans for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s future plutonium-pit production complex, low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead and more on June 4, when it marks up part of the lower chamber’s 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sets policy […]

For the first time in seven years, the Department Defense refused to declassify the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal, the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said Wednesday. The nonprofit group, which counts nuclear warheads, delivery vehicles, and carrier craft worldwide, said it received notice from the Department of Energy that the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday revealed new details about its proposed dilute-and-dispose plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium — including that the agency is close to beginning a yearlong environmental review of its new approach. The agency will release its draft dilute-and-dispose supplemental environmental impact statement “in the very […]

The prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) sought and received a federal judge’s help Tuesday in ensuring that the rapidly downsizing company retains control of proprietary information at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. MOX Services has been shedding jobs since the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in October […]

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 […]

A bipartisan pair of senators last week introduced a bill to tighten ethics and transparency requirements for members of federal advisory committees: expert groups that advise federal agencies including the Department of Energy. The bill from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) would require, among other things, that agencies creating and maintaining such committees openly […]

Watchers of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear waste and weapons budgets will endure two more weeks of added uncertainty about those programs after Congress blew town for an extended spring break without making progress on a deal to avert automatic spending cuts that will kick in on Oct. 1. The House did make an […]

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. […]

The House Armed Services panel that writes nuclear weapons law will reveal its plans for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s future plutonium-pit production complex, low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead and more on June 4, when it marks up part of the lower chamber’s 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sets […]

As the National Nuclear Security Administration ramps up spending on nuclear-weapon refurbishments, the Kansas City, Mo., plant that produces the non-nuclear components of these weapons is rushing to expand the footprint it right-sized in 2012, and preparing to lease more production space this summer. That is according to a report released Friday by the Government […]