National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Department of Energy security forces and local law enforcement on Monday fatally shot an unidentified man who drove through a security gate at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), the agency said in a press release. The man “failed to stop” his car at a gate in Mercury, Nev., then led NNSS security protective forces and […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based nuclear project management and personnel provider ReNuke Services has two new vice presidents, one newly hired and one promoted from within. The company on Friday announced that it had promoted treasurer Marcie Acosta to vice president of administration and finance. It also hired industry veteran Wendy Lambert as vice president of business […]

More work on nuclear-tipped missiles contributed to yearly and quarterly earnings gains at Lockheed Martin. The defense contractor, of Bethesda, Md. released an early look earnings press release Tuesday ahead of a scheduled 11 a.m. earnings call. Lockheed’s 2018 earnings from continuing operations were more than $5 billion, or $17.59 a share, more than two-and-a-half times […]

With the partial shutdown of the federal government resolved, at least until mid-February, a lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) has resumed, according to a Monday court filing. The $200-million lawsuit ground to a halt during the 35-day shutdown, during […]

In an annual pregame tradition as sure as the coin toss, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will again police this year’s Super Bowl for signs of radiological dangers. The NNSA Remote Sensing Laboratory Aerial Measuring System team will sweep the area around Atlanta on Monday, Tuesday, and Sunday using radiation-detecting equipment flown aboard a […]

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Thursday kept its metaphorical Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, citing continuing aggressive posturing by nuclear-armed nations. “The risks associated with nuclear weapons, over the long term, are increasing for three reasons: expensive programs to modernize nuclear arsenals, expansive nuclear doctrines, and a decisive turn away from […]

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), whose Nashville, Tenn.-centered congressional district is more than 100 miles from the nearest nuclear security site, will lead the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that sets policy for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) will be the ranking member on the subcommittee, which writes the parts of […]

More planned nuclear weapons programs will roll into production phases in the decade ending in 2028, increasing the total annual cost of these efforts by some $10 billion to $50 billion a year, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The spending estimate for 2019 through 2028 includes: the Department of Energy’s (DOE) bill for maintaining and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Jan. 18 it finished building the secondary stage for the first war-ready B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on Dec. 6. The canned subassembly is the uranium-fueled stage of the future gravity bomb, which as part of a 20-year life-extension program will homogenize four previous versions of the venerable weapon. The […]

Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it has started building the first low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead ordered by the Donald Trump administration last year. “The Pantex Plant has initiated assembly of the W76-2 First Production Unit,” an agency spokesperson wrote Friday in an email response to a query from Nuclear Security & […]

The upper echelons of the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons apparatus shed no light Wednesday on exactly when they will begin producing the low-yield W76-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead — a modified version of the W76-1 warhead whose just-completed modernization drew a who’s who of agency leadership to Amarillo, Texas. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the […]

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), whose Nashville, Tenn.-centered congressional district is more than 100 miles from the nearest nuclear security site, will lead the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that sets policy for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) will be the ranking member on the subcommittee, which writes the parts of […]

Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]

A senior official at the University of California has been picked to lead nuclear weapons programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory effective Feb. 4, the Department of Energy facility said Tuesday. Kimberly Budil will be principal associate director for weapons and complex integration: the top nuclear weapons job at the Livermore, Calif., laboratory that […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) confirmed Tuesday it has finished refurbishing the final submarine-launched W76 ballistic missile warheads for another 30 years of service. The NNSA finished building the last W76-1 warhead in December, an agency spokesperson said by email. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency started planning for the W76-1 life-extension program in 1999 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday it finished building the secondary stage for the first war-ready B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on Dec. 6. The canned subassembly is the uranium-fueled stage of the future gravity bomb, which as part of a 20-year life-extension program will homogenize four previous versions of the venerable weapon. The subassembly […]

A lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for a canceled plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina is on hold for the duration of the partial government shutdown, according to a filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Judge Thomas Wheeler last week granted the unopposed motion to stay the lawsuit […]

South Carolina will expect to be paid another $100 million if the federal government by April 10 fails again to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Under a 2003 agreement with the federal government, South Carolina is authorized to fine DOE up to $100 million annually […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation plans to continue its relationship with the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center for another five years, under a high-level education and public relations contract announced this week. The contract, yet to be awarded, will sustain “ongoing work that is intended to improve the strategic dialogue […]

The White House this week teed up a radical reshaping of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), proposing to add two new members to the independent federal watchdog and boot one member. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Trump administration nominated a combined four people to the board. The nominees include new faces and existing board […]

It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box at the lab’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according to a Department […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday announced four leadership changes and other churn among its seven subcommittees for the 116th Congress, but only one gavel hand-off among the Republicans who remain in the majority. Notably for nuclear weapons programs managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) became the ranking member of […]

The White House this week renominated William Bookless to be principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): the No. 2 post at the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon steward. Bookless was one of more than 150 nominees for senior executive branch jobs sent to the Senate on Wednesday. Many had been nominated […]

A federal judge had not ruled by early Friday afternoon whether the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) can ship a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site. Judge Miranda Du of the U.S. District Court for Nevada in Reno on Thursday heard arguments from attorneys representing the state of Nevada and […]

South Carolina will expect to be paid another $100 million if the federal government by April 10 fails again to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Under a 2003 agreement with the federal government, South Carolina is authorized to fine DOE up to $100 million annually […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation plans to continue its relationship with the Washington-based Stimson Center for another five years, under a high-level education and public relations contract announced this week. The contract, yet to be awarded, will sustain “ongoing work that is intended to improve the strategic dialogue and […]

Nevada’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) from shipping a metric ton of plutonium to the state should be should be transferred to a court in South Carolina, lawyers for that state said Monday. Nevada could have filed its Nov. 30 suit in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, which “retains continuing jurisdiction” over […]

A lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for a canceled plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina is on hold for the duration of the partial government shutdown, according to a filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Judge Thomas Wheeler on Thursday granted the unopposed motion to stay the lawsuit […]

It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box in the Departent of Energy site’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according […]