National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

As employees at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project continue to receive termination notices, local stakeholders in the Aiken, S.C., area are optimistic that more jobs are on the way and that the local economy will remain stable. That is because other contractors have been making necessary hires for various missions at the 310-square-mile Department of Energy […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who this year secured full construction funding for a crucial defense uranium plant in his state, announced this week he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which capacity he is the gatekeeper for upper chamber funding of the Department of Energy and […]

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gabe Anseeuw this month became military assistant and executive staff director to Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Anseeuw replaced Cmdr. Christopher Osborn, who was Gordon-Hagerty’s interim right-hand for about six months. Osborn filled in after Capt. Owen Travis retired […]

An appeals court’s October order for removal of 1 metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, took effect Tuesday, depriving the Department of Energy of some legal wiggle room to contest the directive. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., gave notice that its October ruling was, as far […]

Nominees for high-level nuclear energy and weapons jobs at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation procoess for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that William Bookless and Rita Baranwal — nominees respectively for senior posts in DOE’s National […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who this year secured full construction funding for a crucial defense uranium plant in his state even as he stood in the way of the Trump administration’s plans for civilian nuclear-waste disposal, on Monday announced he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the crucial Senate Appropriations energy and water […]

The Department of Energy told a federal court Friday that rushing 1 metric ton of plutonium out of South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, will delay the day it can move even more of the fissile material out of the state by three to six months. Removing the plutonium from the Savannah River Site in […]

Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had […]

The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats. The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 7 it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate […]

The United States could shave about $13 billion off the federal deficit over 20 years by slashing some 500 warheads from the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the nonpartisan federal Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The suggestion was only one of many money-saving ideas in the biennial Options for Reducing the Deficit report, which this year covers […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) swirled more rapidly around the drain this week, as the canceled project’s prime contractor announced more layoffs that will cut across trades, disciplines, and salary tiers at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. MOX Services will lay off another 70 people on Feb. 4, bringing the total […]

MOX Services will lay off another 70 people on Feb. 4, bringing the total projected job losses at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to just over 1,000 by the second month of 2019, according to a notice posted late Tuesday by the nonprofit SC Works organization. MOX Services has so far announced two […]

The Pentagon will unveil its fiscal year 2020 presidential budget (PB) request Feb. 4, the department’s chief military spokesman said Dec. 10. Whether the topline will be $700 billion or $750 billion remains to be seen. Army Col. Robert Manning declined to comment on recent reports that President Trump is now considering submitting a $750 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate the […]

A Government Accountability Office report published recently roughs out the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) timeline for producing a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile warhead by roughly 2030. The NNSA would begin studying options for a W78 replacement between April and June 2019, nail down a cost and schedule baseline by June 2022, and produce the first war-ready […]

Texas A&M University said it will partner with Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) on workforce and technology development programs at the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant in Amarillo, Texas. The partnership, founded under a February memorandum of understanding between CNS and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), will be based at Pantex’s new John […]

Nevada escalated a closed-door dialogue with the Department of Energy (DOE) to the federal court system because the agency got cagey about its plans for moving 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium to and from the state beginning in 2019, according to an affidavit produced this week. The document, from an adviser to Nevada […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to delay more than $1 million is wage-related payments to the contractor of the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility over a legal technicality, according to recent filings in a federal lawsuit. The department is not disputing U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler’s mid-November decision that DOE […]

The management and operations contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina said it has enough job openings for more than half of the people who will be laid off as a result of the Department of Energy canceling construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) “does have […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to delay more than $1 million is wage-related payments to the contractor of the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility over a legal technicality, according to recent filings in a federal lawsuit. The department is not disputing U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler’s mid-November decision that DOE […]

Stakeholders have until 5 p.m. local time Monday to submit public comment on the Energy Department’s proposed new waste disposal facility at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Officially called the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) is a proposed a 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill to replace the current one that has been taking waste since 2002 […]

Nevada escalated a closed-door dialogue with the Department of Energy (DOE) to the federal court system last month because the agency got cagey about its plans for moving 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium to and from the state beginning in 2019, according to an affidavit from a state official. The document was filed […]

A joint venture, APTIM-North Wind Construction, has won a $92 million contract from the Energy Department to build the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the four-year award in a Tuesday press release. The agency received two proposals for […]

Nevada on Friday asked a federal judge to bar the Department of Energy (DOE) from shipping 1 metric ton of plutonium to the state, potentially throwing a wrench in the agency’s plans to comply with an order from another federal judge to move the material out of South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020. Nevada sued […]

Texas A&M University said Friday it will partner with Consolidated Nuclear Security on workforce and technology development programs at the Pantex weapons assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas. The partnership, founded under a February memorandum of understanding with the University’s Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), will be based at Pantex’s new John C. Drummond Center, […]

A Government Accountability Office report published Friday roughs out the National Nuclear Security Administration’s timeline for producing a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile warhead by roughly 2030. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would begin studying options for a W78 replacement between April and June 2019, nail down a baseline by June 2022, and produce the […]

Nearly lost amid higher-profile nomination hearings in high-octane committees this week is a nuts-and-bolts piece of legislation that could open the door for more whistleblower disclosures in the nuclear weapons, waste, and power industries. The bill, one of many discussed in a Thursday hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources energy subcommittee, is sponsored by […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The RFP is due to go out within 15 to 60 days, which translates to the […]

The management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., recently hired 24 new workers for tritium operations and plans to continue ramping up the staff. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) manages production of tritium gas under the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE). Tritium gas triggers the chain reaction […]