National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The Energy Department has scheduled a public information meeting for 5 p.m. today on the new Environmental Management Disposal Facility planned for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Energy Department is proposing a 2.2 million-cubic-yard landfill site on federal land in Bear Creek Valley, according to a notice for the 90-minute meeting at the […]

Days after asking as much in oral arguments, the Department of Energy on Monday again asked a federal appeals court to let it shut down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. In early June, as part of a lawsuit filed by the state of South […]

Triad National Security remains on course to take over management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico on Nov. 1, the president and chief executive office of the incoming management contractor told regents of the University of California last week. Thomas Mason, who will also be lab director, reaffirmed his stance that restoring Los […]

To resolve one of the many claims tacked on to a roughly $200 million lawsuit, the Department of Energy and contractor MOX Services are working a legal settlement over some $1 million the federal agency allegedly refused to pay after the company gave 55 employees raises a few years ago. In a Wednesday order, U.S. District […]

The Department of Energy’s Defense Programs Advisory Committee is scheduled meet in closed session Oct. 22-23 at agency headquarters in Washington to discuss, among other things, a classified report on plutonium aging, according to a Federal Register notice filed last week. The all-day committee meetings will also address finalizing the charter for a high-performance computing subcommittee, the note says. […]

Federal judges could soon issue rulings in a pair of appeals cases over the future of plutonium and plutonium operations in the state, following oral arguments in a federal appeals court this week. Arguments in both cases ― separate lawsuits the state brought against the federal agency in 2016 and 2018 ― happened Thursday in […]

The State Department is relying in part on the Sandia National Laboratories to prioritize spending on global nonproliferation assistance programs, a senior State official said Tuesday. The New Mexico-based laboratory will help State’s bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation target financial aid to foreign countries based on the urgency of threats to the United States, […]

Bechtel National will have a new project manager in place next month for the next-generation Uranium Processing Facility the company is building at the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. However, it is not ready yet to identify the project chief. Bechtel is moving current UPF project manager Valerie McCain across […]

Nuclear Fuel Services, of Erwin, Tenn., will downblend 20.2 metric tons of uranium needed to produce tritium for U.S. nuclear warheads under a roughly seven-year National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) contract worth $505 million, parent company BWX Technologies announced Friday. The NNSA needs to turn some of its stock of highly enriched uranium into low-enriched […]

The Department of Energy and South Carolina are set today to deliver oral arguments in a pair of appeals cases over the future of plutonium and plutonium operations in the state. Arguments in both cases ― separate lawsuits the state brought against the federal agency in 2016 and 2018 ― are set for 9:30 a.m. […]

The Senate late Monday confirmed Jackie Wolcott as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and as the U.S. representative to the Vienna, Austria, office of the United Nations. Senators approved Wolcott’s nomination by a vote of 75-19. Trump nominated Wolcott, a longtime Washington hand and a seasoned diplomat with previous […]

The State Department is relying in part on the Sandia National Laboratories to prioritize spending on global nonproliferation assistance programs, a senior State official said Tuesday. The New Mexico-based laboratory will help State’s bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation target financial aid to foreign countries based on the urgency of threats to the United States, […]

The House Armed Services Committee so far does not plan a hearing on a Democrat-sponsored bill to ban development of an low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, the panel’s chairman said Tuesday. In a press gaggle with Capitol Hill reporters, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said the House would recess after this week until the Nov. 6 midterm […]

The head of Triad National Security is slated Wednesday to brief the University of California Board of Regents’ National Laboratories Subcommittee about the company’s progress in assuming the management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Thomas Mason, president and CEO of the UC-led company, “will brief the Regents on the leadership, organization, […]

The Department of Energy has again waived a requirement to continue building a planned plutonium disposal facility at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., papers filed with a federal appeals court Monday show. The waiver came in the form of a Sept. 18 letter from Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security […]

Bechtel National will have a new project manager in place next month for the next-generation Uranium Processing Facility the company is building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. However, it is not ready yet to identify the project chief. Bechtel is moving current UPF project manager Valerie McCain across the country to […]

The Department of Energy’s secretive Defense Programs Advisory Committee is scheduled meet in closed session Oct. 22-23 at agency headquarters in Washington to discuss, among other things, a classified report on plutonium aging, according to a Federal Register notice filed Friday. The all-day committee meetings will also address finalizing the charter for a high-performance computing subcommittee, […]

Despite threats of severe weather that required the Savannah River Site to brace for impact, the facility emerged unscathed after Hurricane Florence slammed into South Carolina last week. The storm, which has been linked to dozens of deaths in several coastal states, had no impact on missions or facilities at the 310-square-mile Department of Energy […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will get its full-year appropriation on time for the 2019 fiscal year, after President Donald Trump on Friday signed a multi-agency appropriations act that includes more than $15 billion for the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency. Overall, the NNNSA will get a roughly 4-percent year-over-year raise for […]

A judge recently spiked the Department of Energy’s motion to dismiss a complaint lodged by CB&I AREVA MOX Services in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, potentially allowing the government contractor to collect what it alleges are almost $6.5 million in improperly denied fees. The complaint is one of eight now consolidated under a $200-million-plus […]

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously confirmed Charles Verdon to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons portfolio as deputy administrator for defense programs. Verdon, most recently principal associate director at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate, got the thumbs-up nearly seven months after President Donald Trump nominated him for the top NNSA weapons post. […]

WASHINGTON ―  It would make sense for the Department of Energy to have more than one production facility for the fissile cores of nuclear warheads, a senior Pentagon official with broad responsibility for nuclear weapons procurement said here Friday. “To me, it doesn’t quite make sense to go down to a single point of failure […]

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously confirmed Charles Verdon to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons portfolio as deputy administrator for defense programs. Verdon, most recently principal associate director at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate, got the thumbs-up nearly seven months after President Donald Trump nominated him for the top NNSA weapons post. […]

Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday unveiled legislative language that would ban research, development, manufacturing, and fielding of the planned low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead for which Congress approved $65 million in funding during the fiscal year that begins in 13 days. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) sponsored the House bill, with co-sponsors Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), […]

A judge recently spiked the Department of Energy’s motion to dismiss a complaint lodged by CB&I AREVA MOX Services in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, potentially allowing the government contractor to collect what it alleges are almost $6.5 million in improperly denied fees. The complaint is one of eight now consolidated under a $200-million-plus […]

A sentencing date has been scheduled for the second man who pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government while serving as a subcontractor for the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). Aaron Vennefron is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1 in Columbia, S.C., according to an order last week from U.S. […]

On its third try, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) mapped out a classified a plan to verify and monitor global proliferation of nuclear weapons, weapon components, and fissile materials, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Friday. Congress ordered the NNSA to create this plan in 2015 and 2017, but the agency failed both times to […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said it will keep only essential safety and security staff on duty if Hurricane Florence threatens the nearby region inland. The essential staff number fluctuates depending on what is needed at the time, but in recent memory it has been roughly 340 members of the […]

The budget for the Department of Energy’s controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in South Carolina would be cut to the lowest level at least since the start of this decade, under the 2019 DOE budget Congress approved this week. The  plant, being built by CB&I AREVA MOX Services, would get a […]

Congress’ final 2019 budget bill for the National Nuclear Security Administration, unveiled in detail Tuesday, would increase funding for maintenance and cleanup to buildings across the nuclear weapons complex, decrease funding for a controversial plutonium-disposal project, and provide initial funding to produce a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead. The House and Senate are set to vote […]