National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Congress appears ready to vote this week on the final version of the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget bill: a proposal that includes more funding than requested for both active nuclear weapons programs and Cold War cleanup. Although they have not scheduled the votes yet, the full House and Senate are set to approve […]

A motor vehicle operator temporarily lost commercial driving privileges after transporting nuclear samples needed for counterterrorism training without completing the proper paperwork. The driver shipped the material Tuesday from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Counter Terrorism Operations Support office in Nevada to a training facility in Hagerstown, Md., the Department of Energy  disclosed Friday. […]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) this week demanded the Department of Energy conduct additional environmental reviews before sending any defense plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site from the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. In December 2017, a federal judge ordered DOE to move not less than 1 metric ton of defense plutonium out of […]

Members of Congress this week voiced their displeasure about a planned downsizing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and with a Department of Energy order that some, including the board itself, fear will lock the federal agency out of much of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. “In light of the many concerns with the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) reaffirmed Tuesday that, despite public comments and even a federal lawsuit that say otherwise, it does not need to perform another environmental review of the Uranium Processing Facility being built at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency “has determined, at […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — Department of Energy officials and industry executives expressed hope Wednesday that no last-minute snags hold up passage of a fiscal 2019 budget with healthy funding for the agency’s nuclear weapons programs. “Who wants to do layoffs in an election year?” Eric Knox, vice president of strategic development, nuclear and environment, for the […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The United States does not need as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the Air Force plans to build, and Congress should take another look at a low-yield warhead lawmakers just approved, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said here. “I think we have too many ICBMs, absolutely,” Rep. Adam […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) reaffirmed Tuesday that, despite public comments and even a federal lawsuit that say otherwise, it does not need to perform another environmental review of the Uranium Processing Facility being built at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency “has determined, at […]

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters on Capitol Hill that the next Senate Armed Services Committee chairman is expected to be chosen Tuesday and that he intends to seek the chair. Traditionally Senate leadership appoints the majority party member with the greatest seniority on the committee to be chairman; in this case, Inhofe. He has […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is carrying through with a pledge made earlier this year to provide $40 million more to support development of domestic commercial production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. The aim of the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency is to promote means of manufacturing that do not require reactors powered […]

The Department of Energy will not be able to deliver 80 new nuclear-warhead cores per year in 2030 unless it starts building new plutonium processing facilities in South Carolina by the middle of 2019, the head of the Nuclear Weapons Council said Thursday. “From the Nuclear Weapons Council perspective, the Department of Energy (DOE) needs […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

Halting construction on the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is not only legal, but it’s the quickest way to remove nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from South Carolina, the Department of Energy said Friday in a brief filed in federal court. The DOE reply brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals provides more pieces […]

Honeywell Vice President David “DJ” Johnson may be new to Department of Energy work, but he’s got national security chops from more than 20 years in the Air Force, from which he retired as a colonel. Honeywell put Johnson in charge of the company’s four major site management contracts with the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

Honeywell, a top contractor for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons sites, also sees opportunities on the environmental remediation side of the federal agency’s operations, one newly reassigned executive said recently. Former Air Force colonel David “DJ” Johnson last month became vice president and general manager at Honeywell Federal Solutions, where he oversees the company’s four […]

The Energy Department last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a small business set-aside contract, potentially worth almost $25 million over five years, to tackle low-risk, low-complexity characterization and remediation for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee. The Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the […]

Representatives from incumbent Navarro Research and Engineering were among the 37 participants registered for an Aug. 14 presolicitation meeting with Energy Department officials on the next Nevada Environmental Program Services contract. Among the other companies that sent staffers to Henderson, Nev., to learn more about the draft request for proposals posted by DOE in July: […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is carrying through with a pledge made earlier this year to provide $40 million more to support development of domestic commercial production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. The aim of the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency is to promote means of manufacturing that do not require reactors powered […]

Los Angeles-based engineering giant AECOM on Monday announced that it has promoted former Department of Energy official Mark Whitney to lead its nuclear and environment business unit, filling the slot vacated by Todd Wright. Wright recently retired as executive vice president and general manager of the AECOM branch, but is staying on at the company […]

Honeywell, a top contractor for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons sites, also sees opportunities on the environmental remediation side of the federal agency’s operations, one newly reassigned executive said recently. Former Air Force colonel David “DJ” Johnson last month became vice president and general manager at Honeywell Federal Solutions, where he oversees the company’s four […]

Representatives from incumbent Navarro Research and Engineering were among the 37 participants registered for an Aug. 14 presolicitation meeting with Energy Department officials on the next Nevada Environmental Program Services contract. Among the other companies that sent staffers to Henderson, Nev., to learn more about the draft request for proposals posted by DOE in July: […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is carrying through with a pledge made earlier this year to provide $40 million more to support development of commercial production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency aims to promote means of production that do not require highly enriched uranium, a proliferation-sensitive material […]

Los Angeles-based engineering giant AECOM on Monday announced that it has promoted former Department of Energy official Mark Whitney to lead its nuclear and environment business unit, filling the slot vacated by Todd Wright. Wright recently retired as executive vice president and general manager of the AECOM branch, but is staying on at the company […]

The Energy Department last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a small business set-aside contract, potentially worth almost $25 million over five years, to tackle low-risk, low-complexity characterization and remediation for the Oak River Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee. The Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the […]

Halting construction on the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is not only legal, but it’s the quickest way to remove nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from South Carolina, the Department of Energy said Friday in a brief filed in federal court. The DOE reply brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals provides more pieces […]

William Crooks has replaced Andrew Wysong as head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, a lab spokesperson said Monday. The change, effective July 20, was first disclosed publicly in a weekly Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site report from the nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico. Crooks will be responsible for […]

The Department of Energy this week released a draft solicitation for a Savannah River Site management and operations contract that could be worth nearly $15 billion over 10 years, including construction of new tritium facilities to power up U.S. nuclear weapons. Interested parties can meet DOE officials on site for two days of one-on-one meetings and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Thursday announced a new interagency agreement to continue providing the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority with low-enriched uranium that makes it possible to produce tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons. Under the agreement, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency will downblend highly enriched uranium into low-enriched uranium that […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]

The Defense Department must better train and empower its acquisition workforce if it hopes to buy and develop critical capabilities more rapidly, the candidate for a key Pentagon leadership position said this week. “Acquisition is not something that someone can walk in off the street and do well,” Alan Shaffer, nominated in June to become […]