National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Excising the profit-seeking mindset from the Los Alamos National Laboratory was key to keeping the University of California on the storied nuclear-weapons lab’s management team, an executive with the massive public university system said Wednesday. After about a dozen years under the for-profit Los Alamos National Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in June […]

More than a week after they stalled out, Congress still has not rescheduled final negotiations on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s 2019 budget, which would include funding for a new low-yield nuclear warhead. The negotiations, a bicameral conference committee of lawmakers from the House and Senate, were supposed to start July 12. They were abruptly […]

Triad National Security, incoming management and operations contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, filled out some of the lower levels of its organization chart this week, identifying 11 more employees in its science, operations, and weapons stovepipes. The recently identified Triad execs are: Weapons Mission: Michael Bernardin, associate laboratory director, weapons design. Bernardin is […]

WASHINGTON — The Congressman who represents the Y-12 National Security Complex is confident the weapons facility could handle the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium mission, should the agency eventually move the mission to Oak Ridge, Tenn. “I want NNSA [the National Nuclear Security Administration] to make the final decision, but the Oak Ridge Reservation can […]

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate delayed the start of final negotiations on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s fiscal 2019 budget until at least next week, a spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee said.  The House and Senate were supposed to meet Thursday to begin resolving their differences on a three-bill appropriations package that includes […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is considering a radical restructuring of its nuclear weapons mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, including moving some work to another location. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency, said she must at least consider winding down certain operations at the Aiken, S.C., […]

As House and Senate lawmakers this week debate whether to tighten congressional scrutiny of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons production contract, the agency is pressing ahead on all cylinders with the deal, which was extended for two years just this spring. The Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, passed in June, mandates that […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

In what should be the final chapter of a federal discrimination lawsuit, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor has been ordered to pay the company $908.45 for the cost of printed documents over the course of the two-year case. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs issued her decision on […]

Thomas Mason, former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will become director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Nov. 1, after Triad National Security takes over management of the storied nuclear-weapon facility in New Mexico. Mason is Triad’s president and CEO, making him ultimately responsible for Los Alamos’ nuclear stockpile stewardship and weapons modernization […]

Fluor Marine Propulsion, of Arlington, Va., on Thursday won major nuclear-warship support contracts, worth up to a combined total of  roughly $30 billion over 10 years, from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy. Fluor Marine Propulsion will take over Oct. 1 from incumbent Nuclear Naval Laboratory contractor Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp., the NNSA […]

Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command and effectively customer-in-chief for the nuclear weapons maintained by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), toured the Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week. Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor sister publication Weapons Complex Morning Briefing was first to confirm Hyten’s visit this week. Hyten on Thursday […]

Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command and effectively customer-in-chief for the nuclear weapons maintained by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is scheduled today to tour the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Hyten was set to tour the site’s tritium facilities, which process a crucial hydrogen isotope that magnifies the explosive power […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is considering a radical restructuring of its nuclear weapons mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, including moving some work to another location. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency, said she must at least consider winding down certain operations at the Aiken, S.C., […]

As House and Senate lawmakers this week debate whether to tighten congressional scrutiny of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons production contract, the agency is pressing ahead on all cylinders with the deal, which was extended for two years just this spring. The Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, passed in June, mandates that […]

Among the jurists who President Donald Trump could tap to fill an impending Supreme Court vacancy are two who were involved with the case of an octogenarian nun who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and , and defaced a uranium storehouse. Judge Amul Thapar, presently of the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]

Triad National Security appears set to take over the Los Alamos National Laboratory this fall, after no one protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s June 8 award of its potentially 10-year management contract. Triad’s three main partners are Battelle Memorial Institute, the University of California, and Texas A&M University. The University of California managed Los Alamos […]

The Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will enjoy judicial protection from the federal ax for essentially the rest of the government’s 2018 fiscal year after an appeals court last week decided not to immediately lift a lower court’s ban on closing the plant. South Carolina sued in May to prevent DOE […]

The Department of Energy is inviting potential bidders on a yet-to-be-solicited management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site to Augusta, Ga., on August 1 for what the agency calls a “technical workshop.” At the all-day workshop, DOE “will be presenting information on technical challenges associated with Management and Operation of the Savannah River […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) visited Los Alamos, but not at the Energy Department laboratory, on Thursday as part of his first U.S. Senate re-election campaign. Heinrich, who is seeking a second term, appeared for a one-and-a-half hour meet and greet at a wine bar not 2 miles from the storied nuclear weapons lab. Heinrich ran […]

Among the jurists who President Donald Trump could tap to fill an impending Supreme Court vacancy are two who were involved with the case of an octogenarian nun who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and defaced a uranium storehouse. Judge Amul Thapar, presently of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week it completed a pair of flight tests on non-nuclear components of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb near the Nevada National Test Site. “The tests involved releasing a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly, which includes the NNSA designed bomb assembly and U.S. Air Force acquired tail-kit, from a B-2A […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons sites, reached a new collective bargaining agreement with a union representing Y-12 security personnel in Tennessee. The five-year contract with International Guards Union of America will go into effect in August and run through Aug. 15, 2023, according […]

A Centerra Group subsidiary contracted to protect the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina took home almost $3 million of an available award fee of $3.16 million, roughly 95 percent, for the six-month period from October 2017 through March 2018. The Energy Department praised Centerra-Savannah River Site for its work providing physical protection […]

Texas A&M University will manage a low-energy nuclear science center for the National Nuclear Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  using a five-year, $10-million grant announced Thursday. With the grant, the College State-based university will operate the Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-based Research (CENTAUR): a project that combines experimental and theoretical physics initiatives to “measure […]

The Department of Energy is inviting potential bidders on a yet-to-be-solicited management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site to Augusta, Ga., on Aug. 12 for what is being called a “technical workshop.” At the all-day workshop, DOE “will be presenting information on technical challenges associated with Management and Operation of the Savannah River […]

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Tuesday helped to formally begin construction of a new office building for agency employees in New Mexico. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty was joined by, among others, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) to break ground on the Albuquerque Complex: office space for nearly 1,000 NNSA headquarters employees. The […]

The Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will enjoy judicial protection from the federal ax for essentially the rest of the government’s 2018 fiscal year after an appeals court on Friday decided not to immediately lift a lower court’s ban on closing the plant. South Carolina sued in May to prevent DOE […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week it completed a pair of flight tests on non-nuclear components of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb near the Nevada National Test Site. “The tests involved releasing a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly, which includes the NNSA designed bomb assembly and U.S. Air Force acquired tail-kit, from a B-2A […]