National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, earned a total of $6.24 million in fee awards for the first half of 2018, according to a recent performance scorecard. The contractor garnered 100 percent of the potential $2.59 million in objective criteria fee, along with $3.65 million, […]

One of the two men who pleaded guilty to $4.58 million worth of fraud while working at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project was sentenced Monday to 23 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs also sentenced 66-year-old Phillip Thompson to three years of supervised release after prison […]

Safety procedures that would prevent radiological injuries and fatalities must be implemented at the Savannah River Site’s tritium facilities, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a recent letter addressing unfinished revisions to SRS safety documents. The safety watchdog laid out its concerns in a June 4 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, […]

Congress inched a little closer to finalizing a 2019 budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration this week after the Senate passed a “minibus” appropriations package, but the two chambers still have about half a billion dollars’ worth of differences over nuclear weapon and nonproliferation spending to hash out in a bicameral conference committee. The […]

Teri Donaldson, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Department of Energy inspector general, drew hardly any attention in her initial confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Donaldson, a former corporate environmental lawyer and federal prosecutor now working as general counsel for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), has “impressive credentials,” committee Chairwoman Lisa […]

Energy Department Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said Tuesday it could take an additional year to secure New Mexico approval to change the way the volume of transuranic waste is counted for underground disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico Environment Department said June 1 it plans a more extensive […]

A federal judge this week refused to lift a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Energy from canceling the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. The Tuesday ruling means project prime contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services will continue building the plutonium-conversion plant — which is by […]

One of the two men who pleaded guilty to $4.58 million worth of fraud while working at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project was sentenced Monday to 23 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs also sentenced 66-year-old Phillip Thompson to three years of supervised release after prison […]

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Energy from canceling the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. The ruling means project prime contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services will continue building the plutonium-conversion plant — which is by the […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries said Tuesday it on June 4 formally made Sharon Brady the new chief operating officer for subsidiary Stoller Newport News Nuclear (SN3), a significant player in the Energy Department complex. Brady has worked in a variety of corporate and government contract posts at SN3 predecessor Stoller since 2001, the company said in […]

The Senate on Monday approved a 2019 appropriations package that includes a little under $15 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), fully funding development of a new low-yield warhead but coming up short of the administration’s request for nuclear-weapons infrastructure. The Senate passed the so-called minibus appropriations package 86-5 after a nearly a […]

The full Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. today on an appropriations package including the Department of Energy’s proposed fiscal 2019 budget. The so-called minibus spending legislation is a combination of three appropriations bills, one of which is an Energy and Water Development act with some $35 billion in proposed funding for the […]

For four years and through two presidential administrations, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) failed to supply Congress with an adequate plan to verify and monitor global proliferation of nuclear weapons, weapon components, and fissile materials, the Government Accountability Office reported this week. Congress set the agency up for this public slap on the wrist […]

At least 1 metric ton of plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site may be suitable for use in the nation’s defense program and could be shipped out of South Carolina in time to meet a Jan. 1, 2020, deadline set late last year by a federal judge, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. […]

The Department of Energy wants a federal judge to let the agency resume closing an over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina, court papers filed on June 15 show. On June 7, in a lawsuit brought by South Carolina, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ordered DOE to halt its planned closure of the unfinished […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied New Mexico nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and […]

The Senate adjourned Friday without passing an appropriations package that includes a little under $15 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), though a key Democratic senator signaled she would not oppose the bill over the low-yield nuclear warhead the measure funds. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), one of the longest-tenured senators still serving, said […]

The 10-day clock is ticking to protest the National Nuclear Security Administration’s award of a potentially decade-long management contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, now that the agency has debriefed the companies behind three failed bids to run the storied New Mexico weapons lab. Debriefs of losing bidders wrapped up this Friday, June 22, […]

Los Alamos National Security (LANS) no longer has the Energy Department’s legacy cleanup contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but it posted a strong performance during the most recent fee review period. LANS took home 94 percent of the total fee available for its last review period as lab cleanup contractor, […]

By John Stang The Senate appears set to vote Monday on its version of a fiscal 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill that merges three funding measures covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a number of other agencies. The upper chamber of Congress closed up shop for the week on Thursday, but not before scheduling […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council would have to write annual progress reports for Congress about the Department of Energy’s plan to produce 80 nuclear-warhead cores a year by 2030, if an amendment proposed this week to a fiscal 2019 budget bill becomes law. Amendment SA 2921, from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), would require the chair of […]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week voted against the Senate’s fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act because it would authorize the Department of Energy to create a low-yield nuclear warhead, has signaled her support for a 2019 budget bill that actually funds the weapon. However, Feinstein also wants to amend the spending bill to […]

The Senate on Tuesday began debate on the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget bill, but adjourned after voting only on a few amendments unrelated to the agency’s nuclear weapons and waste programs. Senators were set to resume debate Wednesday and could vote on the measure this week. Like the House, the Senate is considering […]

The Department of Energy wants a federal judge to let the agency resume closing an over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina, court papers filed Friday show. On June 7, in a lawsuit brought by South Carolina, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ordered DOE to halt its planned closure of the unfinished Mixed Oxide […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director for the organization by the end of the month. The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the board’s executive committee could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June […]

The Senate was set to resume consideration of its 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, then begin consideration of a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Department of Energy’s 2019 budget. The Senate could vote on the NDAA as soon as 5:30 p.m. today. The bill sets policy and spending limits for defense programs […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and even take […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) last week elected a new member to its Board of Directors and re-elected another six members. First-time board member Bob Miklos is director of Production Facilities and Infrastructure at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex. He has 30 years of experience with nuclear facilities and also chairs EFCOG’s project […]

Consolidated National Security said last week it has since 2015 awarded some $725 million in purchase orders and subcontracts for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. “Some of the largest awards included structural steel, rebar, specialized equipment and a subcontract for an onsite concrete batch plant,” the project prime […]

The Department of Energy could be allowed to develop new nuclear warheads, or modify existing ones, without permission from Congress, after the Senate on Thursday defeated an amendment to its 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The version of the defense policy bill pending before the Senate would still authorize $65 million in 2019 spending […]