National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) must return some $20 million in fees its clawed back in 2016 from the prime contractor on the unfinished, over-budget Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). In a series of filings since consolidated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, CB&I AREVA MOX […]

Teams that lost the race to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next 10 years are expecting a formal debriefing from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) next week, after the agency’s decision to entrust the storied weapons lab to a team including longtime manager the University of California. A pair of sources […]

The Trump administration has officially nominated former corporate environmental lawyer Teri Donaldson to be the Department of Energy’s inspector general, but a logjam in the Senate means it could be a while before she gets a nomination hearing. Donaldson, currently the general counsel for Sen. John Barraso (R-Wyo.), was officially nominated Monday evening, when the […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) this week resumed casting enriched uranium at the World War II-vintage Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a company spokesperson said Thursday. Casting was offline for about two-and-a-half months after an unspecified quantity of fissile material leaked into machinery at the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The Trump administration has officially nominated former corporate environmental lawyer Teri Donaldson to be the Department of Energy’s inspector general, but a logjam in the Senate means it could be a while before she gets a nomination hearing. Donaldson, currently the general counsel for Sen. John Barraso (R-Wyo.), was officially nominated Monday evening, when the […]

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) must return some $20 million in fees its clawed back in 2016 from the prime contractor on the unfinished, over-budget Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). In a series of filings since consolidated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, CB&I AREVA MOX […]

Consolidated National Security said Thursday 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 said […]

Bechtel, a major contractor for the Energy Department’s nuclear complex, announced Thursday it will move its corporate headquarters to one of Washington, D.C.’s Northern Virginia suburbs. The international engineering, procurement, and construction company said it will move corporate operations from Houston and San Francisco to Reston, Va., by the end of 2018. Bechtel already has […]

The Senate plans to resume deliberations late Monday of the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill. The upper chamber’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 would allow $65 million for production of new low-yield nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles. The weapon would be developed by converting the W76 […]

Department of Energy contractor TechSource Inc. has hired a new chief operating officer to manage its daily operations and lead its staff and business development efforts. Jeffrey Giangiuli comes to the Los Alamos, N.M.-based science and engineering consulting company after 13 years at management consultant CALIBRE Systems, of Alexandria, Va., most recently as executive vice […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration did a generally good job estimating its share of the cost to upgrade the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, but the agency has yet to explain a roughly $2.5 billion gap between its forecast and one provided by a nominally independent intra-agency office, according to the Government Accountability Office. The National […]

A federal judge ruled Thursday the U.S. Department of Energy cannot legally stop work at the Savannah River Site’s multibillion-dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility plutonium recycling plant, finding the agency did not follow safety and environmental protocols before attempting to shutter the project. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled in favor of the […]

The House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation that fully funds a new low-yield warhead in fiscal 2019, shies away from a future warhead usable by both Air Force and Navy missiles, and potentially trips up the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to make warhead cores in two states. The House voted 235-179, essentially along […]

Two candidates with ties to organizations funded by or concerned with the Los Alamos National Laboratory won primary elections Tuesday night that effectively assure them seats in the New Mexico state House of Representatives, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico secretary of state. Andrea Romero, former executive director of the local interest group Regional Coalition of […]

The Senate adjourned for the week Thursday without passing a 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would authorize work on a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, and delay the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to begin producing plutonium pits in South Carolina. A report appended to the massive military policy bill would also ratchet up […]

The University of California will remain entrenched at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for up to 10 more years after winning the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next lab-management contract as part of privately held team with Battelle and Texas A&M University. The NNSA announced the award Friday. The University of California managed the New […]

Road upgrades are due to begin this week around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a byproduct of a settlement agreement between DOE and the state of New Mexico over a 2014 accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday the first of […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday evening approved the acquisition by Northrop Grumman [NOC] of Orbital ATK [OA] contingent on Northrop Grumman agreeing to operate its new solid rocket motor (SRM) business independently to avoid anticompetitive behavior. Northrop Grumman on Wednesday afternoon after the close of stock markets on the East Coast completed its $7.8 billion transaction for […]

The House of Representatives is set to debate a 2019 Department of Energy budget bill today, including amendments that would cut or reshuffle funding for the agency’s nuclear waste and weapons programs. Among these is an amendment offered by a cadre of Democratic lawmakers to cut $65 million in funding for a low-yield nuclear warhead […]

A federal judge in South Carolina could rule by Friday whether to prohibit the U.S. Department of Energy from issuing a full stop work order at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said Tuesday. The state is asking U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs for a preliminary injunction to prevent DOE from fully […]

The Energy Department and the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) aim by the end of 2018 to issue a final environmental impact report for cleanup of DOE’s portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Site (SSFL). The state and federal agencies have been working closely to finalize steps for remediation of groundwater and […]

The Senate’s version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which could hit the floor for debate this week, is the third piece of federal legislation produced this year to block the Department of Energy’s plan to cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration did a generally good job estimating its share of the cost to upgrade the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, but the agency has yet to explain a roughly $2.5 billion gap between its forecast and one provided by a nominally independent intra-agency office, according to the Government Accountability Office. The National […]

The House of Representatives could vote this week on a fiscal 2019 spending bill with about $35.5 billion for the Department of Energy, but some Democrats want to amend the measure to remove funding for a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead. The energy budget bill would be part of an appropriations package — informally called […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been in an operational safety pause since April 26 due to a “trend of concerns” that include deficiencies in safety, work performance, and planning, the Department of Energy said this week. The pause covers nearly all work at the lab, except essential activities needed to maintain safe operations. A DOE spokesperson […]

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday will ask a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Energy from stopping construction of its plutonium conversion plant at the Savannah River Site. The state filed a preliminary injunction request and full lawsuit on May 25 in U.S. District Court with the […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to start planning for accommodating 34 metric tons of processed plutonium that was supposed to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. Energy Secretary Perry officially canceled the MOX […]

Official documents unearthed this week by anti-nuclear organizations show price took a back seat when the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) settled on a strategy to produce nuclear-warhead cores in both New Mexico and South Carolina — a strategy both states dislike, and which Congress may not approve. However, according to the roughly 300-page engineering […]

The House and Senate disagree about whether to fund construction of new tritium facilities at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019, according to their latest appropriations proposals. The two chambers have also staked out very different negotiating positions about an Obama administration program to create nuclear warheads that could fly on both Air Force […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been in an operational safety pause since April 26 due to a “trend of concerns” that include deficiencies in safety, work performance, and planning, the Department of Energy said this week. The pause covers nearly all work at the lab, except essential activities needed to maintain safe operations. […]