National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Legislation that allows New Mexico to collect gross receipts taxes from nonprofit entities that run Department of Energy national laboratories there flew through the state Senate and now is set for its first committee stop in the House of Representatives. The House Taxation and Revenue Committee had not yet scheduled action on the bill at […]

WASHINGTON — About a month after word first leaked that the White House wanted to develop a pair of new low-yield nuclear warheads, Defense Secretary James Mattis this week characterized the proposal as a “bargaining chip” to persuade Russia to freeze what the United States says is a nuclear-capable cruise missile program. In congressional testimony […]

Members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation this week got on board with constituents’ calls for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to start manufacturing nuclear-warhead cores at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R) say the pit mission — currently entrenched at the Los Alamos National […]

The Department of Energy will remain frozen at fiscal 2017 spending levels through at least late March, under the stopgap spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday morning after an overnight government shutdown — the second of fiscal 2018. The bill is the fifth continuing resolution of the fiscal […]

Plans for pit-production and new warheads figure to feature in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget request, which at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor was still expected to be released Monday. While no details had leaked out as of Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) appeared well positioned for a […]

Jacobs Engineering Group reported $2 million in net earnings for its latest financial quarter, a steep year-over-year dive from $61 million linked to its recent acquisition of CH2M. Earnings for Jacobs’ fiscal 2018 first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, took a hit from the $3.27 billion CH2M acquisition and a one-time tax charge, the company […]

WASHINGTON — Territorial snarling over Department of Energy plutonium programs imparted some edge to an otherwise cordial nomination hearing here Thursday, where President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said production of nuclear-weapon cores would be her top priority if she is confirmed. “We do need to have a robust […]

The Department of Energy and other federal agencies could get a full fiscal 2018 budget as soon as late March, if a budget compromise Senate leaders announced Wednesday becomes law. That would be nearly six full months after the current budget year began on Oct. 1, 2017. On Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell […]

Legislation that allows New Mexico to collect gross receipts taxes from nonprofit entities that run Department of Energy national laboratories there flew through the state Senate and now is set for its first committee stop in the House of Representatives. The House Taxation and Revenue Committee had not yet scheduled action on the bill at […]

WASHINGTON — About a month after word first leaked that the White House wanted to develop a pair of new low-yield nuclear warheads, Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday characterized the proposal as a “bargaining chip” to persuade Russia to freeze what the United States says is a nuclear-capable cruise missile program. In congressional testimony […]

The Department of Energy is appealing a federal court order that requires it to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the state of South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020. The one-paragraph document, filed on Feb. 2 by DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, is a response to the Dec. 20 ruling from Judge […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s record of policing itself is “mixed at best,” and the agency might benefit from independent oversight by an entity such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said Tuesday. Pallone made his remarks during a House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on U.S. nuclear infrastructure. “For example, […]

Members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation this week got on board with constituents’ calls for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to start manufacturing nuclear-warhead cores at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R) say the pit mission — currently entrenched at the Los Alamos National […]

The House of Representatives wants to give the Pentagon a permanent budget for the rest of fiscal 2018 while keeping other federal agencies at 2017 spending levels under another stopgap spending plan that would expire March 23. The continuing resolution would free the Defense Department to begin new programs with funding through the end of the […]

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration will at last have a confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The committee announced the hearing Tuesday, one month and 21 days after the White House nominated Lisa Gordon-Hagerty to run the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency in charge of […]

Strata-G LLC has won a $1 million contract from the Energy Department to conduct environmental sampling at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sampling will support DOE plans for construction of an additional on-site disposal facility for hazardous and radioactive wastes at the Bear Creek Valley area of Oak Ridge, DOE said in a […]

Cost and schedule details about a proposed low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic cruise missiles will appear in the White House’s fiscal 2019 budget requests later this month, but details about planned improvements to the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons complex will not be published until next year, the agency’s top nuclear official said Friday. The Donald […]

Longtime member Sean Sullivan was set to leave the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) today after a short and tumultuous run as chairman, during which he suggested eliminating the independent federal agency where he has worked for the last five years. Sullivan announced his impending exit on Jan. 19 in a memo circulated to […]

The federal government wants the two men who stole more than $4 million while conducting work for the Department of Energy’s MOX project at the Savannah River Site to fork over enough money and assets to cover the total sum. In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, U.S. Attorney Beth […]

The House’s top Department of Energy appropriator signaled Monday he might be interested in running the full Appropriations Committee next year after current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) retires from Congress. In a Twitter message, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the blunt-talking, hard-nosed dentist-turned-lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said he has “always” […]

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis is scheduled to brief House lawmakers Tuesday on the Donald Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review: a policy document that proposes refurbishing Department of Energy nuclear infrastructure in part to develop a pair of new warheads for submarine-launched missiles. Mattis is slated to appear alongside Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of […]

Bechtel National and Purdue University have teamed up on a bid to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory after incumbent Los Alamos National Security — a partnership that includes Bechtel — is off the job later this year, according to a pair of sources. Bechtel has been the lead corporate partner on the incumbent since […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is set to consider a draft recommendation for the Department of Energy, according to a vote tally posted online. The board voted three to zero in favor of a meeting to consider a “staff generated outline for a draft recommendation provided to the Board on January 23, 2018,” […]

An advisory board to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is the latest entity in the state to support relocating Department of Energy nuclear warhead-core production to the Savannah River Site. The board, known as the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC), voted 7-0 on Tuesday in support of the plan being considered by DOE. Two of […]

A former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory official has landed in a senior Pentagon arms-control post, the Department of Defense announced Monday. Charles Ball was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics: part of the Office of the […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upping its vigilance against nuclear terrorism at an event some already consider radioactive in a metaphorical sense: Super Bowl 52. The big game this year will be played in Minneapolis between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles: teams whose fervent fan bases occasionally provoke resentment […]

Two New Mexico state Senate panels have unanimously approved a bill that would ensure even nonprofit managers of Department of Energy national laboratories in the state would pay a gross receipts tax. The state Senate’s Finance Committee on Thursday approved the bill unanimously Thursday, less than a week after the measure unanimously passed the chamber’s […]

When Congress returns to work next week, lawmakers will once again find themselves barreling toward another fiscal cliff with federal funding set to expire in just a matter of days without some kind of compromise. The federal government is operating on its fourth short-term budget since fiscal 2018 started on Oct. 1 of last year. […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is set to consider a draft recommendation for the Department of Energy, according to a vote tally posted online. The board voted three to zero in favor of a meeting to consider a “staff generated outline for a draft recommendation provided to the Board on January 23, 2018,” […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry will pay his first visit to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., today and Friday, the Department of Energy said. A DOE spokesperson in Washington declined Wednesday to provide Perry’s agenda for the two-day visit. Two people who were aware of the visit Wednesday said as far as they knew, […]