National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Centrus Energy said Monday it has signed a $16 million contract to continue for another year its research and development of advanced gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. However, the company’s time in at least one Oak Ridge facility is nearing its end as […]

Water leaked into a plutonium pit-storage area at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, after an August thunderstorm, the Department of Energy disclosed this month. On Aug. 13 and 14, thunderstorms dumped about 2 inches of rain on the north Texas city, according to data compiled by the National Weather Service. During the storm, “rain […]

Despite a public rebuff from rival University of Texas last week, Texas A&M University expects to join “strong partners” in a bid to manage the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Oct. 25 solicited bids for a new lab contract that is expected to cost some $21 […]

It will cost about $1.2 trillion to modernize and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 30 years, including $261 billion in Department of Energy spending, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. In the report “Approaches for Managing the Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2017 to 2046,” the nonpartisan office also considered ways to reduce the […]

Three workers and two rooms were radioactively contaminated after a botched maintenance job on a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, the Department of Energy and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said. It was the latest in a series of safety snafus at Los Alamos to come to light during […]

Centrus Energy said Monday it has signed a $16 million contract to continue for another year its research and development of advanced gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The contract with lab management and operations prime UT-Battelle LLC runs through Sept. 30, 2018. The agreement […]

The Santa Fe City Council is urging the U.S. Energy Department and New Mexico Environment Department to “strengthen” a 2016 consent order governing cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and also suspend any expanded plutonium pit production at the site “until safety issues are resolved.” The resolution, passed Oct. 25, calls for additional characterization […]

The federally-appointed citizens panel for the Oak Ridge Reservation is getting a half-dozen new members, and many of them have some background with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Oct. 26. The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) is designed to provide independent advice and recommendations […]

The University of Texas affirmed its interest in managing the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next 10 years last week, but has apparently ruled out partnering with fellow Lone Star State university system Texas A&M. On Thursday, a day after the Department of Energy (DOE) rolled out its final request for proposals for a […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility that has been built by Parsons Government Services at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should be commissioned by the end of 2018. An article in the Oct. 20 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor misstated the timeline for commissioning. We regret the error.

A major waste treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site as of this week remained in deliberate operations, more than four months after it was placed into the slowed work mode due to multiple safety-related incidents. Officials at the South Carolina facility did not respond to an inquiry regarding how much longer the situation […]

When engineering company and Energy Department contractor CH2M was looking for potential merger partners this past spring, eventual buyer Jacobs Engineering wasn’t the only party showing interest, CH2M noted in a mammoth filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On Aug. 2, the two companies announced they had entered into an agreement for […]

Lawmakers cloistered on Capitol Hill are set to settle a policy dispute over a new office building for more than 1,000 defense nuclear workers in New Mexico as part of final negotiations over the 2018 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA). House and Senate lawmakers formally kicked off conference negotiations Wednesday on the NDAA, initiating a process […]

A private entity is set to take deed of an old nuclear-weapons support facility in Kansas City, Mo., for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward said. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) approved transfer of the Bannister Federal Complex, where the NNSA once manufactured non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons, […]

The Department of Energy this week released its final request for proposals for a 10-year contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory: the storied nuclear weapons research site in New Mexico that will become the nation’s primary plutonium-pit-production facility under the next prime contractor’s watch. The final solicitation is for a cost-plus-fixed-fee […]

With the House of Representatives already planning to look at the issue, the Senate on Oct. 19 approved a measure that could result in more predictable Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) for communities surrounding federal facilities, including many across the Energy Department complex. The amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget package won approval […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday released its final request for proposals for a 10-year contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory: the storied nuclear weapons research site that will become the nation’s primary plutonium-pit-production facility under the next prime contractor’s watch. Those interested must submit a bid by Dec. […]

Leaders of a House-Senate conference committee expressed hope Oct. 25 that they will quickly wrap up negotiations on a final version of the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), said that he is confident lawmakers can finish the compromise bill “within the next […]

The acting head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup program is due to brief the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week on the 45-day review of his office’s operations and other key issues. An entry on the DNFSB calendar says the five-person board is scheduled to receive one of its periodic briefings from EM-1, […]

House and Senate negotiators charged with writing the final version of the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill plan to have their first formal meeting on Wednesday. While the session will occur behind closed doors, leaders of the House-Senate conference committee are scheduled to brief reporters beforehand. The House and Senate passed their versions of […]

The Department of Energy is preparing to solicit bids for a new three-story office building at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Albuquerque Complex on Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, according to a procurement note released last week. The semiautonomous nuclear agency expects to release plans for the new building around Nov. 17. Proposals […]

A private entity is set to take deed of an old nuclear-weapons support facility in Kansas City, Mo., for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward said Thursday. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) approved transfer of the Bannister Federal Complex, where the NNSA once manufactured non-nuclear components of nuclear […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

An article in the Oct. 13 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor should have reported that the new liquid waste management contract for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site will not immediately cover the Salt Waste Processing Facility built by Parsons Government Services. Savannah River EcoManagement would run the plant after startup and one year […]

The Energy Department could debrief parties on the recently awarded Savannah River Site liquid waste management contract as early as Oct. 26, a source said this week, adding that it’s a good bet that at least one protest could be filed afterward. DOE announced on Oct. 12 that Savannah River EcoManagement, a partnership of BWX […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) has turned over for eventual private use parcels of land that once held two gaseous diffusion facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sites of the K-31 and K-33 buildings cover about 215 acres in what is now the East Tennessee Technology […]

Honeywell International reported Friday that it took in $10.1 billion in sales and earnings per share of $1.75 during the third quarter of 2017, which both mark a significant increase from the same period in 2016. The sales figure was up 3 percent from $9.8 billion a year ago. Earnings per share spiked by 16 […]

After a bombshell report that the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants Congress to dissolve the independent Department of Energy watchdog, several seasoned watchers of the weapons complex — running the gamut from former Department of Energy employees to hardcore anti-nuclear activists — said lawmakers should not eliminate the board. “The Board […]

Anti-nuke groups suing to halt construction of a crucial defense uranium facility in Tennessee told a federal judge their lawsuit against the Department of Energy should be heard in Washington, D.C., and not in Tennessee, as the agency wishes. In a court filing last week, the plaintiffs said they opposed the DOE motion to move […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week announced back-to-back milestones on warhead refurbishments intended to preserve the potency of U.S. nuclear submarine and cruise missiles. On Tuesday, the NNSA said it modified the first W80-1 air-launched cruise-missile warhead under a program launched in 2012 to help keep the weapon suitable for service into the […]