Archive

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The NNSA is the semi-autonomous DOE agency responsible for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, naval reactor propulsion, and nuclear nonproliferation programs. Reporting covers warhead life extension, plutonium pit production, site contracts, budget requests, and the agency’s laboratory and production plant complex.

  • Final Negotiations on 2018 NDAA Loom as Senate Names Conferees

    The House and Senate will soon hash out their differences on a fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would sustain a major nonproliferation construction project in South Carolina and call for development of a new intermediate-range missile. The House and Senate each passed differing versions of the bill this summer, and the Senate […]

  • Status Report Filed in Savannah River Site Contractor Overcharging Suit

    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 […]

  • GAO Slams Door on Ousted Incumbent’s Protest of Nevada-Site Security Contract

    The Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld the Department of Energy’s decision to oust the incumbent security services contractor at the Nevada National Security Site after it was underbid by a competitor. The GAO handed down the ruling on Sept. 21, but only posted a redacted copy of its decision Thursday. In May, DOE awarded SOC LLC […]

  • NNSA, New York City Partner on Dirty-Bomb Prevention

    The National Nuclear Security Administration is working with New York City and the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative on a new program intended to prevent terrorists from acquiring material for “a radiological dispersal device,” or dirty bomb. The partnership helps academic and medical institutions in the city replace devices that use radiological materials with X-ray technology, […]

  • Anti-Nuke Groups Won’t Budge on UPF Lawsuit Venue

    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 […]

  • Status Report Filed in Savannah River Site Contractor Overcharging Suit

    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 […]

  • DOE Could Soon Debrief Parties on SRS Liquid Waste Contract

    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 Tuesday. DOE announced last Thursday that Savannah River EcoManagement, a partnership of BWX Technologies, Bechtel National, and Honeywell International, had won a contract valued at $4.7 billion over 10 years […]

  • NNSA Finishes Mods for Cruise Missile Warhead

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has refurbished the first in a line of nuclear warheads that will be used on an aging fleet of U.S. cruise missiles well into next decade. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear stockpile steward completed the first production unit of the W80-1 Alt 369 “before fiscal year 2017 came […]

  • NNSA Finishes Production of Critical Non-Nuclear Systems for W76 Warhead

    The National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday it has wrapped up production of critical non-nuclear systems required to upgrade the W76 warhead. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous stockpile steward said the milestone involves the W76’s Arming Fuzing Subsystem: a single assembly that includes “the weapon’s radar, programmer, and timer.” The NNSA did not say exactly […]

  • GAO Slams Door on Ousted Incumbent’s Protest of Nevada-Site Security Contract

    The Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld the Department of Energy’s decision to oust the incumbent security services contractor at the Nevada National Security Site after it was underbid by a competitor. The GAO handed down the ruling on Sept. 21, but only posted a redacted copy of its decision Thursday. In May, DOE awarded SOC LLC […]

  • NNSA, New York City Partner on Dirty-Bomb Prevention

    The National Nuclear Security Administration is working with New York City and the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative on a new program intended to prevent terrorists from acquiring material for “a radiological dispersal device,” or dirty bomb. The partnership helps academic and medical institutions in the city replace devices that use radiological materials with X-ray technology, […]

  • 200 Layoffs Reported at MOX Project

    About 200 workers were recently laid off from the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, construction prime CB&I AREVA MOX Services said this week. Gentry Brann, a spokeswoman for contractor parent CB&I, said the project employed about 2,200 workers at SRS before the recent layoffs. She did not say when the layoffs […]

  • ‘Tenfold’ Increase in U.S. Nukes Would Require Massive Investment, Wonks Say

    President Donald Trump called it “fake” news and arms control wonks called it impossible: a radical increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal the commander in chief demanded during a private meeting at the Pentagon in July, according to an NBC News report Wednesday. During the meeting with Cabinet officials and military brass, Trump reportedly said he […]

  • ‘Frequent Flier’ Perry Tells Congress He Chartered Only One Plane

    A Texas congressman gave Energy Secretary Rick Perry an opportunity to come clean Thursday about his use of charter aircraft for official government business — something Perry maintained, in line with previous reports, that he has done only once. Rep. Joe Barton (R), in a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee, told […]

  • S.C. Seeks Quick Judgment in MOX Suit as DOE Requests Dismissal

      The state of South Carolina has asked for summary judgment in its recent $100 million lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium disposition at the Savannah River Site. The request was filed Oct. 6 – the same day the federal agency asked that the suit be thrown out. South Carolina filed the complaint […]

  • SRS Security Personnel Strike to End After Fresh Negotiations

    The hundreds of security personnel still on strike at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are expected to return soon as their union and employer wrap up negotiations for a contract that won’t expire until October 2022. It was not immediately clear when the deal will be signed. Among its provisions, the new labor agreement […]

  • Unionized Sandia Workers Ratify New Labor Contract

    More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday. “The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote […]

  • House Moves Forward With NDAA Conference

    The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to go to conference with the Senate on their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, and selected its slate of conferees. The House panel primarily features 31 members of the lower chamber’s Armed Services Committee: 18 Republicans and 13 Democrats. Members of other […]

  • Honeywell Says Spinoffs Shouldn’t Affect DOE Work

    Honeywell’s decision to spin off three of its business units should not affect the company’s work with the Energy Department, a corporate spokesperson said Tuesday. Honeywell announced Tuesday it will spin off its Homes portfolio and ADI Global Distribution business into a separate home ventilation, security, and fire-protection company, and spin its Transportation Systems segment […]

  • MOX Booster Graham Golfs With Trump After S.C. Gov. Goes to Washington

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a vocal advocate for the Energy Department’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and a sometimes-vocal critic of President Donald Trump, spent the U.S. Columbus Day holiday golfing with the commander in chief, multiple news outlets reported. CNN captured video of the senator on the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. A […]

  • SRS Security Personnel Strike to End After Fresh Negotiations

    The hundreds of security personnel still on strike at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are expected to return soon as their union and employer wrap up negotiations for a contract that won’t expire until October 2022. It was not immediately clear when the deal will be signed. Among its provisions, the new labor agreement […]

  • Honeywell Says Spinoffs Shouldn’t Affect DOE Work

    Honeywell’s decision to spin off three of its business units should not affect the company’s work with the Energy Department, a corporate spokesperson said Tuesday. Honeywell announced Tuesday it will spin off its Homes portfolio and ADI Global Distribution business into a separate home ventilation, security, and fire-protection company, and spin its Transportation Systems segment […]

  • DOE Makes Headway on NASA Plutonium, But Has Far to Go, GAO Says

    A fledgling effort by the Department of Energy to revive domestic production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) in order to fuel deep space missions by NASA shows promise but still faces challenges, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 4. The Energy Department has demonstrated “a proof of concept” by producing 100 grams of Pu-238 […]

  • Perry Cites Hanford, WIPP as Examples of Progress on Managing Big-Ticket Items

    Energy Secretary Rick Perry told a House of Representatives panel Thursday that progress is being made in improving the history of cost overruns and missed deadlines on big projects administered through the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Perry testified for more than three hours before the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee. While much […]

  • ‘Frequent Flier’ Perry Tells Congress He Chartered Only One Plane

    A Texas congressman gave Energy Secretary Rick Perry an opportunity to come clean Thursday about his use of charter aircraft for official government business — something Perry maintained, in line with previous reports, that he has done only once. Rep. Joe Barton (R), in a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee, told […]

  • BWXT-Bechtel-Honeywell Group Wins $4.7B Savannah River Liquid Waste Award

    A group comprised of BWX Technologies, Bechtel National, and Honeywell International has won a contract valued at $4.7 billion over 10 years for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Thursday. Savannah River EcoManagement’s contact features a seven-year base and a three-year option […]

  • S.C. Seeks Quick Judgment in MOX Suit as DOE Requests Dismissal

    The state of South Carolina has asked for summary judgment in its recent $100 million lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium disposition at the Savannah River Site. The request was filed Oct. 6 – the same day the federal agency asked that the suit be thrown out. South Carolina filed the complaint on Aug. […]

  • Wrap up: Unionized Sandia Workers Ratify New Labor Contract

    More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday. “The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote […]

  • ‘Tenfold’ Increase in U.S. Nukes Would Require Massive Investment, Wonks Say

    President Donald Trump called it “fake” news and arms control wonks called it impossible: a radical increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal the commander in chief demanded during a private meeting at the Pentagon in July, according to an NBC News report Wednesday. During the meeting with Cabinet officials and military brass, Trump reportedly said he […]

  • Savannah River Liquid Waste Award Said Imminent

    The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management could as early as today announce award of a new contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry observer said Wednesday. Rumors are circulating widely that the department’s nuclear cleanup office will release the news by close of business, the source […]