National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

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 […]

Fresh off a win in the contract for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, BWX Technologies is eyeing additional contract awards in the near future, according to the company’s Oct. 4 investor day presentation. BWXT partners with fellow DOE major AECOM in Nuclear Waste Partnership, which in September secured a $928 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) took the head of the House Armed Services Committee along on a tour of the Y-12 National Security Complex and its Uranium Processing Facility last week. Fleischmann’s office said in a Friday press release that the Tennessee congressman was “thrilled” HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) could join him for the […]

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 Friday – the same day the federal agency asked that the suit be thrown out. South Carolina filed the complaint on Aug. 7 in […]

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. […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site downblended 16 kilograms of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium in fiscal 2017, and is expected to nearly double amount in the current budget year. Officials from the South Carolina facility reported the figure last week during a bimonthly meeting of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). Downblending began in September 2016, […]

There is some surprise among Department of Energy contractors that the agency has not yet awarded a new contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry source said Wednesday. The major procurements summary from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, as of Aug. 11, projected the new contract would […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is expected to receive 170 shipments of transuranic waste from the Idaho National Laboratory between August 2017 and August 2018, officials said during a WIPP Town Hall last week in the city of Carlsbad. Idaho will account for nearly two-thirds of the 258 anticipated total […]

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is urging the state’s congressional delegation to continue advocating for the MOX project at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site, which is again in danger of being defunded. In a Sept. 14 letter, McMaster provided all lawmakers from the state with a recent report from the governor’s South Carolina Nuclear […]

The Government Accountability Office said the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should draft tighter life-cycle cost and schedule estimates for its nonproliferation programs: something the Energy Department’s semiautonomous nuclear-weapon agency said is difficult to do, given the nature of the work. The NNSA should “require DNN [Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation] programs and subprograms to follow life-cycle […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site downblended 16 kilograms of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium in fiscal 2017, and is expected to nearly double amount in the current budget year. Officials from the South Carolina facility reported the figure last week during a bimonthly meeting of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). Downblending began in September 2016, […]

Several hundred unionized workers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., remained on the job this week after contract negotiations with the lab broke down, and are scheduled to vote on a new labor deal Monday. Sandia and the Atomic Projects and Productions Workers, Metal Trades Council (MTC), “met this week to address remaining issues […]

The Energy Department wants to move a lawsuit filed by environmental and anti-nuclear groups that aim to halt construction of new uranium enrichment facilities to a federal court in Tennessee, according to court papers filed last week. DOE wants the lawsuit over the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee moved […]

A Swiss anti-nuclear group that advocated for a United Nations ban on nuclear weapons this summer received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) “is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for […]

The Energy Department as of this week had yet to release a solicitation for the next 10-year contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released a draft solicitation in July, which said the final solicitation for the next management and operations pact for […]

There is some surprise among Department of Energy contractors that the agency has not yet awarded a new contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry source said Wednesday. The major procurements summary from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, as of Aug. 11, projected the new contract would […]

The Energy Department wants to move a lawsuit filed by environmental and anti-nuclear groups that want to halt construction of new uranium enrichment facilities to a federal court in Tennessee, according to court papers filed last week. DOE wants the lawsuit over the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee […]

The leaders of site advisory boards for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management complex will discuss waste cleanup with DOE officials, and members of the public, on Oct. 18-19 in Kennewick, Wash. The chairs and vice-chairs of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) local boards meet twice per year to get updates […]

More than 400 workers at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., voted to authorize a strike late Friday after members rejected the terms of a new contract offer from the Energy Department facility. While the 430 members of the Atomic Projects and Productions Workers, Metal Trades Council (MTC), authorized the strike ahead of the weekend, […]

The Government Accountability Office said the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should draft tighter life-cycle cost and schedule estimates for its nonproliferation programs: something the Energy Department’s semiautonomous nuclear-weapon agency said is difficult to do, given the nature of the work. The NNSA should “require DNN [Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation] programs and subprograms to follow life-cycle […]

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is urging the state’s congressional delegation to continue advocating for the MOX project at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site, which is again in danger of being defunded. In a Sept. 14 letter, McMaster provided lawmakers with a recent report from the governor’s South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (SCNAC), which […]

The leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee wants the Government Accountability Office to examine whether the Energy Department’s contractor oversight practices are preventing company’s carrying out projects for the agency’s National Nuclear Security Administration from getting work done. The committee is worried that some of the agency’s “burdensome practices” might “limit the efficiency […]

The House of Representatives is calling for a “full overhaul” of the federal program that provides money to local communities near large Energy Department sites that cannot be taxed. That would include terminating all existing agreements, according to legislation passed in the House earlier this month. Given that localities cannot tax property owned by the […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily A key House member expressed confidence Sept. 26 that Congress will finish its work on the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill despite Capitol Hill gridlock on many issues. The optimism from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC’s) strategic forces panel, came eight days after […]

In a 10-9 vote Tuesday, the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) took a stance against the Energy Department facility’s potential receipt of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany. The decision, which included two abstentions, will now elevate to DOE headquarters for consideration. The Energy Department three years ago announced potential plans for the […]

General Atomics appeared a lock to once again win a contract, potentially worth more than $125 million over five years, to help the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) simulate conditions of a nuclear explosion. The San Diego-based company is the incumbent on the work under a nearly $150-million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract awarded in 2012 […]

As has been expected, the Energy Department on Tuesday issued a six-month extension for the current contract for legacy nuclear cleanup operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The department said Tuesday that Los Alamos National Security, the lab’s management and operations contractor, would also remain its environmental management provider through March […]

WASHINGTON — The federal government’s independent watchdog for defense nuclear sites backed off a formal safety recommendation to the Energy Department here Tuesday, citing a lack of confidence that the measure would better prepare DOE facilities for emergencies. In an open meeting at its headquarters, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) voted 4-1 to […]