National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The Energy Department wants until the end of fiscal 2025 to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to the latest filing in a state lawsuit on the matter. The eight-year time frame is significantly longer than the two years the state requested in another […]

In official replies to questions about the next big contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, the Energy Department responded to some local concerns that the next lab manager might not be as good for the community as the current manager. However, the agency appeared to preserve at least the option […]

Members of the Defense Nuclear Security Facilities Safety Board said the federal organization should not have sent an engineer on a temporary work assignment to the National Nuclear Security Administration to advocate for the White House’s funding priorities. The two DNFSB members, Jessie Hill Roberson and Daniel Santos, made their opinion known in an internal memo dated […]

Not long after locals did the same, all members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation said this week they have concerns about the Energy Department’s plan for the next national laboratory contract in northern New Mexico. In a list of six concerns over the next decade-spanning management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), lawmakers […]

AECOM’s earnings in its fiscal third quarter grew company-wide and in the business segment that provides services widely across the Department of Energy complex. The quarter was highlighted by a $3.6 billion Air Force contract win in AECOM’s Management Services branch and a record $394 million in free cash flow, according to the Aug. 8 […]

Notwithstanding President Donald Trump’s widely disputed tweet on Wednesday regarding the strength of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, plenty of work remains at the Energy Department facilities that support the nation's deterrent. My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before.... — Donald […]

The state of South Carolina has filed a new lawsuit against the Department of Energy seeking another $100 million it says the federal government owes for missing a deadline to remove 1 ton of plutonium from the Savannah River Site. The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. Court of Federal Claims, represents half of the total amount the […]

Former nuclear-weapons hand James Peery has been appointed chief scientist of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Global Security Directorate, the Department of Energy facility in Tennessee announced Monday. Peery, whose career has included stops at the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico, will work primarily on cybersecurity efforts to protect the U.S. electric grid, according […]

Management at Mission Support and Test Services (MSTS) did not receive a clear sense for why the venture secured the contract to manage and operate the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, incoming site manager Mark Martinez said Thursday. “They didn’t tell us why we won, they just told us that we won,” Martinez […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has invited Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration leadership to speak at a public hearing Sept. 13 on the status of emergency management across defense nuclear facilities. The hearing, to be held at the DNFSB’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, will allow DOE officials to make prepared remarks on the […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday reported revenue of $1.86 billion in the second quarter of 2017, up by 9.3 percent from the $1.7 billion it reported during the same period last year. The shipbuilder collected $237 million in operating income – up from $217 million last year – and $186 million in cash from operations, […]

The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as a test of the accuracy and reliability of the weapon system, a key component of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Airmen from the Global Strike Command’s 90th Missile Wing, based at F.E. Warren Air […]

After four months of deliberations, the state of South Carolina and the Department of Energy could not agree on how best to remove plutonium from DOE’s Savannah River Site, or whether the department will pay $200 million in fines that have piled up while the dispute lingered. In a joint statement Monday to Judge J. Michelle Childs, […]

The U.S. Senate began its August recess Thursday without approving its version of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, leaving the measure in limbo for at least several weeks. Democrats have blocked floor debate and a vote on the Senate version of the bill over objections to other non-defense legislation, meaning a conference between […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday reported revenue of $1.86 billion in the second quarter of 2017, up by 9.3 percent from the $1.7 billion it reported during the same period last year. The shipbuilder collected $237 million in operating income – up from $217 million last year – and $186 million in cash from operations, […]

After four months of deliberations, the state of South Carolina and the Department of Energy could not agree on how best to remove plutonium from DOE’s Savannah River Site, or whether the department will pay $200 million in fines that have piled up while the dispute lingered. In a joint statement Monday to Judge J. Michelle Childs, […]

Tuesday was the 10th anniversary of the start of construction of the Energy Department’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina — an occasion unheralded by either the agency or its contractor while lawmakers again debate whether to cancel the facility. As part of an arms-control agreement with Russia, initiated in 2000 and […]

The Senate, working through the first two weeks of its traditional August recess, expects to vote on a package of executive-branch nominees soon, though it was not clear Tuesday whether Energy Department officials-designate would be among them. Addressing the Capitol Hill press corps’ weekly stakeout Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Senate soon […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has invited Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration leadership to speak at a public hearing Sept. 13 on the status of emergency management across defense nuclear facilities. The hearing, to be held at the DNFSB’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, will allow DOE officials to make prepared remarks on the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration intends to issue a sole source contract award for .45 caliber Smith & Wesson handguns, according to a solicitation posted last week. The handguns will replace the NNSA Office of Secure Transportation’s aging inventory of pistols, which “are showing signs of excessive wear and now have a limited serviceable life remaining,” […]

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed fiscal 2018 energy appropriations legislation in a 235-192 vote, after blocking a number of amendments from Democrats targeting the proposed increase in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities account. Lawmakers this week debated a slew of amendments to the Make America Secure Appropriations Act of […]

The County of Los Alamos, N.M., is unhappy with the Energy Department’s plans for the follow-on management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The comments were included in an email to DOE signed by David Izraelevitz, chair of the Los Alamos County Council, also on behalf of the body’s vice chair and several […]

Mission Support and Test Services (MSTS), the contractor newly chosen to run the Nevada National Security Site, has announced its incoming leadership team as it proceeds with transition activities at the facility. Two veterans of Department of Energy national laboratories will take the top spots at the Nevada facility: Mark Martinez is the incoming site […]

Two interconnected facilities at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina have stopped receiving nuclear materials due to growing infrastructure problems that could have significant consequences in the event of an earthquake. A newly released report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board noted the suspension of nuclear materials receipts at H […]

Northrop Grumman on Wednesday reported increases in both revenue and net earnings for the second quarter of 2017. Sales landed at $6.4 billion in sales in the quarter, up by 6 percent from $6 billion during the same quarter of last year.  The defense-contracting giant also brought in earnings of $552 million, up by 7 percent from […]

A local advisory board this week voiced its opposition to using the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for interim storage of nuclear waste, but could not come to agreement on a request for DOE to prohibit shipments to the facility of highly enriched uranium from Germany. The Energy Department should […]

The Departments of Energy and Defense should better explain their 10-year nuclear deterrent modernization budget estimates and address future affordability concerns, the Government Accountability Office said in a newly released report. The GAO examined the DOD and DOE’s fiscal 2017 joint report, which places the total cost of the two Cabinet agencies’ nuclear modernization plans […]

Tom D’Agostino, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has joined the board of directors of small modular reactor company NuScale Power, the company announced Monday. D’Agostino, who served as head of the NNSA from 2007 to 2013, replaces former board member Dave Dunning, NuScale said in a press release. He has been with […]

Northrop Grumman on Wednesday reported increases in both revenue and net earnings for the second quarter of 2017. Sales landed at $6.4 billion in sales in the quarter, up by 6 percent from $6 billion during the same quarter of last year.  The defense-contracting giant also brought in earnings of $552 million, up by 7 percent from […]

At the Energy Department’s request, the congressionally chartered National Academies will study the potential for sending 34 metric tons of processed weapons-grade plutonium — and possibly other waste — to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. Besides the 34 metric tons of plutonium — which under an arms control pact with Russia […]