National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The House of Representatives on Wednesday began considering a massive appropriations package that includes its recommended fiscal 2018 budget for the Energy Department, but debate had not concluded at press time for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The “mini-bus” appropriations bill, which also includes funding recommendations for the Defense Department, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans […]

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. In the letter, the county said it had “serious concerns” […]

House Democrats are targeting the proposed increase in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities account in the chamber’s fiscal 2018 energy and water appropriations bill by introducing a slew of amendments that seek to redirect money to other Energy Department offices. The House today will begin debate on the Make America Secure […]

Ahead of a long budget debate set to begin today on the House floor, the Donald Trump administration offered grudging support for the chamber’s proposed fiscal 2018 energy appropriations bill, while also criticizing lawmakers’ plans for nuclear waste storage and legacy nuclear cleanup programs. The legislation funding the Department of Energy is part of a so-called […]

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. The National Nuclear Security Administration in May awarded the new management and operations contract at the site to MSTS, a partnership of Honeywell […]

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 […]

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 […]

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, believes the United States should reconsider plans to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad. Speaking July 20 at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., he said that bombers and ballistic missile submarines might provide a sufficient nuclear deterrent, and […]

Northrop Grumman is scheduled to discuss its second-quarter 2017 earnings during a webcast Wednesday, just weeks after dropping a protest over the recent contract award for management of the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site. The defense contractor in April reported $640 million in first-quarter net income and earnings per share of $3.63, up year […]

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 states that H Canyon – a nuclear materials separation […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built in South Carolina is on its way to becoming a sticking point between the House and Senate as they work toward settling on a single energy and water funding bill for fiscal 2018. House appropriators remain intent on saving the controversial Department of Energy project, while their […]

Contractors that over a decade ago competed for the current management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are not yet saying whether they intend to bid on the upcoming new prime contract at the site. The National Nuclear Security Administration last week released a draft request for proposals for […]

Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday announced net sales of $12.7 billion and net earnings from continuing operations of $942 million for the second quarter of 2017. Net sales increased on a year-over-year basis from $11.6 billion and net earnings from $899 million, while cash from operations remained steady at $1.5 billion. The company’s Space Systems […]

Energy Department contractor Honeywell on Friday reported 3 percent organic sales growth in the second quarter of 2017, with total net sales reaching $10.1 billion, up slightly from $10 billion during the same quarter of last year. The company reported a 10 percent year-over-year increase in earnings and earnings per share of $1.80 in the […]

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has issued a final contingent hazardous waste permit modification for the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, which was previously used for the manufacture of non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. A 225-acre portion of the old complex is set to be transferred to a private developer and redeveloped for […]

A trio of nuclear watchdogs on Thursday filed suit in federal court to force the Department of Energy to conduct a new environmental evaluation before building the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims the National Environmental […]

The Savannah River Site has conducted three tritium extractions in the current fiscal year, furthering the Department of Energy facility’s goal of providing the gas for the nation’s defense program. The DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Thursday that fiscal 2017 marks the first time the SRS Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) has conducted […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium. The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to […]

A group of senators on Wednesday encouraged the U.S. secretaries of state, defense, and energy to implement a set of actions in the ongoing Nuclear Posture Review process meant to increase transparency and reinforce national nuclear policy positions. In a July 19 letter, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and 20 of their colleagues, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium. The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to […]

Fluor Corp. said Tuesday it has promoted Bruce Stanski, president of Fluor’s Government Group since 2009, to chief financial officer of the parent company. Stanski on Aug. 4 will officially replace Biggs Porter, who is retiring. Porter joined Fluor as chief financial officer in May 2012 after six years as CEO of Tenet Healthcare. At Fluor he […]

Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday announced net sales of $12.7 billion and net earnings from continuing operations of $942 million for the second quarter of 2017. Net sales increased on a year-over-year basis from $11.6 billion and net earnings from $899 million, while cash from operations remained steady at $1.5 billion. The company’s Space Systems […]

A Senate Appropriations panel advanced a fiscal 2018 spending bill that would focus DOE’s near-term nuclear-waste management efforts on consent-based interim storage and cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction in South Carolina. The $38.4-billion bill from the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee would also provide a smaller-than-requested funding increase for DOE’s […]

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has issued a final contingent hazardous waste permit modification for the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, a site that was previously used for the manufacture of non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. A 225-acre portion of the old complex is set to be transferred to a private developer and […]

The Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee will mark up its recommended Energy Department budget for fiscal 2018 on Tuesday, with an eye toward moving the measure to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration Thursday. The subcommittee, which had not released the text of its energy and water bill at deadline Sunday for Weapons Complex […]

The House of Representatives’ fiscal 2018 energy and water appropriations bill calls on the National Nuclear Security Administration to address lingering cost and schedule concerns in its modernization and infrastructure programs as it boosts agency funding by nearly $1 billion. The legislation, which on Wednesday passed the chamber’s Appropriations Committee and will next be considered […]

The House of Representatives is moving forward with plans to direct the Defense Department to begin work on an intermediate-range ground-launched missile despite pushback from the White House, striking amendments opposing the move from the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act it passed today in a 344-81 vote. The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee […]

Two bid protests filed over the award of the management and operations contract for the Nevada National Security Site have been withdrawn, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. Transition activities for the M&O contract awarded in May to Mission Support and Test Services LLC (MSTS) will therefore resume Aug. 1, according to the semiautonomous Department […]

Members of the House of Representatives have thrown early support in the latest budget process behind sustaining funding for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, but their colleagues in the Senate are so far silent on whether they will also again back the controversial program. The House version of the fiscal 2018 […]

A June 26 letter from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has provided new insight into safety design features for the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility. Details regarding progress of the Tennessee facility have been something of a secret since the project was significantly reconfigured in 2014 to encompass a mix of new […]