National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The Energy Department’s Office of Science office in Oak Ridge will extend for 10 years its contract with the city of Oak Ridge for a potable water supply for the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The contract modification extends the period of performance from completion this June 30 to June […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) is improving its nuclear criticality safety program, amid reporting this week of ongoing safety issues at the New Mexico site. Perry said during a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing that Los Alamos has “made significant progress with hiring […]

Lawmakers challenged Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday to commit to resolving the issues that are preventing Congress from taking a definitive stance on the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. Perry reaffirmed the Energy Department’s intentions on MOX during a House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing, saying […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) is improving its nuclear criticality safety program, amid reporting this week of ongoing safety issues at the New Mexico site. Perry said during a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing that Los Alamos has “made significant progress with hiring […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Wednesday that material processed through the Energy Department’s suggested dilute and dispose method for eliminating 34 metric tons of excess weapon-usable plutonium could potentially be stored somewhere other than the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The administration is pushing for termination of the Mixed Oxide Fuel […]

Lawmakers challenged Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday to commit resolving the issues that are preventing Congress from taking a definitive stance on the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. Perry reaffirmed the Energy Department’s stance on MOX during a House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing, saying “there […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Science office in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will extend for 10 years its contract with the City of Oak Ridge for a potable water supply for the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The contract modification extends the period of performance from completion this June 30 to […]

National Nuclear Security Administration head Frank Klotz has disputed in a new statement a recent investigative report on safety issues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4). The Center for Public Integrity in a June 18 article wrote about the 2013 shutdown of operations at the site’s PF-4 due to criticality safety program […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reviewing options for the future location of plutonium pit production, an agency official has said, leaving open the door for that capability to potentially be moved away from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. James McConnell, the NNSA’s associate administrator for safety, infrastructure and operation, said June […]

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s naval reactors program suggested Wednesday the use of highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion offers a significant advantage over conversion to low-enriched uranium – indicating the U.S. Navy’s longstanding preference for HEU is unlikely to change. Adm. James Caldwell Jr., the NNSA’s deputy administrator for naval reactors, said […]

Construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee remains on track, with certain design and schedule benchmarks set for this fall, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highlighted Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee hearing on the NNSA budget his ongoing […]

A committee of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) this week urged the Energy Department to step up efforts to regulate drone flights over the facility in South Carolina. Tuesday’s vote came two months after the CAB’s Strategic and Legacy Management Committee tabled the recommendation. At the time, members determined it was best to […]

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s naval reactors program suggested Wednesday the use of highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion offers a significant advantage over conversion to low-enriched uranium – indicating the U.S. Navy’s longstanding preference for HEU is unlikely to change. Admiral James Caldwell Jr., the NNSA’s deputy administrator for naval reactors, said […]

Construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee remains on track, with certain design and schedule benchmarks set for this fall, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Wednesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highlighted Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee hearing on the NNSA budget his ongoing […]

After a delay last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday is set to consider the Trump administration’s three nominees to fill expiring posts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee will consider the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget request for […]

A local advisory committee on Tuesday urged the Energy Department not to accept shipments of spent nuclear fuel from Germany at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The recommendation was one of three approved during the meeting of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board’s (CAB) Nuclear Materials Committee. The three recommendations all complement positions widely […]

A shipment of radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Scotland was sent over the weekend to the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, on its way to Tennessee, the Scottish Sunday Post newspaper reported. The radioactive waste was loaded onto a U.S. Air Force cargo plane and took off from Scotland on […]

A local advisory committee on Tuesday urged the Energy Department not to accept shipments of spent nuclear fuel from Germany at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The recommendation was one of three approved during the meeting of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board’s (CAB) Nuclear Materials Committee. The three recommendations all complement positions widely […]

A shipment of radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Scotland was sent over the weekend to the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, on its way to Tennessee, the Scottish Sunday Post newspaper has reported. The radioactive waste was loaded onto a U.S. Air Force cargo plane and took off from Scotland […]

The contractor building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, locked in a dispute with the federal government over the project’s future, argued the Energy Department’s failure to negotiate a contract modification “in good faith” is costing the company money. On June 1, the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied CB&I AREVA […]

A second failed bidder has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the new management and operations contract for the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site. Nuclear Security & Technology LLC, a partnership between Northrop Grumman Technical Services, AECOM subsidiary URS Federal Services, and CH2M Hill Constructors Inc., filed its protest […]

The incumbent contractor at the Nevada National Security Site is the second failed bidder to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the new management and operations contract at the site. Nuclear Security & Technology, LLC, a variation on current prime National Security Technologies – a partnership between Northrop Grumman, AECOM, CH2M […]

The contractor building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, locked in a dispute with the federal government over the project, argued the Energy Department’s failure to negotiate its contract “in good faith” is costing the company money. On June 1, the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals denied CB&I AREVA MOX Services’ […]

A shipment of radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Scotland was sent over the weekend to the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., Scottish newspaper Sunday Post reported. The radioactive waste was loaded onto a U.S. Air Force cargo plane and took off from Scotland on Saturday, the paper said, adding […]

As though channeling Luis Tiant of his beloved Boston Red Sox, former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz turned away from Washington only briefly before coming back around full-tilt at the marble-pillared city he called home for more than three years as President Barack Obama’s last DOE chief. In March, just months after Donald Trump was sworn into office and […]

Following in the footsteps of his partner in crime, the second man accused of stealing more than $4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the Savannah River Site MOX project reached a plea deal Wednesday. Aaron Vennefron, the founder of Ohio-based AV Security, initially pleaded not guilty to a host of charges […]

The bidding team that lost its initial contract award for management and operation of the Nevada National Security Site has filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office. Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. (NVS3T), a partnership between Leidos, Fluor Federal Services, and consulting firm Longenecker & Associates, filed the protest on May […]

The Trump administration has proposed funding decreases in fiscal 2018 to the State Department’s arms control and nonproliferation work, as well as reductions for the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). The White House released last week a budget proposal requesting $37.6 billion for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded SOC, LLC a contract for security protective force services at the Nevada National Security Site and the agency’s field office facilities, NNSA announced Wednesday. The contract is valued at roughly $202.9 million over 5 years, with all options, for security at the Nevada site; the Remote Sensing Laboratory […]

Thomas Zacharia will be the next director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the lab’s management and operating contractor UT-Battelle announced Thursday. Zacharia will take over on July 1, the day current lab director Thom Mason leaves to join Battelle in Columbus, Ohio, as senior vice president for laboratory operations. Zacharia began at […]