National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Through a partnership with Washington State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing new ways to make its Operational Technology Assurance course, sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration, more realistic for attendees. The partnership resulted in development of a mock vintage-style glovebox, used daily by NNSA scientists to manipulate hazardous radioactive material, that students […]

President Joe Biden (D) on Friday signed a spending bill to keep agencies including the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration open until March 1. The Senate passed the bill 77-to-18 on Tuesday afternoon. The House followed quickly after, approving the month-and-a-half stopgap budget 314-to-108.  The measure will keep DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory […]

The Department of Energy prime for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is shopping around for subcontractors interested in building a new emergency operations center. The request for information and expressions of interest by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was published online Wednesday.   Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 5 […]

Use of the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site for carbon-free energy will not include small modular reactors, a local manager for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, told a federal advisory panel Wednesday. “Small modular reactors are not an option” for the Nevada site, “David Bowman, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

After more than a year of trying, International Atomic Energy Agency teams experts on Monday were granted access to the sixth and final reactor hall at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Situated on the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the plant has been under Russian occupation almost since the beginning of Moscow’s February 2022 […]

Michael Lempke is now leading Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Australia business, where he will shepherd the shipbuilder and nuclear-site manager’s portion of the tripartite AUKUS agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Lempke, most recently president of the company’s Nuclear and Environmental Services group, took the post on Jan.1, Huntington Ingalls (HII) said in a statement […]

Below is Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s annual digest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) performance evaluation summaries: the agency’s report cards for its big contracts, which explain how much management and operations entities earned for their performance. The Monitor has provided links to NNSA source documents. Kansas City National Security Campus, Kansas City, […]

There were at least six separate contamination incidents at Los Alamos National Laboratory between December and January, according to a series of safety watchdog reports.  Most recently, two incidents occurred within a week in early January in Technical Area 55, according to summaries by the lab. Just before 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 4 an employee […]

Michael Lempke is now leading Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Australia business, where he will shepherd the shipbuilder and nuclear-site manager’s portion of the tripartite AUKUS agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Lempke, most recently president of the company’s Nuclear and Environmental Services group, took the post on Jan.1, Huntington Ingalls (HII) said in a statement […]

After more than a year of trying, International Atomic Energy Agency teams experts on Monday were granted access to the sixth and final reactor hall at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Situated on the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the plant has been under Russian occupation almost since the beginning of Moscow’s February 2022 […]

House and Senate appropriators on Sunday agreed to extend 2023 budgets for federal agencies for about another month-and-a-half, into March, while they continue work on permanent budget bills for the 2024 fiscal year, now in its second quarter. Under the latest continuing resolution, the third such stopgap of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, […]

Nuclear naval reactor builder BWX Technologies has named former Boeing executive Nicole Piasecki to its board of directors effective January 2, 2024. Piasecki spent 25 years with Boeing in various senior leadership positions, including vice president and general manager of the Propulsion Systems Division for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. She currently serves on the boards of […]

“Oppenheimer,” the 2023 movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, first director of what is now the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was honored as the year’s best movie drama on Jan. 7 at the Golden Globe awards ceremony. Cillian Murphy, the actor who portrayed the scientist, was named best actor for his performance and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is extending the public comment period regarding a new 14-mile electric power transmission line serving the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Public comment on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opened on Dec. 19 and will be extended for another month […]

More than six months after his nomination, and just shy of a month after his Senate confirmation, Adm. Bill Houston on Thursday took over as director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that develops reactors for Navy warships and submarines. Houston took over for Adm. Frank Caldwell, who became director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion […]

An agreement that gives Qatar ownership of all intellectual property generated by a Texas A&M University campus there drew criticism recently when the latest contract outlining the deal was published online. In a lengthy expose on the arrangement between the university and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, the Free Press, an outlet […]

Congressional leaders on Jan. 7 announced they had reached an agreement in principle to fund the federal government for the nine months that remain in fiscal year 2024. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker of the House Rep. Michael Johnson (R-La.) agreed to limit federal spending in the fiscal year that runs through […]

Parsons Corp. announced the award of a $21 million task order by the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Infrastructure to continue managing construction projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  The task order, from Parsons’ $160 million ceiling-value Enterprise Construction Management Services (ECMS) contract awarded in 2022, is for design and construction management support at […]

Sometime between October and December, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s programs to refurbish its B61 bombs and W88 warheads reached the halfway mark, an agency spokesperson said Monday. Production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 reached the halfway mark, with at least 50% of the required weapons produced and delivered to […]

This week the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved construction of a near-surface disposal facility at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Deep River, Ontario after finding the facility would not cause significant ill effects to a nearby river or traditional land of indigenous peoples. The quasi-judicial tribunal announced the decision in a Jan. 9 press […]

Parsons Corp. announced the award of a $21 million task order by the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Infrastructure to continue managing construction projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  The task order, from Parsons’ $160 million ceiling-value Enterprise Construction Management Services (ECMS) contract awarded in 2022, is for design and construction management support at […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration will hold a public meeting Thursday regarding a new 14-mile electric power transmission line serving the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Public comment on the  Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opened on Dec. 19 and will be extended for another month […]

Some time between October and December, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s programs to refurbish its B61 bombs and W88 warheads reached the halfway mark, an agency spokesperson said Monday. Production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 reached the halfway mark, with at least 50% of the required weapons produced and delivered […]

In early December, National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator Frank Rose completed a multiday visit to Hawaii to meet with senior military officials regarding regional security and nuclear non-proliferation issues.  Rose met with U. S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) officers and staff from Dec. 4-8, in a series of meetings focusing on the regional security environment, […]

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., recently received recertification as a Star-level participant in the Department of Energy Voluntary Protection Program, marking more than a decade in the safety program. The Department of Energy created the program to recognize occupational safety and health protection at its various campuses. Since it began the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration last month announced that production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 have met the halfway mark.  Led by Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) at the Pantex Site in Texas, the program has churned out half of the necessary rehabbed nuclear weapons needed to arm Air Force bombers […]

A proposed merger of two industry heavyweights, already partners on about $37 billion worth of Department of Energy nuclear-cleanup contracts, will be among the most-watched issues in 2024 for Weapons Complex Monitor. Virginia-based Amentum plans to merge with the government contracting and cyber wings Dallas-based Jacobs, the two companies announced in October. If the deal […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is taking comments between now and Jan. 17 on plans for a new 14-mile electric power transmission line serving the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. A draft environmental assessment was published and public comment period commenced Dec. 19 on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical […]

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a new tool to model how blowing up a nuclear  weapon might stop an asteroid from slamming into Earth. Published in December in the Planetary Science Journal, the Livermore research introduces a new way of digitally simulating the energy deposition from a nuclear device on an asteroid’s surface, […]

In early December, National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator Frank Rose completed a multiday visit to Hawaii to meet with senior military officials regarding regional security and nuclear non-proliferation issues.  Rose met with U. S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) officers and staff from Dec. 4-8, in a series of meetings focusing on the regional security environment, […]