National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Amid an increasingly chaotic international security picture, the post-pandemic landscape for the National Nuclear Security Administration came into clearer focus in 2023 as the agency pressed on with plans to produce plutonium pits, reckoned with a major infrastructure project that got off the rails, started competition for a major new site management contract, and braced […]

Amid an increasingly chaotic international security picture, the post-pandemic landscape for the National Nuclear Security Administration came into clearer focus in 2023 as the agency pressed on with plans to produce plutonium pits, reckoned with a major infrastructure project that got off the rails, started competition for a major new site management contract, and braced […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory would be barred from expanding equipment needed to dispose of surplus plutonium until the lab certifies it can produce at least 30 nuclear weapon cores annually, under a bill passed last week. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed Thursday, would prohibit expansion of the Advanced Recovery and […]

The Navy’s drive to recruit submarine builders inspired one National Nuclear Security Administration official, who on Tuesday said the nuclear-weapons agency might consider its own flashy recruitment ad. “Everyone in my house was riveted to that commercial,” Frank Lowery, associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said of the We […]

About six months after his nomination, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Vice Adm. William Houston to be director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that develops reactors for Navy warships and submarines. Houston was nominated in May to lead Naval Reactors for an eight-year term. At the time, however, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) was blocking […]

The Navy’s drive to recruit submarine builders inspired one National Nuclear Security Administration official, who on Tuesday said the nuclear-weapons agency might consider its own flashy recruitment ad. “Everyone in my house was riveted to that commercial,” Frank Lowery, associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said of the […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory would be barred from expanding equipment needed to dispose of surplus plutonium until the lab certifies it can produce at least 30 nuclear weapon cores annually, under a bill passed last week. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed Thursday, would prohibit expansion of the Advanced Recovery and […]

Quality of construction good at Uranium Processing Facility, project-independent review says A new report gave a contractor good marks for construction quality at the Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility, which is significantly over budget and delayed.  That’s the conclusion from the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments, which in December published a report analyzing construction […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup office boss at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has been selected to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s field operations at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a DOE executive said this week. Michael Mikolanis, who has led DOE’s cleanup office at Los Alamos since July […]

NNSA signs agreement with Japan, Korea for environmental science and nuclear tech exchange The National Nuclear Security Administration, Japan and South Korea signed a trilateral agreement to collaborate on emerging nuclear technologies.  The three countries signed what they called a framework to create a memorandum of cooperation that will launch early next year to “facilitate […]

On Nov.6 the Los Alamos Fire Department responded to the highly-secure Plutonium Facility at the national laboratory for a report of a fire inside a glovebox used to manipulate radioactive material.  A lab spokesperson said the room was reopened on Nov. 16, though a report on the incident, written by Los Alamos, appeared to say […]

A federal nuclear safety watchdog wants the National Nuclear Security Administration to respond to concerns over worker safety at the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in just over a month. Three different NNSA safety assessments of the in-development plutonium facility have now found concerns with worker safety, specifically that project leaders are allowing workers to […]

President Joe Biden (D) was set to sign a fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes raises for nuclear weapons programs and flat spending for nuclear-weapons cleanup but no major changes for civilian nuclear energy policies. This week, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, both chambers of Congress approved the bill, a compromise version of separate […]

A federal nuclear safety watchdog wants the National Nuclear Security Administration to respond to concerns over worker safety at the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in just over a month. Three different NNSA safety assessments of the in-development plutonium facility have now found concerns with worker safety, specifically that project leaders are allowing workers to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, Japan and South Korea signed a trilateral agreement to collaborate on emerging nuclear technologies.  The three countries signed what they called a framework to create a memorandum of cooperation that will launch early next year to “facilitate scientific collaboration in critical and emerging technology areas,” the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act contained few surprises for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, but final negotiations between the House and Senate this week did settle a few Capitol Hill disputes over more granular matters at the National Nuclear Security Administration. First, the final NDAA does not gate any travel funds […]

Senator Tommy Tuberville’s about-face on holding up more than 400 military promotions for months because of Pentagon policies relating to reproductive care for servicemembers does not include nominees to four-star status, including the presumptive head of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program.  The Senate on Tuesday confirmed more than 400 military officials after Tuberville, a Republican […]

An Iranian-born ex-professor, fired from the University of Toledo in Ohio for allegedly allowing an Iranian citizen to access software owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration, sued the school for wrongful termination, alleging multiple counts of discrimination. E. Ishmael Parsai, a 69 year-old, nationalized U.S. citizen born in Iran, sued the university in November […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost its main power connection on Sunday, forcing it to rely on backup electricity for reactor cooling, the U.N.’s nuclear power agency said Sunday. There was no reported timeline for repairing the line. It is the latest in a string of power disruptions to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which […]

Substandard contractor performance delayed the launch of a new Uranium Processing Facility at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee until 2029, according to the agency’s latest annual progress report.  The start of operations at the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), a milestone known as CD-4, has now slid four years out […]

Substandard contractor performance delayed the launch of a new Uranium Processing Facility at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee until 2029, according to the agency’s latest annual progress report.  The start of operations at the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), a milestone known as CD-4, has now slid four years out […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost its main power connection on Sunday, forcing it to rely on backup electricity for reactor cooling, the U.N.’s nuclear power agency said Sunday. There was no reported timeline for repairing the line. It is the latest in a string of power disruptions to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which […]

One of the six reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost power for about an hour and a half last week, causing an emergency diesel generator to kick in to provide electricity for cooling and other functions, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.  Plant personnel continue to investigate what caused the 90-minute power outage […]

The comment period for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opens Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 17.    The draft assessment analyzes the construction and operation of a new 115-kilovolt power transmission line and upgrades to the lab’s existing electrical infrastructure.  “Los Alamos requires a reliable and redundant […]

Amentum’s recently announced merger with Jacobs winnows the field of candidates vying to take over management of the Pantex Plant in Texas for the National Nuclear Security Administration.  After oral in-person interviews began last week, the consolidation of the two giant Department of Energy contractors shrinks the number of potential players for the $30 billion […]

One of the six reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant lost power for about an hour and a half last week, causing an emergency diesel generator to kick in to provide electricity for cooling and other functions, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.  Plant personnel are investigating what caused the 90-minute power outage to […]

The comment period for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opens Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 17.    The draft assessment analyzes the construction and operation of a new 115 kilovolt power transmission line and upgrades to the lab’s existing electrical infrastructure.  “Los Alamos requires a reliable and […]

There is no evidence that classified information was disclosed during an open, unclassified National Nuclear Security Administration at Department of Energy Headquarters’ Forrestal Building in September of last year, an agency watchdog report found. However, the suspected incident was not properly reported, according to a DOE Inspector General (IG) report published Nov. 2.  In September […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration started its oral interviews with four joint ventures vying for a contract to operate the Pantex plant in Texas, a source said Monday. A second source familiar with the ongoing search for a Pantex maintenance and operations contractor for the U.S. nuclear weapons clearing house confirmed to Exchange Monitor that […]

The Department of Energy’s 2023 budget was extended through Jan. 19 by another short-term spending bill, which Congress passed this week before leaving Washington for their Thanksgiving recess. President Joe Biden (D) signed the House-authored bill on Thursday, the same day the Senate passed it 87-11. The House passed the bill Tuesday 336-95. This is […]