National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Naval nuclear reactor manufacturer BWX Technologies has teamed with shipping company Crowley to develop a nuclear-powered concept ship for defense and disaster relief the company announced Sept. 20 on its website. Crowley signed a memorandum of understanding with BWX’s Advanced Technologies subsidiary that will allow both companies to jointly develop new shallow-draft-hull ships that can […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Enterprise Assessments is investigating an incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex in which a machine used to shape uranium was dismantled without proper criticality controls in place. In a letter dated Aug. 3, Anthony Pierpoint, director of the NNSA’s office of enforcement, notified Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) […]

A federal employee at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s W88 Alteration 370 Federal Program Office, whose computer access was restricted, used a subcontractor’s email for five years to bypass those restrictions, according to a new watchdog report.  The employee’s National Nuclear Security Administration building access also was restricted “due to a formal inquiry by a […]

There will be no slowdown in nuclear cleanup next autumn when the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management gives up its landlord role at the Savannah River Site, a citizens group heard Tuesday. “What we are not transferring are any of the EM [environmental management] missions,” Michael Budney, operations manager for DOE’s Office of […]

National Technology and Engineering Solutions has established adequate safety systems management programs at Sandia National Laboratories, but a new watchdog report questions whether those programs can ensure safe nuclear operations at the lab’s New Mexico research reactor.  The Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments inspected the safety system management practices at Sandia’s New Mexico campus, […]

A federal employee at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s W88 Alteration 370 Federal Program Office, whose computer access was restricted, used a subcontractor’s email for five years to bypass those restrictions, according to a new watchdog report.  The employee’s National Nuclear Security Administration building access also was restricted “due to a formal inquiry by a […]

No one will lose their jobs when the National Nuclear Security Administration assumes management of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management next year, according to a recently published transition plan.  “All incumbent employees will be retained,” the plan states. That pertains at least to employees […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Enterprise Assessments is investigating an incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex in which a machine used to shape uranium was dismantled without proper criticality controls in place. In a letter dated Aug. 3, Anthony Pierpoint, director of the NNSA’s office of enforcement, notified Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) […]

Naval nuclear reactor manufacturer BWX Technologies has teamed with shipping company Crowley to develop a nuclear-powered concept ship for defense and disaster relief the company announced Sept. 20 on its website. Crowley signed a memorandum of understanding with BWX’s Advanced Technologies subsidiary that will allow both companies to jointly develop new shallow-draft-hull ships that can […]

To ensure transfer of landlord responsibility for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina goes smoothly, the Department of Energy is already planning to request a funding deviation from a continuing budget resolution — a  year from now. That is one of the nuggets included in a transition plan, cleared for public release Sept. 13, […]

With no stopgap funding plan imminent and a Sept. 30 deadline looming, the Department of Energy and other feds are reacquainting themselves with contingency plans to carry out in case of a government shutdown. At the Exchange Monitor deadline, House Republicans, still arguing amongst themselves over what should go into a continuing budget resolution to […]

The Department of Energy has so far delivered 12 shipments of down blended plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a public waste database. The most recent shipment that DOE has made public arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near […]

Lockheed Martin wants to build solid rocket motors to compete with the military’s two current main suppliers,  Northrop Grumman’s Orbital ATK and L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne. “We are endeavoring as a defense company to create another supplier,” James Taiclet, the president of Lockheed Martin, testified at a Sept. 20 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s […]

The Air Force expects to certify the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to carry nuclear weapons in January, once sufficient numbers of pilots and ground crew are trained to carry out the mission. But it may not have the jets, equipped with the proper avionics and mission systems, needed to perform the nuclear mission until several […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security moved a meeting for potential bidders on a construction contract for the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, to a nearby college from the nuclear-weapons maintenance site, the contractor wrote in an online notice. “[D]ue to the number of requests we have moved the venue off site to prevent issues with badging,” the […]

The Defense Department extended an existing contract with X-energy Reactor Company under the military’s Project Pele initiative to develop a transportable, cost-effective advanced nuclear microreactor prototype for use in remote military locations.  X-energy expects to advance the design of its prototype – which could ultimately be used for commercial or industrial use in civilian applications […]

Jacobs Solutions, Huntington Ingalls, BWX Technologies and others are among those seeking the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decade-spanning, $30-billion contract to manage the agency’s nuclear-weapons service center in Texas. Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are currently managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) by Consolidated Nuclear Security, a […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement arm has told two contractors it will investigate a fatal tree clearing accident in August near the Central Training Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a pair of Sept. 8 letters, the Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments informed East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors and […]

The annual must-pass defense policy bill that sets spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs is headed for its final debate in Congress after the House on Tuesday voted for a conference with the Senate. At a high level, the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate this year crafted wildly different versions of […]

The Defense Department extended an existing contract with X-energy Reactor Company under the military’s Project Pele initiative to develop a transportable, cost-effective advanced nuclear microreactor prototype for use in remote military locations.  X-energy expects to advance the design of its prototype – which could ultimately be used for commercial or industrial use in civilian applications […]

The annual must-pass defense policy bill that sets spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs is headed for its final debate in Congress after the House on Tuesday voted for a conference with the Senate. At a high level, the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate this year crafted wildly different versions of […]

The Department of Energy has so far delivered 12 shipments of down blended plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a public waste database. The most recent shipment that DOE has made public arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near […]

Jacobs Solutions, Huntington Ingalls, BWX Technologies and others are among those seeking the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decade-spanning, $30-billion contract to manage the agency’s nuclear-weapons service center in Texas. Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are currently managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) by Consolidated Nuclear Security, a […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security moved a meeting for potential bidders on a construction contract for the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, to a nearby college from the nuclear-weapons maintenance site, the contractor wrote in an online notice. “[D]ue to the number of requests we have moved the venue off site to prevent issues with badging,” the […]

ARLINGTON, VA —Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) Tuesday prodded hundreds of people here for the National Cleanup Workshop to urge their congressional representatives to avoid a federal government shutdown but stopped short of predicting a stopgap agreement before fiscal 2023 ends Sept. 30. “Reach out to your member of congress,” said Fleischmann, who chairs the House […]

Two decades after planning began, the fire department for the Y-12 National Security Complex has moved into its brand-new station, site officials said in a recent statement. Construction began in the spring of 2021 after 20 years of discussion and planning, according to a post on the site’s blog. When visiting the new Y-12 Fire […]

The U.S.-Japan Nuclear Security Working Group convened for its 12th meeting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee earlier this month for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear non-proliferation issues. Corey Hinderstein, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, and Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, deputy director general of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign […]

The U.S. and Philippine governments are in the home stretch of signing a 123 agreement to boost cooperation on both civil energy projects and nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Quoting Philippine Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the Manila Bulletin — that nation’s largest English language newspaper — said the two countries are on the brink of signing the […]

No major safety or operational issues were found during a recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, clearing the way for the facility to produce high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials completed an inspection of the American Centrifuge Plant on Aug. 16. In a Sept. 7 […]

ARLINGTON, VA —Planned plutonium pit production for nuclear defense purposes at two Department of Energy sites depends on the ability to dispose of resulting transuranic waste, a National Nuclear Security Administration executive said here Wednesday. “A single bad waste drum is likely to have a bigger impact on our mission” than any bad pit, James […]