National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

A series of explosions was heard near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in recent days, a team of International Atomic Energy Agency officials based at the facility have reported.  The blasts point to a possible escalation of military activity in the area surrounding the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

Teams vying to take over the Pantex Plant from its Bechtel-led incumbent will get another two weeks to turn in their final bids, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. The agency extended the deadline for bids on the potentially 20-year contract by two weeks to Sept. 28, according to a procurement notice posted online. The […]

In what would be a major milestone for a technology eyed as a possible cornerstone for nuclear-weapon sustainment in the latter half of this century, Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., said this week it will begin enriching energy-dense uranium fuel in October. Centrus is in the prove-it phase of a Department of Energy contract, awarded […]

With less than a month left until fiscal year 2024 begins, the White House has asked Congress for a short-term continuing resolution to freeze federal budgets at 2023 levels. Media reported last week that leaders in the House and Senate have remained open to the requested stopgap bill. Fiscal year 2024 begins Oct. 1.  The […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said Tuesday it is looking for construction contractors to split a multiple award task order contract at the Pantex Plant in Texas that could be worth up to $600 million over 10 years. The contract includes a five-year base period worth $300 million and five one-year options worth $60 million each, according […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said Tuesday it is looking for construction contractors to split a multiple award task order contract at the Pantex Plant in Texas that could be worth up to $600 million over 10 years. The contract includes a five-year base period worth $300 million and five one-year options worth $60 million each, according […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

Teams vying to take over the Pantex Plant from its Bechtel-led incumbent will get another two weeks to turn in their final bids, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. The agency extended the deadline for bids on the potentially 20-year contract by two weeks to Sept. 28, according to a procurement notice posted online.  […]

Nuclear reactor maker BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., this week pulled in a potentially $100-plus million contract to process unusable, government-owned material into uranium reactor fuel.  The new contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration, with $47 million of guaranteed money and worth $116.5 million with options, will allow the company, which builds nuclear propulsion systems […]

The three members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recently visited the Savannah River National Security Site to examine personnel safety controls for a planned facility expected to churn out at least 50 nuclear warhead cores annually next decade. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) “has been reviewing the design of the Savannah […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration mismanaged development of two machines used to measure the explosive power of nuclear weapons, leading to program delays and cost overruns, the Government Accountability Office found in a recent report.  To continue its long-running program to test the effectiveness of nuclear weapons without actually detonating one, the NNSA established the […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Processing Facility is structurally sound enough to withstand potential seismic events, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board found in a recent study of the building.  The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has worked with the Department of Energy on the seismic safety of PF-4 and Los Alamos since […]

Linda Bauer, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory deputy director, will lead a new effort to write a “blueprint” for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production and science & technology infrastructure.  NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby announced the campaign to “keep pace with the dynamic global environment” in an internal email seen by the Exchange Monitor on […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration mismanaged development of two machines used to measure the explosive power of nuclear weapons, leading to program delays and cost overruns, the Government Accountability Office found in a recent report.  To continue its long-running program to test the effectiveness of nuclear weapons without actually detonating one, the NNSA established the […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Processing Facility is structurally sound enough to withstand potential seismic events, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board found in a recent study of the building.  The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has worked with the Department of Energy on the seismic safety of PF-4 and Los Alamos since […]

Linda Bauer, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory deputy director, will lead a new effort to write a “blueprint” for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production and science and technology infrastructure.  NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby announced the campaign to “keep pace with the dynamic global environment” in an internal email seen by the Exchange Monitor on […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant has started pumping water from the first of a dozen or so planned new groundwater wells as officials attempt to shore up sufficient cooling sources for its six reactors after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam earlier this summer, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Aug. 22. The collapse of […]

Major National Nuclear Security Administration projects to modernize nuclear-weapons production infrastructure shot $2 billion past estimated budgets and are collectively overdue by nearly a decade, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.  The overruns have several causes, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the first of what will become biennial reports […]

Frank Rose, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator, recently spent a week in East Asia where he visited counterparts in Japan and South Korea. The trip, from July 18 to July 24 “aimed to strengthen bilateral ties, regional nuclear security, and enable discussions of how best to address challenges in the evolving geopolitical […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security set up a reliable fire suppression system and procedures at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., according to a recent assessment by the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments. The Bechtel National-led site prime contractor “has established a comprehensive sitewide [fire protection program] and policy to ensure the […]

Construction continues around the clock on the High Explosives Science and Engineering facility at the Pantex Plant in Texas, where the first of three massive concrete slabs were recently poured during an all-night construction binge. Crews recently placed the first of three 2-foot-thick concrete mat slabs at the High Explosives Science and Engineering (HESE) project’s […]

A federal judge will rule on a request from Consolidated Nuclear Security to throw out a suit brought by employees who allege, in a suit that has ground on for three years amid the plaintiffs’ failure to retain a lawyer, that the contractor improperly withheld wages from workers in Tennessee. Judge Katherine Crytzer did not […]

A National Nuclear Security Administration facility in Albuquerque, N.M., received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a first for any of the agency’s roughly 1,000 buildings. The John A. Gordon Albuquerque Complex Facility, a satellite campus that provides high-performance computing, research and engineering capabilities to nearby Los […]

After almost four years on the job, Philip Strawbridge on Aug. 4 announced he would retire as Centrus Energy Corp.’s chief financial officer by the end of the month. Strawbridge, who was 64 when he took the job, has served as a senior vice president, chief financial officer, chief administrative officer and treasurer of Centrus since […]

Earnings fell at Jacobs, Dallas, in the third quarter of its fiscal 2023 year as the international engineer company continued to move toward a sale of its government contracting business. Net earnings for the quarter ended June 30 were $164 million, or $1.29 a share, down from net earnings of $196 million or $1.52 a […]