National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 automatically shut down for a little less than a day-and-a-half last week because of low steam levels, the authority confirmed this week. The quasi governmental company confirmed the outage to the Exchange Monitor after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday reported that Unit 2, which […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have gained access to the rooftops of two reactors of concern at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and found no mines or explosives, the agency said Aug. 4.  Inspectors had asked for access to the roof area of reactors three and four repeatedly but were denied entry to inspect for […]

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 […]

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 […]

Earnings fell at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, which the Department of Energy contractor attributed partly to a $34 million charge cost and schedule issues in its Energy Solutions sector. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $61 million, or $0.35 a share, down from $66 million, or $0.38 a […]

Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, but the nuclear services company sees support with the U.S. Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plan, the AUKUS trilateral security agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia paying dividends in the future. The company is currently negotiating the next two-year pricing agreement for nuclear naval reactors […]

Earnings were down year-over-year for Centrus Energy in the second quarter of 2023, despite the uranium broker and enrichment-technology developer receiving the go-ahead from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium this year.  The Bethesda, Md., company reported $12.7 million in net income, or $0.84 a share, in the second quarter on $98.4 […]

The W87-1 warhead modification program recently moved into development engineering, also called Phase 6.3, following approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons Council.  During this phase of the nuclear weapons lifecycle process, NNSA will continue to work closely with the Defense Department to conduct experiments, tests and […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, Va., reported lower earnings in the quarter ended June 30 but called out revenue growth in shipbuilding and the Mission Technologies segment, which handles business with the Department of Energy. Net earnings for the quarter ended June 30 were $130 million, or $3.27 a share, down from $178 million or […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is seeking contractors to undertake a sweeping utilities upgrade at the site. For the Utility Upgrades and Equipment Project (UUEP), Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) wants a contractor to perform site demolition and preparation and installation of new utilities. CNS wants a […]

After doling out $62 million in fiscal year 2022 for establishing a domestic supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99, the Department of Energy has zeroed out funding for cooperative agreements with companies that can do the work without using highly enriched uranium. At least $62 million was payed out through the program in fiscal year […]

The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, has a new Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board resident inspector as of Monday. Austin Holloway, a former explosives engineer at the Naval Air Warfare (NAVAIR) Center Weapons Division in China Lake, Calif., took over the position with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on July 31.  As a […]

The W87-1 warhead modification program recently moved into development engineering, also called Phase 6.3, following approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons Council.  During this phase of the nuclear weapons lifecycle process, NNSA will continue to work closely with the Defense Department to conduct experiments, tests and […]

The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, has a new Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board resident inspector as of Monday. Austin Holloway, a former explosives engineer at the Naval Air Warfare (NAVAIR) Center Weapons Division in China Lake, Calif., took over the position with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on July 31.  As a […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is seeking contractors to undertake a sweeping utilities upgrade at the site. For the Utility Upgrades and Equipment Project (UUEP), Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) wants a contractor to perform site demolition and preparation and installation of new utilities. CNS wants a […]

The Department of Energy wants to sign cooperative agreements with companies that can help establish a domestic supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium. U.S. companies with mature technologies to achieve commercial-scale production of molybdenum-99 in U.S. facilities can apply, according to a notice DOE posted to the federal government’s procurement […]

Just after 8 p.m. on Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides a modest boost to civilian and military nuclear weapons modernization programs.  The Senate’s version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), approved 86-11, authorizes the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend $24 billion or so, up […]

Editor’s note: This story replaces the story “NNSA considers new domestic uranium enrichment technology near Oak Ridge” [Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Vol. 27 No. 29], which contained several errors. The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to establish a pilot program for enriching weapons-grade uranium on American soil by 2030. It’s a sort of back-to-square-one […]

Hensel Phelps, a construction subcontractor working at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, recently completed concrete placements for four warehouses that will provide more than a football field’s worth of additional storage capacity and workspace.  Approximately 5,000 cubic yards of concrete were laid for the foundation on June 15, a milestone the lab announced […]

Delays in producing new plutonium pits at two National Nuclear Security Administration sites are “very disturbing,” given the need to modernize nearly every element of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in coming decades, a former NNSA policy director said Wednesday. “During the Cold War, the U.S. produced up to 2,000 warhead pits per year at the […]

On Oct. 1, 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration will become the landlord, rather than a tenant, at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and shoulder responsibility for operation and security of the site, a federal advisory panel heard Tuesday. When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) takes over from DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy wants a domestic supply of high-assay, low-enriched uranium for use in nuclear reactors and for other purposes and is inviting industry to hear about the program next month.  Ahead of an “anticipated action to acquire” high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy is holding an industry […]

Delays in producing new plutonium pits at two National Nuclear Security Administration sites are “very disturbing,” given the need to modernize nearly every element of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in coming decades, a former NNSA policy director said Wednesday. “During the Cold War, the U.S. produced up to 2,000 warhead pits per year at the […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council last week held video interviews with a half-dozen candidates to be city manager for the municipality, population 31,000, which borders the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site. Zoom interviews with candidates to succeed City Manager Mark Watson, who retired on May 5, occurred July 17-18, according to a post on […]

On Oct. 1, 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration will become the landlord, rather than a tenant, at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and shoulder responsibility for operation and security of the site, a federal advisory panel heard Tuesday. When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) takes over from DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy wants a domestic supply of high-assay, low-enriched uranium for use in nuclear reactors and for other purposes and is inviting industry to hear about the program next month.  Ahead of an “anticipated action to acquire” high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy is holding an industry […]

A DOE official may share details about the National Nuclear Security Administration’s planned takeover of the Savannah River Site in 2025 during a public meeting on Tuesday, the official said Monday. That was the word from the No. 2 DOE Office of Environmental Management field office manager for Savannah River, Edwin Deshong, during a Monday […]