National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Former Miamisburg, Ohio mayor and a founding member of the Energy Communities Alliance, Dick Church, has died at age 81, the advocacy group for Department of Energy localities said Friday. Church “was a founding member that led the organization through transition and helped it grow from an idea into an organization that works for and […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security is in the early stages of returning a facility at the NNSA’s Pantex Plant in Texas to active explosive testing. In October, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board noted the effort to reclaim the facility after 30 years of inactivity following a contamination event. Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) spokesman Jason Bohne confirmed […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration extended Los Alamos National Laboratory management and operations contractor Triad National Security for five more years, through Nov. 1, 2028, the agency announced this week. In the third such mass-extension this year for a nuclear-weapons site contractor, the agency picked up five one-year options on Triad’s contract simultaneously. Triad includes […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is poised to move beyond what its administrator recently characterized as an outmoded system of requiring the contractors who manage major nuclear-weapon sites to earn extensions one year at a time. “[T]he one-year contract for award terms were incredibly destabilizing at our labs, plants and sites because they couldn’t keep […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch should not see a significant near-term decrease in its budget for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because control of the federal complex is being transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a budget and planning official said last week. “Most of our funding is for liquid […]

A building slated to become a key cog in the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium pit-production complex is taking longer than expected to be authorized to hold enough plutonium for its new mission, a spokesperson said this week. The Radiological Laboratory/Utility/Office Building (RLUOB) should be recategorized as a hazard category 3 nuclear facility by March […]

A compromise National Defense Authorization Act approved Thursday by the House would authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend some $880 million more than requested, more than the House or Senate had proposed individually. The House and Senate much each approve this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before President Joe Biden (D) can […]

A building slated to become a key cog in the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium pit-production complex is taking longer than expected to be authorized to hold enough plutonium for its new mission, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The Radiological Laboratory/Utility/Office Building (RLUOB) should be recategorized as a hazard category 3 nuclear facility by March 2023, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration extended Los Alamos National Laboratory management and operations contractor Triad National Security for five more years, through Nov. 1, 2028, the agency announced Tuesday. In the third such mass-extension this year for a nuclear-weapons site contractor, the agency picked up five one-year options on Triad’s contract simultaneously.  Triad includes team […]

Congressional leaders said they still wanted to pass the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act before Republicans take control of the House in January, but partisan maneuvering over issues unrelated to Department of Energy nuclear-weapon programs have held the bill up. The House Rules Committee was scheduled Monday to set the terms of debate for the […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch should not see a significant near-term decrease in its budget for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because control of the federal complex is being transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a budget and planning official said last week. “Most of our funding is for liquid […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is poised to move beyond what its administrator recently characterized as an outmoded system of requiring the contractors who manage major nuclear-weapon sites to earn extensions one year at a time. “[T]he one-year contract for award terms were incredibly destabilizing at our labs, plants and sites because they couldn’t keep […]

A Maryland woman just sentenced to prison for her role in attempting to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign country has lodged an appeal, court documents filed Tuesday show. On Nov. 9, Diana Toebbe, 46, was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District […]

Jeff Avery, a longtime manager with the Office of Naval Reactors, has been selected as the new second-in-command at the Department of Energy’s $7.8-billion Office of Environmental Management. Avery, current director of regulatory and security affairs with the Office of Naval Reactors, officially becomes principal deputy assistant secretary for Environmental Management, or EM-2, effective in […]

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, Beloit, Wis., finished building a factory to produce, without the use of highly enriched uranium, the medically usable isotope Molybdenum-99, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday.  NorthStar is one of several U.S. companies that have gotten money from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to expand domestic production of the isotope, […]

The cost of the next subcritical nuclear testing facility in Nevada crept up a little, according to an audit report published Monday by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) now projects a maximum combined cost for the U1a Complex Enhancement Project (UCEP) of $577 million, a little more than […]

Materials shortages and labor productivity drove a two-year delay to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s next factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages, the head of agency said Thursday. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties it created sourcing materials, “construction is just really hard in the United States now,” Jill Hruby, administrator of […]

Steven Ho is the new chief of staff to National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby, Hruby said Thursday afternoon during a virtual forum. In his new role, Ho will be Hruby’s administrative point man at the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency. Ho was most recently director of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s […]

A Maryland woman just sentenced to prison for her role in attempting to sell U.S. nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign country has lodged an appeal, court documents filed Tuesday show. On Nov. 9, Diana Toebbe, 46, was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District […]

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, Beloit, Wis., finished building a factory to produce, without the use of highly enriched uranium, the medically usable isotope Molybdenum-99, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday.  NorthStar is one of several U.S. companies that have gotten money from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to expand domestic production of the isotope, […]

Small businesses on the hunt for a share of assorted nationwide nuclear cleanup work at government sites are encouraged to team up by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. “DOE is issuing this notification to encourage offerors to consider the establishment of contractor teaming arrangements,” in pursuit of small business set-aside awards for […]

The cost of the next subcritical nuclear testing facility in Nevada crept up a little, according to an audit report published Monday by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) now projects a maximum combined cost for the U1a Complex Enhancement Project (UCEP) of $577 million, a little more than […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has suggestions for avoiding uranium-related fires once the Uranium Processing Facility in Tennessee starts up and wants the Department of Energy to explain what it’s doing to prevent them, according to a letter published this week. “The Board believes that Y-12 can improve the site’s safety posture by ensuring […]

Many sites within the Department of Energy’s weapons complex have at least some level of exposure to certain human-made chemicals drawing increasing attention from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a report released Tuesday. The DOE rolled out its “Initial Assessment of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances PFAS” at 53 properties, including sites run by […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup field office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, set up in 2015, and its remediation contractor still face staff shortages, a federal safety watchdog heard Wednesday. Michael Mikolanis, who heads the DOE Office of Environmental Management field office at Los Alamos, told the Defense Nuclear Facilities […]

By Dan Parsons Engineers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory continue to upgrade the ventilation system at the plutonium pit production facility after two separate incidents where the system failed to blow contaminated air away from clean rooms where employees were working.  The most recent failure occurred on Aug. 22, when ventilation in the Plutonium […]

A former Navy employee and his wife will go to prison for more than 19 and more than 21 years, respectively, for conspiring to sell nuclear-submarine secrets to a nation reported to be Brazil, a federal judge ordered recently. Jonathan Toebbe, 44, a former Q-cleared Naval Reactors employee who smuggled technical data about Virginia-class attack […]

Local residents must retain a voice in what goes on at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina after federal responsibility for the complex shifts  to the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration in 2025, the head of the Citizens Advisory Board said Monday. Last month, DOE confirmed its Office of Environmental Management […]

Starting after Thanksgiving, citizens of the city of Aiken, S.C., can give the city council their two cents about how to spend $25 million in federal settlement money the city got because of a federal lawsuit involving the Department of Energy’s canceled plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site, local media reported Monday. Aiken […]

Pit production will continue to share space at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility with other missions for the foreseeable future, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told a federal safety agency on Wednesday. The semi autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency is upgrading PF-4 to produce multiple war-ready pits some […]