National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

The Cerro Pelado wildfire that started nearly a month ago in northern New Mexico was more than 70% contained, making it safe for employees who had been telecommuting to come back to work, the lab said. Employees who had been working remotely were cleared to return to work inside the fence on Tuesday, according to […]

It will take all summer to finalize a plan aimed at hastening construction of a key nuclear-weapon-component factory that has fallen behind schedule in South Carolina, a Pentagon official said Tuesday in a congressional hearing. It is nearly the end of the annual budget-hearing season in Washington, and federal agencies including the National Nuclear Security […]

In a blow to Fluor and Amentum, the National Nuclear Security Administration this week canceled a potentially 10-year, $28-billion contract for a joint venture of the two companies to manage the agency’s main nuclear-weapon production sites. At the same time, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency announced it would extend the Bechtel-led incumbent […]

The NNSA’s new facility for manufacturing nuclear-weapon secondary stages will not be completed until August 2026: eight months later than expected, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told Senators Wednesday in a hearing. Bechtel National, under contract to the Bechtel-led site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security, has been building the current incarnation of the […]

The NNSA’s new facility for manufacturing nuclear-weapon secondary stages will not be completed until August 2026: eight months later than expected, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told Senators Wednesday in a hearing. Bechtel National, under contract to the Bechtel-led site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security, has been building the current incarnation of the […]

It will take all summer to finalize a plan aimed at hastening construction of a key nuclear-weapon-component factory that has fallen behind schedule in South Carolina, a Pentagon official said Tuesday in a congressional hearing. It is nearly the end of the annual budget-hearing season in Washington, and federal agencies including the National Nuclear Security […]

Department of Energy managers at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina expect the Salt Waste Processing Facility to process 4 million gallons of waste this year, they told a DOE-chartered advisory group Monday. The prediction was offered by Michael Budney, Savannah River Site manager for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, in response to questions […]

In a blow to Fluor and Amentum, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday it canceled a potentially 10-year, $28-billion contract for a joint venture of the two companies to manage the agency’s main nuclear-weapon production sites. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency awarded the big-money deal to the Nuclear Production One joint […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was set Monday to kick off a major exercise in Austin, Texas, to train a long list of local, regional and state agencies about the proper response to a radiological incident. The Cobalt Magnet 22 exercise will be the such exercise held in three years, a spokesperson for the National […]

Carlos Alvardo will temporarily step in as the No. 2 fed at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, with Gabriel Pugh, the plant’s most recent deputy manager, leaving for the Department of Energy’s National Training Center, according to an internal email. Sunday was Alvardo’s first day as acting deputy manager at […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week added three new resident inspectors to monitor safety at Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M. Clinton Jones is a new resident inspector for DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

Michelle Reichert said she will retire May 20 as president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the outgoing management and operations contractor of the U.S.’ two main nuclear-weapon production plants. Bill Tindal, Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) chief operating officer, will become the acting president and CEO, according to a note from CNS board […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed the Tennessee Valley Authority to work some people harder during an ongoing service outage at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor, where the restart of tritium production for nuclear weapons has slipped to June from mid-May, the commission said. The outage now “is now scheduled to be completed by early […]

This week, the House Appropriations panel that writes the first draft of the Department of Energy’s annual budget bill called off a hearing with the agency’s top nuclear weapons and waste leaders minutes into the proceedings. The hearing got no further than opening statements and a few questions from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the chair, […]

Michelle Reichert said she will retire May 20 as president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the outgoing management and operations contractor of the U.S.’ two main nuclear-weapon production plants. Bill Tindal, Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) chief operating officer, will become the acting president and CEO, according to a note from CNS board […]

Senior officials with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management were set to take questions about their fiscal year 2023 budget requests Wednesday from House appropriators. The House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee was scheduled to convene the hearing at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time on Capitol Hill. The […]

The Department of Energy extended Centrus Energy Corp.’s contract to build a 16-machine enrichment cascade for advanced nuclear fuel at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, adding six months and $12 million to the sole-source deal. DOE extended the 80/20 cost-share contract on April 20, boosting the agency’s share of the pact, awarded in 2019, […]

Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the company attributed Monday to pension issues and lower productivity in the naval reactors business. Net earnings for the first quarter were $59 million or $0.64 per share, down from $69.7 million, or $0.73 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was […]

Earnings were largely up at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the first quarter, which the international engineering and construction company — with contracts across the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex — attributed to positive trends in its key markets. First quarter net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Fluor were $48 million, or $0.27 per […]

A scientist suing the prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories for wrongful termination wants the federal district court case put on hold while he tries to move the suit back to a New Mexico state court. Plaintiff Charles Oakes on Monday filed an unopposed motion to postpone further briefs on a […]

Authorities in New Mexico said Thursday afternoon they plan to use a controlled burn to give the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding county more protection from the Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Mountains. A controlled burn is planned along Alamo trail to combat the fire that has burned 29,000 […]

Employees placed on unpaid leave after receiving religious exemptions to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate were cleared to return to work this week after the lab declared a return to normal operations, an internal memo shows. “As of this spring, case rates have abated considerably, almost 100% of staff are vaccinated, and we […]

A federal court could soon decide whether to hear the case of several Consolidated Nuclear Security employees who sued the Y-12 National Security Complex prime contractor in 2020 alleging lost wages. Last week, the three employees, who seek to create a class-action lawsuit, filed a second amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for Eastern […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration won’t be able to make 80 pits annually by 2030 even if Congress throws more money at the problem this year, the agency’s top official and the Pentagon’s acquisition chief both told Senators Wednesday in a hearing “The nuclear weapons council stands by the assessment that was provided, that I […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration won’t be able to make 80 pits annually by 2030 even if Congress throws more money at the problem this year, the agency’s top official and the Pentagon’s acquisition chief both told Senators Wednesday in a hearing “The nuclear weapons council stands by the assessment that was provided, that I […]

Members of the joint Department of Energy-Pentagon body that coordinates nuclear weapon procurements were set to testify late this afternoon before a Senate Armed Services panel. The six-member Nuclear Weapons Council is dominated by Pentagon personnel and chaired by the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment — William LaPlante, in the Joe Biden administration. […]

As of late Tuesday, the Cerro Pelado fire in New Mexico was five-and-a-half miles away from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, with no evacuations ordered so far around the federal facility. Lab management could reduce its on-site headcount, however, if the fire inches much closer to Los Alamos National Laboratory or the […]

Effective mid-July, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to split its two main procurement offices in Washington into three and, in the process, eliminate the Office of Acquisition and Project Management and the Office of Infrastructure and Operations, agency Administrator Jill Hruby said Monday in an email to all hands. After the split, the duties […]

President Joe Biden’s plans to cease development of a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile and to cancel a refresh for the B83 megaton-capable gravity bomb won’t make it through Congress, a key Republican House member predicted Monday. “The president’s budget’s talking about getting rid of the sea-launched cruise missile and some of the B83 gravity bombs, […]

A federal court could soon decide whether to hear the case of several Consolidated Nuclear Security employees who sued the Y-12 National Security Complex prime contractor in 2020 allegeding lost wages. Last week, the three employees, who seek to create a class-action lawsuit, filed a second amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for Eastern […]