National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

As the nuclear-weapons production complex began a shift into overdrive, non-essential personnel at the Pantex site were asked to delay their arrival early this week, starting with the graveyard shift on Monday after a late-season ice storm moved in over the Texas panhandle. Only a day after the spring equinox, the system dropped a wintery […]

A regulatory domino fell Thursday at the plant where Westinghouse fabricates tritium producing burnable absorber rods for the National Nuclear Security Administration, clearing the way for cleanup of contaminated disposal lagoons on the South Carolina property. On Thursday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an exemption to commission regulations clearing U.S. Ecology to accept waste from […]

Many full-timers working directly for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Laboratory received a modest raise earlier this month as part of broad retention efforts by the National Nuclear Security Administration, according to a letter from the lab’s director. “We are pleased that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has granted this increase,” Thomas Mason, director […]

In a confirmation hearing Tuesday morning, the Joe Biden administration’s nominee to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons programs from headquarters in Washington pledged his support for the agency’s program of record and agreed to review the agency’s plan to produce new plutonium pits if confirmed. The nominee, Marvin Adams, a professor of nuclear […]

As the nuclear-weapons production complex begins a shift into overdrive, non-essential personnel at the Pantex site were asked to delay their arrival starting with Monday’s graveyard shift after a late-season ice storm moved in over the Texas panhandle. Only a day after the spring equinox, the system dropped a wintery mix over Amarillo and the […]

A new 20,000-square-foot high-explosives fabrication facility at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant should be up and running by January 2024.  Pantex broke ground on the new Advanced Fabrication Facility in Amarillo, Texas, the week of March 11 and was scheduled to move into the building in late 2023, said Jason Bohne, spokesman for […]

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, told the Waste Management Symposia late last week in Phoenix. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security will officially remain the management and operations contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two main weapons production sites through September, the agency confirmed Friday. As it attempts to address a controversy about a follow-on award to manage the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s five-year Enterprise Construction Management Services contract is up for bids and interested small businesses have just over a week to ask questions about the quick-turnaround bid request and just over two weeks to get quotes in. The winner of the contract that went up for grabs last week will provide […]

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, said during a recent industry gathering. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations for the […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory appeared more or less on track to recategorize one part of its planned plutonium complex as a hazard category three facility, allowing for increased storage of the fissile material there, according to a recent report by the government’s independent nuclear watchdog. In February, Los Alamos prime Triad National Security wrapped up […]

Christopher Davis will be Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s next chief of staff, Granholm wrote Friday in an all-hands email. Davis, according to his LinkedIn profile, has been a senior advisor to Granholm since right around Inauguration Day, prior to which he held various roles at DOE dating back to 2011. Before that, he spent […]

Five elected representatives from the Aiken, S.C., area said this week they planned to carry on a fight in the state legislature for a bigger share of federal settlement money related to weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site. With Rep. Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken County) acting as spokesman Monday, the state house members from the […]

A new submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead will be ready for production by 2036, and the National Nuclear Security Administration still hasn’t missed deliveries to the military because of COVID, according to the agency’s latest annual unclassified progress report. Notionally, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will produce the final proof-of-concept model, or first production unit, […]

A new submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead will be ready for production around 2029, and the National Nuclear Security Administration still hasn’t missed deliveries to the military because of COVID, according to the agency’s latest annual unclassified progress report. Notionally, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will produce the final proof-of-concept model, or first production unit, […]

Five elected representatives from the Aiken, S.C., area said this week they planned to carry on a fight in the state legislature for a bigger share of federal settlement money related to weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site. With Rep. Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken County) acting as spokesman Monday, the state house members from the […]

The Secretary of Energy of Energy will announce her next chief of staff — and more — “soon,” Tarak Shah, the outgoing chief, told all hands Tuesday in a farewell message. Shah, who hit the campaign trail for Biden and lead beachhead teams into the Forrestal Building in Washington, will depart in April, he said […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory appeared more or less on track to recategorize one part of its planned plutonium complex as a hazard category three facility, allowing for increased storage of the fissile material there, according to a recent report by the government’s independent nuclear watchdog. In February, Los Alamos prime Triad National Security wrapped up […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s five-year Enterprise Construction Management Services contract is up for bids and interested small businesses have just over a week to ask questions about the quick-turnaround bid request and just over two weeks to get quotes in.  The winner of the contract that went up for grabs last week will provide […]

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, told the Waste Management Symposia late last week in Phoenix. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for […]

After idling for half the 2022 fiscal year at last year’s budget level, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get some $26.65 billion to see it through Sept. 30, under an omnibus spending package that at deadline Friday awaited only President Joe Biden’s signature. That’s a 4.5% raise year-over-year that’s 3% more than requested for […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was recently searching for a new director for its office of enterprise project management, according to a want-ad posted on the federal government’s official recruiting website. According to the listing, the agency conducted interviews only for a month, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22. The current occupant of the office — […]

MOX Services, the contractor that was building the canceled plutonium facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, settled allegations of fraud with the government to the tune of $10 million, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The contractor paid to end the nearly three year-old litigation over federal claims that it submitted “false […]

There is not enough money in the world for the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend its way to making 80 plutonium pits a year by 2030, the general who commands U.S. nuclear forces told Congress Tuesday morning. “[W]e now know that we will not get 80 pits per year by 2030 as is statutorily […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, chief engineer […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, […]

After idling for half the 2022 fiscal year at last year’s budget level, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get some $26.65 billion to see it through Sept. 30, under an omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature.  That’s a 4.5% raise year-over-year that’s 3% more than requested for the semiautonomous Department of Energy […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, […]

There is not enough money in the world for the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend its way to making 80 plutonium pits a year by 2030, the general who commands U.S. nuclear forces told Congress Tuesday morning. “[W]e now know that we will not get 80 pits per year by 2030 as is statutorily […]

MOX Services, the contractor that was building the canceled plutonium facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, settled allegations of fraud with the government to the tune of $10 million, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The contractor paid to end the nearly three year-old litigation over federal claims that it submitted “false […]