National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

COVID-19 is surging across the country, with the rate of new cases at most major National Nuclear Security Administration host sites eclipsing their week-ago totals, and the agency cumulative racking up more than 100 new cases for the fourth week in a row. Mixing in 40 recoveries this week, that made for 303 confirmed cases […]

Among the many subplots of the still-undecided White House contest between President Donald Trump (R) and former vice president Joe Biden (D) is the makeup of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Matthew Moury, the Department of Energy’s associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety, and security, was nominated to a post on the maximum-five-member Defense Nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday formalized a decision to make at least 50 nuclear-weapon cores a year at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., and environmental groups immediately raised the prospects of a lawsuit if the agency does not review the plan again. The semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency made its long-expected […]

The United States says the contractor for a cancelled plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site still owes the feds millions of dollars because of allegedly fraudulent billing and called the company’s claim that it already paid back the sum smoke and mirrors, according to a new court filing. “MOX Services did make a […]

A former number-two at the National Nuclear Security Administration would not rule out a return to government service on the eve of the presidential election. “No comment,” Madelyn Creedon, principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the final years of the Barack Obama administration, said in a virtual meeting when asked […]

Three months of frozen budgets is probably no big deal for the National Nuclear Security Administration and its portfolio of 21st-century weapons-production construction, but a year’s worth would be bad news, a senior official said recently. “We’re inoculated for a period of about a quarter,” Bob Raines, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) associate administrator […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies hauled in $520 million in revenue during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, which is up 3% from the $506 million it took in during the same period a year ago, according to a Monday earnings release. Its net income for the quarter dipped a bit, however, as BWX Technologies […]

Next week, the National Nuclear Security Administration will host a second virtual meeting with the public to discuss a planned release of tritium from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a notice posted online. The second virtual meeting about venting flanged tritium waste containers is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, from 5 p.m. to […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D) wants the Department of Energy to explain how its plan to dispose of some seven metric tons of diluted, weapon-usable plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant complies with environmental law, according to a recent letter. The tranche is part of the 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium that […]

Here’s this week’s collection of quick-hit news about, and with implications for, U.S. nuclear security and the nuclear security enterprise. The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments will soon investigate “the introduction of unauthorized electronic equipment (Panasonic pan-tilt-zoom cameras) into security areas for over two years and the potential unauthorized disclosure of classified information […]

If Joe Biden wins the White House in the Nov. 3 election, his administration will consider backing off the U.S. nuclear buildup set in place by the Obama administration in 2016, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee predicted Thursday. “China’s philosophy has been very simple: we’re going to build a reliable nuclear arsenal […]

At deadline Friday, winter weather had finally blown over New Mexico and Texas after an early-week barrage that gave all the nuclear-weapons sites in those states at one snow day. Non-essential dayshift employees at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, were most affected by an early winter storm that crusted the panhandle counties of Potter […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration still had not at deadline released the final solicitation for the potentially $28-billion, $10-year contract to manage its two big nuclear-weapons production sites, but more information is percolating up through industry about the players interested in the deal. With the envisioned start of the transition from the Bechtel-led incumbent, Consolidated […]

A third National Nuclear Security Administration employee has died from COVID-19, and the agency recorded more than 100 new cases among its workforce for the second consecutive week, a spokesperson said Friday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency declined to identify the person who died, but did say they worked at the Nevada […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory wrapped up equipment installation at the site’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility 10 months ahead of schedule, the weapons lab said this week in press release. This now-completed phase, officially, Plutonium Facility Equipment Installation-Phase 1, is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility (CMMR) project. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration still had not at deadline released the final solicitation for the potentially $28-billion, $10-year contract to manage its two big nuclear-weapons production sites, but more information is percolating up through industry about the players interested in the deal. With the envisioned start of the transition from the Bechtel-led incumbent, Consolidated […]

By early next year, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Department of Energy could sign a memorandum of understanding about how to share information under a two year-old DOE order that limits interactions between the federal agencies. On Tuesday, the board — a roughly $30-million-a-year agency with a staff of around 100 full-timers […]

Next week, the National Nuclear Security Administration will host a second virtual meeting with the public to discuss a planned release of tritium from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a notice posted online. The second virtual meeting about venting flanged tritium waste containers is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, from 5 p.m. to […]

Steven Lawrence, until this year the manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada Field Office, appeared to tweet Tuesday afternoon that he is receiving chemotherapy. As I sit in the infusion center getting chemo, my heart goes out to everyone dealing with cancer or other life changing events, including our caregivers…. Stay strong and […]

The barrage of winter weather in the Western U.S. closed down some nuclear weapons sites again on Tuesday, with the Pantex plant bracing for a third straight snow day for non-essential workers. Pantex canned the Wednesday day shift on account of snowy and icy conditions after doing the same on Monday and Tuesday, according to […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D) wants the Department of Energy to explain how its plan to dispose of some seven metric tons of diluted, weapon-usable plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant complies with environmental law, according to a recent letter. The tranche is part of the 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium that […]

Amid worsening winter weather in the western U.S., the Los Alamos National Laboratory called for a delayed opening on Tuesday after sending personnel home early on Monday.  Likewise, the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, ordered non-essential workers on two of three shifts to stay home on Tuesday, and told anyone who could telework to do […]

Non-essential day-shift personnel at the Pantex Plant got a two-hour delay on Monday because of foul weather including ice and snow in the Texas panhandle, the site said. Amarillo, Texas, and the rest of the High Plains region — plus many points east — chilled down rapidly on Monday after a warm-to-seasonable weekend, and the […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. Monday: The Citizens Advisory Board for the Savannah River Site will meet virtually today starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The session is viewable on the advisory board’s youtube page. Wednesday: The West Valley Citizens Task […]

Later this year, the National Nuclear Security Administration will begin a formal review of its program to dispose of the 34 metric tons of plutonium once slated to be recycled into commercial reactor fuel, an agency official said. It was unclear whether the agency would heed the advice of the National Academies of Sciences and […]

A vendor to the Kansas City National Security Campus made thousands of nuclear weapons parts with the incorrect alloy because “product drawings were not clear,” forcing the Pantex Plant to pause servicing on multiple nuclear weapons in mid-September while the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed the parts were safe to use, a campus spokesperson said […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s radiation-sniffing helicopter started a campaign of low-altitude flights over Washington this week, part of an effort to safeguard against a nuclear-armed attack on January’s looming presidential inauguration. The agency routinely measures background radiation ahead of large public gatherings to create a base level against which the source of a radiological […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s leader should get a fixed term, senior agency managers should be exempted from Senate approval and the stockpile’s steward should strive for a closer contractual relationship with its nuclear-weapons laboratories, a National Academies report concluded. The 14-member, joint National Academy of Public Administration and National Academy of Sciences panel that […]

Here’s this week’s collection of quick-hit news about, and with implications for, U.S. nuclear security. The National Nuclear Security Administration and Canada’s Atomic Energy of Canada Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on nuclear safety and security, the government entities announced jointly. Brent Park, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration should formalize in April its choice to build a pit-production from the remains of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina an agency official said recently. That would set the stage for the semiautonomous DOE nuclear weapons agency to approve a formal cost […]