Y-12 National Security Complex
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, produces and stores enriched uranium components for the nuclear stockpile. Coverage tracks the Uranium Processing Facility construction project, secondary production, highly enriched uranium storage, site contracts, and security and safety findings.
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Budget & Policy
DOE must sign off on potential Pantex contract extensions, NNSA administrator says
WASHINGTON — The secretary of energy must approve the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to let one company manage the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, for up to 20 years, the head of the nuclear-weapons agency said here Wednesday. Details of the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract were published on April 28. The draft solicitation included a five-year […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Next Pantex prime could be on the job for 20 years, according to draft NNSA solicitation
The National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday released its draft solicitation for bids on a potentially 20-year standalone contract to manage the Pantex Plant nuclear-weapons service hub in Amarillo, Texas. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract will have at least a five-year base with one five-year option period and perhaps as many as two more five-year options after […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Nuclear Fuel Services bags $428-million contract to enrich uranium while Y-12 modernizes
The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday awarded Nuclear Fuel Services, a subsidiary of naval nuclear reactor manufacturer BWX Technologies, a five-year, $428-million contract to provide purification and conversion services for highly enriched uranium . Located in Erwin, Tenn., Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) is one of only two category I nuclear facilities licensed by the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CNS hiring contractors to upgrade Y-12 electrical infrastructure
Consolidated Nuclear Security is seeking qualified licensed electrical contractors to replace and upgrade various aging electrical systems at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The company, contracted to manage both Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Panhandle, Texas, on behalf of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will hire multiple contractors under […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CNS hiring contractors to upgrade Y-12 electrical infrastructure
Consolidated Nuclear Security is seeking qualified licensed electrical contractors to replace and upgrade various aging electrical systems at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The company, contracted to manage both Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Panhandle, Texas, on behalf of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will hire multiple contractors under […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Savannah River manager to take over NNSA Production Office at Pantex in May
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, will have a new manager as of May 21. Jason Armstrong, currently manager of the NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office, will take over as manager of the Pantex manager for the production office beginning May 21st. This does not include leadership of […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Lawyers for Y-12 employees withdraw from suit against CNS
Lawyers representing employees who accuse Consolidated Nuclear Security, manager of the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge Tenn., of withholding wages have withdrawn from a proposed class action lawsuit against the contractor. The motion to withdraw as counsel was granted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville on Monday. Justin […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Too few employees contributed to delays in Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility
There are at least 500 too few employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which has contributed to a cost increase and schedule slip for the uranium processing facility under construction there, the Secretary of Energy testified in Congress Thursday. In its budget request for fiscal year 2024, the National Nuclear […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Lawyers for Y-12 employees withdraw from suit against CNS
Lawyers representing employees who accuse Consolidated Nuclear Security, manager of the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge Tenn., of withholding wages have withdrawn from a proposed class action lawsuit against the contractor. The motion to withdraw as counsel was granted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville on Monday. Justin […]
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International
Wrap up: North Korean nukes; lost Libyan uranium; Manhattan project obit; NNSA in Kazakhstan and more
Any deployment by North Korea of a nuclear weapon would mean the fall of the Kim regime, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said this week. The reclusive nation fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday and later announced it has the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on the launcher. […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CNS Launches Hiring Spree to Meet Cybersecurity Needs at NNSA Sites
Facing expanding mandates for information security at the two big nuclear-weapon production sites it manages, Consolidated Nuclear Security has launched a hiring spree for qualified information technology and cybersecurity experts. Over the past several years, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has found it difficult to meet its cybersecurity and IT staffing needs with its internal employee […]
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National Laboratories
NNSA Publishes Fiscal 2022 Site Management Report Cards
Below is Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s annual digest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) performance evaluation summaries: the agency’s report cards for its big contracts, which explain how much management and operations entities earned for their performance. The Monitor has provided links to NNSA source documents. Kansas City National Security Campus, Kansas City, […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CNS Launches Hiring Spree to Meet Cybersecurity Needs at NNSA Sites
Facing expanding mandates for information security at the two big nuclear-weapon production sites it manages, Consolidated Nuclear Security has launched a hiring spree for qualified information technology and cybersecurity experts. Over the past several years, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has found it difficult to meet its cybersecurity and IT staffing needs with its internal employee […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Uranium chips in hood caused fire that prompted evacuation of key Y-12 weapons facility
Machined uranium chips caused the fire that prompted last week’s evacuation of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Building 9212, a site spokesperson said this week. “In the event on February 22, chips of uranium metal from machining activity had been processed for storage in accordance with standard operating procedures,” a Y-12 spokesperson wrote Thursday in […]
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Decommissioning
UCOR boss touts progress on taking down aging structures at Y-12, Oak Ridge Lab
PHOENIX —One year into its new 10-year deal at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge has finished demolishing some key structures at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the remediation prime’s CEO said Wednesday. All of the old contaminated buildings at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]
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Decommissioning
UCOR boss touts progress on taking down aging structures at Y-12, Oak Ridge Lab
PHOENIX —One year into its new 10-year deal at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge has finished demolishing some key structures at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the remediation prime’s CEO said Wednesday. All of the old contaminated buildings at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
No injuries after fire at Y-12 uranium building, site says
Hundreds of employees evacuated the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages in Tennessee this week after a fire there, a spokesperson said. “There was a fire at approximately 9:15 involving uranium in Building 9212, a production facility onsite,” a spokesperson for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., wrote […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
No injuries after fire at Y-12 uranium building, site says
Hundreds of employees evacuated the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages in Tennessee early Wednesday morning after a fire there, a spokesperson said. “There was a fire at approximately 9:15 involving uranium in Building 9212, a production facility onsite,” a spokesperson for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., […]
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Contracts & Procurement
NNSA aims to get solicitation out for Y-12 before presidential election
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The National Nuclear Security Administration could solicit bids for a new 10-year management contract for its uranium hub in Tennessee by spring of 2024, the head of the agency said here Tuesday. “The notional schedule is Y-12 is one year behind Pantex,” Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Mercury treatment plant contractor extended into May
The joint venture building the delayed Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee was extended into May and could still be extended much longer, an agency spokesperson said this week. The most recent major contract roundup dated Feb. 9 for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management shows the […]
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Contracts & Procurement
NNSA aims to get solicitation out for Y-12 before presidential election
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The National Nuclear Security Administration could solicit bids for a new 10-year management contract for its uranium hub in Tennessee by spring of 2024, the head of the agency said here Tuesday. “The notional schedule is Y-12 is one year behind Pantex,” Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Lawyers drop plaintiffs who sued CNS over allegedly lost wages; cite conflict
Three employees who claim Consolidated Nuclear Security illegally withheld more than $10 million in wages from a big group of employees need new lawyers after their attorneys quit last week, citing a conflict of interest. “Due to a conflict that has arisen, Plaintiffs’ counsel, attorneys [Justin] Gilbert and [Ron] Rayson, have no choice but seek […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
NNSA has Nuclear Fuel Services under contract for uranium conversion, purification
Right in time for Christmas, the National Nuclear Security Administration put Nuclear Fuel Services under contract to produce uranium metal for nuclear weapons programs, according to a procurement note published Monday. The agency’s announcement Monday moves Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS), a BWX Technologies subsidiary in Erwin, Tenn., into new work on the sole-source contract the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Defense board demands NNSA briefing on uranium processes, including those planned for UPF
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 […]
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Contracts & Procurement
BWXT reports better Q3 earnings; casts eye on prize at Hanford
Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the nuclear contractor attributed during a Monday earnings report to growth throughout its naval, weapons cleanup and commercial power lines. Net earnings for the 2022 third quarter were $61.6 million, or $0.67 a share, up from $60.2 million, or $0.63 a share, in […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Quarterly earnings dip at Fluor, but weapons complex work remains steady
Fluor chair and CEO David Constable is happy to see a joint venture led by his company remain as prime at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for at least four more years, and said Fluor teams will aggressively pursue two big National Nuclear Security Administration contracts. In an earnings call […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Leidos net third quarter earnings mixed; CEO expects budget passage this year
Earnings were mixed at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the third quarter, which the government defense and services company said Tuesday was affected by challenges to contract awards by business rivals. Net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $164 million or $1.17 a share, down from $208 million, or $1.43 a share, in the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
GAO turns down protest over small Y-12 technical services contract
The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday denied a protest by a women owned small business seeking to overturn a $53-million award at the Y-12 National Security Complex to Sigma Science. Vector Resources — which lists its headquarters and mailing addresses in a pop-up business space in Erie, Pa., and a strip mall in Engelwood, Fla., […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CNS, DOE deescalate contract dispute
The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the two main U.S. civilian nuclear-weapons production sites agreed in early October to end a contractual dispute before it escalated to court, according to a recently published decision. According to a notice dated Oct. 6 and published subsequently, attorneys for the Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
GAO turns down protest over small Y-12 technical services contract
The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday denied a protest by a women owned small business seeking to overturn a $53-million award at the Y-12 National Security Complex to Sigma Science. Vector Resources — which lists its headquarters and mailing addresses in a pop-up business space in Erie, Pa., and a strip mall in Engelwood, Fla., […]







