Y-12 National Security Complex

Citing a lack of transparency on the agency’s part, a losing bidder for a major nuclear-weapon sites management contract cried foul in January when the National Nuclear Security Administration short-circuited an external review of the controversial award, according to the Government Accountability Office. According to a January decision memorandum from the office, part of the […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With transition to a follow-on contract derailed for now, the National Nuclear Security Administration planned to extend the existing site-management contract for two of its main nuclear-weapons production sites for up to a year, people familiar with the plans said this week. Incumbent Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), a team led by Bechtel […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With transition to a follow-on contract derailed for now, the National Nuclear Security Administration planned to extend the existing site-management contract for two of its main nuclear-weapons production sites for up to a year, people familiar with the plans said this week. Incumbent Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), a team led by Bechtel […]

ALEXANDRIA VA. — The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday would shed no light on the timeline for transitioning the agency’s two main weapons production sites to new management, though the transition was supposed to be halfway over by now. Meanwhile, Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel-led incumbent managing the Pantex Plant in […]

Editor’s note: this story corrects errors about the cost and schedule estimates for the Y-12 National Security Complex’s direct melt bottom-loading furnaces published in the January 29 edition of Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor [Vol. 26, No. 4], “New Uranium Reclamation Furnace at Y-12 Starting Up in 2026, Defense Board Says.”    Bottom-loading furnaces at […]

Editor’s note: this story corrects errors about the cost and schedule estimates for the Y-12 National Security Complex’s direct melt bottom-loading furnaces published in the January 25 edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “New Uranium Reclamation Furnace at Y-12 Starting Up in 2026, Defense Board Says.”    Bottom-loading furnaces at the Y-12 National Security Complex, […]

The first of multiple bottom-loading furnaces designed to reclaim uranium scraps from the manufacture of nuclear-weapon components at the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is scheduled to start up in September 2026, an independent federal nuclear watchdog said recently. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to install four direct chip melt […]

Less than a week after moving to get ahead of allegations that its award of a multi-billion-dollar sites operations contract was tainted by conflicts of interest and impropriety, the National Nuclear Security Administration had made no sudden moves to restart the year-long competition to find the next manager of its two main nuclear-weapon manufacturing plants. […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security has nearly installed all the glove boxes for a new uranium purification process at the Y-12 National Security Complex and hot commissioning should start early next year, a spokesperson said recently. Site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) put the electrorefining glove boxes and related equipment into Building 9215 last year, though installation […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security has nearly installed all the glove boxes for a new uranium purification process at the Y-12 National Security Complex and hot commissioning should start early next year, a spokesperson said recently. Site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) put the electrorefining glove boxes and related equipment into Building 9215 last year, though installation […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to address a perceived conflict of interest, raised by a Bechtel National-led team, about the agency’s November award of a potentially decade-long sites-management contract to a Fluor-led team, according to a letter from the Government Accountability Office. On Friday, at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) request, a source […]

Radiological contamination was found on four workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex in recent weeks, including one person who tracked material into a facility housing enriched and depleted uranium operations, according to a report from a federal group that monitors Department of Energy sites. The four incidents stemmed from routine operations and maintenance, according […]

Groups led by BWX Technologies and Bechtel National have protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to award management and operations of the agency’s two main nuclear-weapons production sites to the Fluor-led Nuclear Production One. The Government Accountability Office filed notices online Monday that Strategic Nuclear Operators — which web searches show shares an address in Lynchburg, Va., with […]

Groups led by BWX Technologies and Bechtel National have protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to award management and operations of the agency’s two main nuclear-weapons production sites to the Fluor-led Nuclear Production One.  The Government Accountability Office filed notices online Monday that Strategic Nuclear Operators — which web searches show shares an address […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was scheduled to brief losing bidders next week about the agency’s decision to entrust a team led by Fluor, Irving, Texas, with management of the country’s two main nuclear-weapon production sites, sources said this week. The winning team, Nuclear Production One (NPOne) — which also includes junior partner Amentum, Germantown, […]

After senior and junior partners Fluor and Amentum, the new prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main weapons production sites also includes Criterion Systems, General Atomics, and SOC, Fluor said Tuesday. Fluor, which has a 60% stake in new prime Nuclear Production One (NPOne), announced some more of the details of its winning […]

Before it even started, the Department of Energy this week cancelled a competition for a Savannah River Site management and operations contract worth billions, citing an increase of National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapons work at the site. “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is indefinitely delaying the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) for the […]

The volume of low-level radioactive waste shipped to the Nevada National Security Site from Department of Energy cleanup sites is picking up again after dipping to half of its normal level of more than 1 million cubic feet per year during the pandemic, an agency official at the site told the Nevada Site Specific Advisory […]

Crews finished building the structure of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s next-generation, secondary-stage factory in September and the compound’s electrical hub is scheduled to be completed in around January, the site prime contractor said recently. The milestone for the Main Process Building, where the most important weapons work at the Y-12 National Security Site will […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has maxed out the options on Consolidated Nuclear Security’s short-term extension to run the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security complex, keeping the short-timer incumbent on the job through March while the agency finalizes the award of a follow-on deal. With an expected four-month transition period to the next […]

Crews finished building the structure of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s next-generation, secondary-stage factory in September and the compound’s electrical hub is scheduled to be completed in around January, the site prime contractor said recently. The milestone for the Main Process Building, where the most important weapons work at the Y-12 National Security Site will […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has maxed out the options on Consolidated Nuclear Security’s short-term extension to run the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security complex, keeping the short-timer incumbent on the job through March while the agency finalizes the award of a follow-on deal. With an expected four-month transition period to the next […]

The Department of Energy said in an online notice Tuesday it is awarding the new remediation contract at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee to an Amentum-Jacobs team called United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC in a deal potentially worth $8.3 billion over a 10-year ordering period. United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), won the Oak Ridge […]

Sister Megan Rice, a peace activist whose 2012 break-in to the Y-12 National Security Complex spurred an overhaul of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s physical security apparatus, died Oct. 10 at 91, her order said. Rise was born in 1930 and joined the Society of Holy Child Jesus in 1947. After breaking into Y-12 at age […]

Sister Megan Rice, a peace activist whose 2012 break-in to the Y-12 National Security Complex spurred an overhaul of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s physical security apparatus, died Oct. 10 at 91, her order said.  Rise was born in 1930 and joined the Society of Holy Child Jesus in 1947. After breaking into Y-12 at […]

The Department of Energy should award a new long-term contract for cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee by the end of the year, agency officials said at an annual conference sponsored by the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association Wednesday. Angela Watmore, the acting deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management for […]

The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a June legal settlement between the state and the Department of Energy to prevent mislabeled radioactive waste shipments from again ending up at the Nevada National Security Site dominate the site’s just released 2020 environmental report. The settlement reached this summer calls upon DOE to increase the vetting and […]

A second draft of the Department of Energy’s Record of Decision to build a new on-site landfill for low-level radioactive waste at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now expected in mid-October, the agency said late recently. Originally slated to appear this week, publication of the updated draft has been pushed back until mid-October […]

Construction of a plant to treat mercury-laden water stemming from building demolition at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is more than a third complete, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility by a joint venture of Louisiana-based APTIM and Idaho-based North Wind is about 35% […]

Construction of a plant to treat mercury-laden water stemming from building demolition at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is more than a third complete, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility by a joint venture of Louisiana-based APTIM and Idaho-based North Wind is about 35% […]