A joint venture between Navarro Research & Engineering and Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) has been awarded a subcontract for waste management at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The contract, awarded by Y-12’s Bechtel-led prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) could be worth up to $160 million spread over eight years if all extensions are exercised, according to a press release from Navarro-LATA. Navarro-LATA, LLC began its contract transition at Y-12 on July 30 and should fully assume responsibility for Y-12 waste management and treatment on Oct. 1, according to the press release.
Navarro, based in Oak Ridge, and LATA, based in Albuquerque, N.M., are both women-owned small businesses that together have about 80 years of experience providing services to the Department of Energy’s nuclear complex, according to the release.
Department of Energy management at the Hanford Site is reportedly asking the City of Richland, Wash., to annex more than 740 acres of land at the federal nuclear installation.
The Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Sunday that DOE is asking Richland to annex multiple parcels of land along the city’s northern border.
If ultimately approved by the city, the annexation would make Richland at least partly responsible for emergency services around Hanford’s Hammer Training Center and the highly-contaminated 324 Building, according to the article. The city already provides utility services to the area in question, the newspaper reported.
A nuclear watchdog group in New Mexico has filed suit against the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) seeking to force disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of a study concerning costs of plutonium pit production.
The complaint was filed July 23 by Nuclear Watch New Mexico in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Nuke Watch New Mexico said in a Tuesday press release it is seeking disclosure of the “Special Study of the NNSA’s Leadership and Management of the Plutonium Pit Production Mission.” The group filed a FOIA request with the federal government in December 2025.
“Having received no substantive response, in April 2026 we requested expedited processing because of an open public comment period for a Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (that we had to sue NNSA for to begin with),” according to the New Mexico group’s press release. “Having received no further response from DOE we have therefore filed this litigation in the Washington, DC federal court.”
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” as a result of a car crash on her way to church, according to a statement released by her office Sunday morning.
News reports, such as the one on Cleveland.com said the wreck resulted from a hit-and-run by a driver who fled the scene. Cleveland.com said Kaptur was in the passenger seat of a black Ford Bronco that was struck by a vehicle believed to be stolen. Toledo police are investigating. She remained hospitalized as of Wednesday, a Toledo television station reported.
The ranking 80-year-old Democrat on the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee “was a passenger in a vehicle on her way to a church service when the car she was traveling in was struck,” according to an Aug. 2 statement by Kaptur’s office staff. The statement went on to say she was “active, alert and being treated” for the injuries.
Republican Kay Granger, who represented the Texas 12th Congressional district and chaired the House Appropriations Committee, has died at age 83, according to news reports from various media outlets Monday morning.
Granger, who before retiring served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a quarter century, was the first Texas Republican woman elected to the House, CNN reported. Following a series of health problems and missed votes, Granger announced in spring 2024 that she would not be seeking re-election.
“Throughout her career, she broke barriers for women in public services,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R),” said in a statement posted on X. “She was the first woman to serve as mayor of Fort Worth,” in addition to being a trailblazing member of Congress. “She was a dear friend and will be greatly missed.”
X-Energy’s subsidiary TRISO-X acquired an additional 70 acres adjacent to its nuclear fuel campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn. this week.
X-Energy said Tuesday in a press release that this acquisition brings the total campus size to 180 acres. This purchase of land comes a few weeks after the Tennessee state government awarded X-Energy $11 million to expand its fuel fabrication facilities.
SHINE Technologies was selected by the Department of Energy for two Genesis Mission projects, the company said this week.
SHINE, a nuclear fuel recycling company, will lead a project, “AI-Guided Fuel Cycle Facility Optimization”, that will focus on using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve fuel recycling processes, according to the company’s Tuesday press release. DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory will be SHINE’s technical partner for this Phase I project.
The company was also selected as a supporting company in the Prometheus project, a Phase II Genesis Mission project that involves multiple DOE labs and industry members. The Prometheus project is a 32-partner collaboration, led by DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, that aims to use AI to cut nuclear research costs.