The new-jobs breakdown at Y-12, Pantex
As noted in an earlier post, Consolidated Nuclear Security has hired more than 650 new workers in Fiscal Year 2016 — more than halfway to the goal of 1,150 new hires at the two plants managed by CNS,...
View ArticleA uranium back-up
Air ducts associated with a Holden Gas Furnace at Y-12 last month reportedly had a build-up of uranium particles that exceeded nuclear safety limits, prompting a temporary pause in operations...
View ArticleDOE report cites criticality alarm issues at Y-12
A newly released Department of Energy assessment of the criticality accident alarm system at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant said the operation is “adequately” maintained, but the review team identified...
View ArticleY-12/Pantex contractor hires more than 650
Consolidated Nuclear Security, the government’s managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, confirmed that it has hired more than 650 employees since the start of Fiscal Year...
View ArticleStill no decision on bringing tritium to CNS contract
The National Nuclear Security Administration today confirmed it has not yet made a decision on whether to exercise an option to incorporate the tritium activities at the Savannah River Site into the...
View ArticleRecalling the joys of reporting
If there was one place, just one, to sit and reflect on the past 35 years, I guess I’d have to choose a seat in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Central Auditorium. Somewhere on the right side, maybe...
View ArticleY-12’s leak city
Overview of the aged Building 9212 at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. (Y-12 photo) In a newly released activity report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board, it was noted that a Y-12...
View ArticleLawler-Wood to develop new complex at Pantex
Conceptual design of planned Administrative Support Complex at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant in Texas. Construction is expected to begin in August. Lawler-Wood LLC of Knoxville will develop a new...
View ArticleSaddleworn reporter heading out of Dodge
As I finished up a recent Chinese dinner of chicken with black bean sauce, I cracked open my fortune cookie and glanced at the message inside. “All things have an end,” it said, fittingly enough as I...
View ArticleOrlando shooter had no Y-12 connect
As noted previously, the Orlando nightclub shooter had worked for security contractor G4S since 2007, and the contractor, previously known as Wackenhut, provided security services at the Y-12 nuclear...
View ArticleOrlando shooter worked for G4S
The Orlando nightclub shooter worked for G4S, one of the world’s largest security companies, according to multiple news reports. WPBF, a TV station in Palm Beach County, Fla., where the company is...
View ArticleMercury cleanup at Y-12 could cost $3B
A sample of soil from Y-12 shows the presence of elemental mercury, a legacy of the plant’s Cold War work on thermonuclear weapons. The cleanup of mercury contamination at the Y-12 nuclear weapons...
View ArticleA look at Y-12’s uranium storehouse
Y-12 photo The Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility is a massive structure on the west side of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, and it may very well house the world’s largest inventory of...
View ArticleRevamping facilities is key to Y-12’s uranium future
The Beta-2E facility is located in the foreground of this view of the main production complex at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Building 9215 is to the left of Beta-2E. The government’s revised...
View ArticleHEU from Japan arrives at Y-12
The National Nuclear Security Administration today announced that highly enriched uranium from Japan’s Fast Critical Assembly reactor has arrived at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, where...
View ArticleEmergency drill at Y-12 on Wednesday
An emergency management exercise will be held Wednesday (June 8) at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, and the public is alerted that some off-site activities — such as environmental sampling...
View ArticleKlotz to visit Y-12 later this week
NNSA Administrator Frank G. Klotz will reportedly pay a visit to the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant later this week, arriving Thursday in time for an all-hands meeting and then engaging in unspecified...
View ArticleDangling warhead part
Working with nuclear weapons is a very precise business, but there are times when things don’t go exactly as planned. That seemed to be the case in an incident at the Beta-2E assembly/disassembly...
View ArticleState posts fish advisory on Bear Creek
Decades after discharges from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant polluted local waterways, the state has decided to post a do-not-eat-the-fish advisory on Bear Creek because of increasing public access to...
View ArticleY-12 inventors
It’s not always easy to commercialize technologies out of a nuclear weapons plant, but Y-12 gives it a good effort. As part of that effort, Y-12 recently hosted its annual Technology Transfer Awards...
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