NNSA: New Y-12, Pantex contractor expects to offer jobs to most employees

Note: This story was updated at 9:41 a.m. Jan. 9.

The company that won the contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, expects to offer jobs to more than 95 percent of the current employees, federal officials said Tuesday.

The number could be affected by voluntary retirements and other departures, National Nuclear Security Administration officials said during a Tuesday afternoon teleconference.

The company that won the five-year contract, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, is a team that includes Bechtel National Inc. and Lockheed Martin Services Inc. It also includes ATK Launch Systems Inc. and SOC LLC.

The NNSA said CNS, which begins a four-month transition immediately, will initially focus on mission support work, such as information technology, human resources, and finance.

Federal officials said they hadn’t seen the CNS plan yet, but the work force could change to become more efficient, with a greater focus on trade work.

“We hired them to run the site safely and securely, and we expect to reinvest some of the savings back into skilled labor, construction projects, and other places that will help us improve how we operate,” the NNSA said.

NNSA officials pointed out that the workforce in the nuclear security enterprise has already fallen by about 9,000 employees from 2008 to 2012, with about 85 percent of those cuts through voluntary separation.

Besides managing and operating Y-12 and Pantex, CNS will also manage construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 and could manage tritium operations at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.