Oak Ridge Today

Security breach given ‘due consideration’ in Y-12, Pantex award

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex was given “due consideration” in the competition to award a consolidated contract to a company to manage Y-12 in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, federal officials said Tuesday.

Federal officials said they evaluated past performance—both positive and negative. Although past performance was a key part of the selection analysis, it was not the determining factor, federal officials said during a Tuesday teleconference. Instead, it was one of a number of factors.

The Y-12 intrusion was given the same consideration as other incidents, federal officials said. During the intrusion, three anti-nuclear weapons activists sneaked into a high-security area at Y-12. They allegedly cut through fences and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

[Read more…]

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

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…]

Bechtel, Lockheed Martin team wins contract to manage Y-12, Pantex

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Y-12 National Security Complex

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has been selected to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, and the company will take over from B&W Y-12 on May 1.

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, a team that includes Bechtel National Inc. and Lockheed Martin Services Inc., has won a five-year contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, federal officials announced Tuesday morning.

The winning team also includes ATK Launch Systems Inc. and SOC LLC. Besides managing and operating Y-12 and Pantex, Consolidated Nuclear Security, or 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.

Including the possible tritium work, the contract has a total available fee of up to $446 million for CNS to manage the three sites for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration. CNS may also earn up to an additional $263 million as their share of savings, an NNSA announcement said, although CNS cannot share any savings related to employee benefits.

The four-month transition to CNS will begin immediately, and CNS will take over the work on May 1, the NNSA said in a Tuesday morning announcement. The contract will be administered by the NNSA Production Office, or NPO, which which was created in June and oversees nuclear production missions at Y-12 and Pantex.

[Read more…]

Bids on consolidated Y-12, Pantex contract expire today

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Note: This story was updated at 11:12 a.m.

Bids expire today on a nuclear production contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas.

On Monday, NNSA Public Affairs Director Joshua McConaha said the National Nuclear Security Administration could either announce a winner today (Tuesday) or extend the expiration date. The NNSA announced Tuesday morning that top officials, including Administrator Thomas D’Agostino, will have a 4:15 p.m. teleconference to discuss a major contract award.

McConaha said the contract bids were submitted last year, and the expiration date has been extended once already.

McConaha said he can’t confirm the total number of bids or the bidding teams.

When announced, the winner will have the first consolidated contract to manage and operate Y-12 and Pantex. The government also has the option to have the winner manage tritium operations at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.

[Read more…]

House also passes ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, but Tennessee representatives oppose it

Posted at
By 4 Comments

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved it, the U.S. House passed legislation late Tuesday night to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” but seven Tennessee Republicans and one Democrat opposed it.

The bill, which now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature, averts income tax increases for most Americans and temporarily delays large across-the-board spending cuts to defense and domestic programs.

However, the Associated Press reported most Americans will still end up paying more federal taxes in 2013 because the legislation did not renew a temporary 2 percent cut in the payroll tax. That reduction was worth about $1,000 to a worker making $50,000 a year.

U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted for the bill in the Senate, where it passed 89-8 early Tuesday morning. Alexander and Corker said the legislation, reached after weeks of negotiations between the White House and Congress, “rescues” 99 percent of Americans from a tax rate increase.

But all seven Tennessee Republicans in the U.S. House, including Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, voted against it. The vote in the House was 257-167.

[Read more…]

NNSA Administrator D’Agostino retiring in January

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Thomas P. D'Agostino

Thomas P. D’Agostino

Thomas P. D’Agostino, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, announced his retirement today.

In a statement Friday, D’Agostino said he will retire Jan. 18, the end of President Barack Obama’s first term. He has been NNSA administrator and under secretary for nuclear security for more than five years. He was also deputy administrator for defense programs for two years.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site. The NNSA is a separate agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.

D’Agostino has had 36 years of federal service, rising through the ranks of the U.S. Navy and then leading nuclear security efforts at DOE.

[Read more…]

Y-12 protesters say fence hole remains after break-in, officials say it’s repaired

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Hole in Y-12 Perimeter Fence

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance says three protesters crossed into the Y-12 National Security Complex through this hole the trio cut in a perimeter fence before dawn on July 28, and OREPA alleges that the hole had not been repaired as of Monday. (Submitted photo)

More than four months after three protesters broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex, a hole that the trio cut in a perimeter fence still hasn’t been repaired, an Oak Ridge group said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which has supported the Y-12 protesters, said two OREPA members went to the nuclear weapons plant on Monday and, after 15 minutes of walking, found the spot where the protesters had cut through an outer fence. It was open from the ground up to a spot about four feet high—a hole large enough for a person to squeeze through, the group said.

But in a statement Thursday afternoon, federal officials said the fence has been repaired.

[Read more…]

With ‘fiscal cliff’ looming, ORNL says it’s as well-prepared as it can be

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

As President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner continue their high-stakes negotiations over tax revenues and spending cuts, officials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory say they have prepared as best they can for automatic spending cuts that could go into effect in January.

“We have been preparing for increased budget pressures for several years now and have taken a number of steps to reduce our costs, including workforce restructuring, benefits changes, reduction in energy consumption, and other operational costs,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a statement Monday. “Since we don’t know exactly how any cuts would be allocated by the various governments agencies that fund ORNL, we can’t really say with certainty what the impacts would be, other than to say we are as well-prepared for uncertainty as we can be.”

[Read more…]

NNSA exceeds nuclear weapons dismantlement goal

Posted at
By 3 Comments

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced today that it exceeded its goal for dismantling nuclear weapons in the federal fiscal year that ended in September.

In a press release, the NNSA said it had reached 112 percent of its goal, although it didn’t give specific information on the number of dismantled weapons.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is one of the NNSA sites involved in the dismantlement work.

[Read more…]

Despite nuclear shutdown, Y-12 meets warhead refurbishment schedule

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Despite a two-week shutdown in August, the Y-12 National Security Complex completed its work on a nuclear warhead refurbishment program by the end of September, the end of the federal fiscal year.

Questions were raised about the production schedule after a July 28 security breach by three anti-nuclear weapons activists, and a two-week shutdown in nuclear operations that quickly followed.

But Steven Wyatt, National Nuclear Security Administration public affairs manager at Y-12, said then that the plant still expected to meet its production milestones for the year.

Ellen Boatner, spokeswoman for managing and operating contractor B&W Y-12, confirmed on Wednesday that the work had been completed on time.

[Read more…]

DOE inspector finds no evidence of cheating, but questions testimony

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Federal investigators found no evidence that WSI Oak Ridge tried to cheat on a test at the Y-12 National Security Comple this summer, but they also questioned the credibility of contractors who testified that there was no intent to cheat.

A copy of the test was found in a WSI Oak Ridge patrol vehicle on Aug. 29, one day before it was scheduled to be given to security guards. It was part of an inspection by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security that followed the July 28 security breach at Y-12.

In a special report this month, U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman said the test, as well as answers to test questions, had been distributed to many WSI Oak Ridge employees, including captains, lieutenants, and security police officers, “the very people whose knowledge was to have been evaluated.” At best, Friedman said, the transmission, review, and distribution of the test demonstrated a lack of due care and negligence.

[Read more…]

Y-12 guard transition complete

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

WSI Oak Ridge has provided security guard services at the Y-12 National Security Complex for years, but that work has come to an end, three months after an unprecedented security breach.

B&W Y-12, the company that manages and operates Y-12, announced on Monday that it had taken over the security guard force and hired 560 WSI Oak Ridge employees.

On Tuesday, WSI Oak Ridge said the transition was complete.

WSI Oak Ridge said it has provided para-military protective force services to Y-12 for more than a decade and at U.S. Department of Energy sites across the nation for more than 50 years. It continues to provide protective force services for local DOE sites at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park, and the Federal Office Building Complex.

“I appreciate the hard work and dedication demonstrated by all our employees,” WSI Oak Ridge General Manager Steve Hafner said. “I am happy that so many employees successfully transitioned to B&W Y-12 and proud to report that every WSI Oak Ridge employee has a position.”

The security force transition from WSI Oak Ridge to B&W Y-12 started Oct. 1 and lasted about a month.

B&W Y-12 announced in September that it would terminate its contract with WSI Oak Ridge. The National Nuclear Security Administration had recommended the move. B&W Y-12 manages and operates Y-12 for the NNSA.

WSI became a subcontractor to B&W Y-12 after the July 28 security breach. Before then, it had operated under a separate contract with the NNSA.

The contracting change was one of several changes made after three anti-nuclear weapons activists, including an 82-year-old nun, sneaked into Y-12 before dawn on July 28, cut through three fences with bolt cutters, and vandalized a building where bomb-grade uranium is stored.