Amid some intra-agency controversy about the site’s contractual future, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Jill Hruby visited the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., this week, the agency tweeted.
Frank Rose, the deputy administrator, and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) were along for the visit.
President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, were scheduled to meet virtually on Monday and, Politico reported, were expected to announce a bilateral dialog about nuclear weapons.
Some arms-control-minded lawmakers last week urged Biden to put nukes front and center in talks with China. At the same time, the Pentagon last week sounded the alarm that China might have 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
There’s plenty of Department of Energy participation on the slate for the hybrid 2021 SC supercomputing conference scheduled for next week in St. Louis. The show begins Sunday and was set to run through noon, local time, on Friday, Nov. 19.
At deadline, the conference’s organization index included a number of DOE labs among its list of participants and contributors. Those attending in person must present proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Bill Condon became the lead for Amentum’s Nuclear & Environment Business, replacing the recently promoted Jim Blankenhorn, and will quarterback the company’s pursuit of Department of Energy defense-nuclear site contracts, the closely held Germantown, Md., group announced.
A longtime URS man who remained with the company through the AECOM years, Condon has more than 30 years experience in nuclear cleanup and operations, including at the Hanford site in Washington state and at Sellafield in the United Kingdom, according to a company press release last week.
Amentum recently made Blankenhorn the head of the company’ s Technical Services business, which involves engineering, design and operation of environmental projects for domestic and international governmental customers.
The Canadian Nuclear safety Commission recently approved a license amendment that will let Laurentis Energy Partners and BWXT Medical Ltd. produce the medical isotope Molybdenum-99 in Ontario, Laurentis said in a press release this week.
Laurentis will oversee production at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, owned and operated by the company’s parent, Ontario Power Generation, the company said.
Instrumentation provider U.S. Nuclear Corp., Los Angeles, said it joined the RadResponder network: a wireless network built by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) and the NNSA to share radiological data.
U.S. Nuclear Corp., recently demonstrated its ability to send data gathered by drones into the network, according to a company press release this week.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Kim Budil celebrated her birthday this week. The lab posted birthday wishes on Twitter.
In 2020, Dan Brouillette, then-President Donald Trump’s second energy secretary, allegedly violated the Hatch Act — the law that prevents public servants from campaigning for or supporting candidates for office, the office of special counsel said in a report this week.
Brouillette and 12 other Trump administration officials were implicated.
According to the report, Brouillette made statements opposing then-candidate Joe Biden’s platform during an official appearance on Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade Show in October 2020.
A former public servant found guilty of Hatch Act violations could be barred from serving in a public capacity for five years or fined up to $1,000.
Brouillette was appointed energy secretary in 2019, replacing former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who oversaw the Trump administration’s ill-fated attempt to restart the mothballed Yucca Mountain repository in Nye County, Nev.
