Knox News: Nuke news reveals that most workers charged with protecting the nuke arsenal are off the job during the shutdown

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Workers tasked with safeguarding nuclear stockpile are off the job amid shutdown

Mariah Franklin

Knoxville News Sentinel

Most federal workers staffing the agency tasked with protecting the United States’ nuclear arsenal were off the job as the government’s 22nd shutdown crept closer to a fourth week. 

Once the government reopens, 1,400 of the 1,800 employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration will go back to work.

These employees were told to stop working earlier this month, and the furloughs hit the NNSA’s Y-12 Field Office in Oak Ridge, where 70 of 78 federal employees are waiting for the government to reopen. 

None of the contractors who support NNSA’s missions – which include managing the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and storing bomb-grade uranium – are out of a job at this point. Work is continuing, an NNSA spokesperson told Knox News, but Energy Secretary Chris Wright has warned layoffs could come if Congress can’t seal a deal on funding. 

 

Wright told USA TODAY that contractors – who make up most of the nuclear weapons complex workforce in Oak Ridge and around the U.S. – could be subject to layoffs as the shutdown continues.

What does the National Nuclear Security Administration do?

The NNSA manages the United States’ nuclear weapons complex. Among other responsibilities, it handles the nuclear stockpile’s modernization and the research needed to make nuclear weapons.

It also oversees nuclear security throughout the U.S. and assists other countries with their own. Its scientists monitor radiation levels at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, and its staffers work on nuclear counterterrorism across the globe. 

 

The NNSA owns Oak Ridge’s Y-12 National Security Complex, which makes nuclear weapons components, and it runs what's now a mostly unstaffed field office in Oak Ridge.

It’s been a long 2025 for some at that office and at the energy department reservation. Several Y-12 employees were fired after President Donald Trump's second administration kicked off a DOGE effort earlier this year. Days later, the government reversed itself and tried to rehire those workers amid outrage from lawmakers with questions about the state of American nuclear security. 

Struggles with hiring and retention at the agency have concerned federal officials for years.

What does the shutdown mean for Oak Ridge and national security?

Oak Ridge’s congressional representative told Knox News the temporary cuts to staffing won’t mean immediate damage to national security. 

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican from Ooltewah and an appropriator focused on nuclear energy issues during his time as a legislator, opposed the shutdown. He voted, along with his party, for a short-term funding agreement that would keep the government running. 

Though the furloughs won’t immediately undermine security, Fleischmann told Knox News by phone – and contractors remain on the job – the loss of work causes pain for constituents living in a district stretching from Chattanooga’s metro area to Knoxville’s.

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“The nation is in no immediate danger,” he said. 

But the shutdown could have other consequences, he said, and those could be clearer down the line. The NNSA’s work likely will face delays, he said. 

“The danger is that key projects we are working on – weapons systems to keep our nuclear arsenal up and strong – are not being attended to,” he said. 

Fleischmann’s staff is not being paid during the shutdown, and he isn’t taking pay while the government is partially shuttered. 

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Mariah Franklin reports on technology and energy for Knox News. Email: mariah....@knoxnews.com. Signal: mariahfranklin.01