# Consolidated Nuclear Security Pantex Plant Employees

Consolidated Nuclear Security Pantex Plant Employees is a Pension Fund based in Oak Ridge, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Oak Ridge, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Oak Ridge, TN, United States
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** https://cns-llc.us
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/consolidated-nuclear-security-llc

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Consolidated Nuclear Security Pantex Plant Employees plan covers workers at the nation's primary nuclear weapons assembly facility near Amarillo, Texas, and adjacent Y-12 National Security Complex personnel in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The plan operates under the CNS umbrella — a limited liability company formed in 2013 by Bechtel National, Inc., Leidos, Inc., and other partners to manage the Pantex and Y-12 sites under a single NNSA contract. D. Scott Hernandez, CNS's CFO, serves on the Benefits and Investments Committee; Robert Keen chairs the Y-12 Employee Investment Committee. The plan's hybrid defined-benefit / cash-balance structure reflects the highly specialized, security-cleared workforce it covers — electricians, health physicists, explosive handlers, and engineers who cannot easily move between employers without extensive re-investigation. The portfolio is classified as diversified across traditional institutional allocations. Given the sponsor's role as a federal prime contractor with cost-reimbursable line items, plan funding and contribution schedules must operate within DOE contracting discipline and NNSA oversight, creating a capital stability profile distinct from corporate peers. The plan is administered in proximity to the Consolidated Nuclear Security Pension Trust in Oak Ridge. Bechtel's role as lead consortium member ties the plan to one of the largest private engineering and construction firms in the United States, though CNS operates as a fully segregated legal entity bound by NNSA's site security requirements. The plan's fiduciaries navigate the standard ERISA obligations plus an overlay of Department of Energy contractor governance, including potential conflicts clauses applicable to investments in entities that hold DOE or Department of Defense contracts. The structural differentiator is the plan's embedded national-security posture: a retirement vehicle for cleared workers at a facility that cannot be replicated, sold, or relocated, where the sponsor derives nearly all revenue from a single federal prime contract. This creates a cash-flow profile that shadows the federal appropriations cycle rather than commercial revenue patterns, making the plan's funded status unusually sensitive to continuing resolution deadlines and NNSA budget authorizations.

## Sectors

- Diversified

## People

- D. Scott Hernandez — CFO of CNS and member of the Benefits and Investments Committee
- Robert Keen — Chair of the Y-12 Employee Investment Committee

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions for the CNS Pantex Plant Employees plan?

Investment oversight falls under the Benefits and Investments Committee, which includes CNS CFO D. Scott Hernandez. Robert Keen chairs the Y-12 Employee Investment Committee — a parallel governance body reflecting the plan's coverage of both the Pantex site in Texas and the Y-12 facility in Tennessee. The exact delegation of authority between these committees, any external investment consultant, and the plan's board of trustees is not publicly documented.

### What is the relationship between the plan sponsor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, and the federal government?

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC is a Bechtel-led limited liability company that holds the prime management and operating contract for the Pantex Plant and Y-12 National Security Complex. The contract is awarded and overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy. CNS is a cost-reimbursable contractor, meaning its fees are structured around allowable costs rather than fixed-price deliverables. The employee retirement plan operates within this federal contracting framework — plan costs are allowable expenses, and funding rhythms align with the federal fiscal year and NNSA appropriation cycles.

### Is the retirement plan a single-employer plan or part of a larger multi-employer arrangement?

The plan is a single-employer plan for employees of Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, covering workers at both the Pantex site near Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It functions alongside the Consolidated Nuclear Security Pension Trust, based in Oak Ridge. The plan does not cover other NNSA site contractors; Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia employees participate in separate retirement structures.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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