Stockpile Stewardship

Early delivery of equipment for a Savannah River Site (SRS) training facility is helping accelerate preparations for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plutonium pit production mission, the agency said in a press release. NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Scott Pappano visited SRS in September to review construction of the High-Fidelity Training and Operations Center (HFTOC), […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence currently has a vacancy available for its director position, according to a job posting on usajobs.gov. “I can personally attest that this is a uniquely important, demanding, and satisfying position, serving as both the senior intelligence officer/advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Energy and […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has promoted Greg Ennis to senior vice president and chief financial officer of its Mission Technologies division, the company announced Oct. 2. Ennis will lead Mission Technologies’ financial organization and oversee accounting, financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, rates and budgets, and program cost control across the division, HII said. Ennis […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has completed all W80-4 nuclear warhead components planned for fiscal year 2026 months ahead of schedule, giving the agency additional schedule margin as it works toward delivering the first complete warhead in September 2027. The milestone was reached at the Kansas City National Security Campus, where production teams completed the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Thursday its Y-12 National Security Complex has completed production and acceptance testing of the B61-13’s canned subassemblies, finishing the work roughly seven months ahead of schedule. The milestone fulfills a timeline NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams projected in an August interview with Exchange Monitor, when he said the remaining […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has entered production for the Lynx supercomputing cluster, a new high-performance computing system designed to support nuclear weapons simulations and other key national security workloads. The system is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Commodity Technology Systems-2 program, an effort to provide advanced computing resources across the […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has entered production for the Lynx supercomputing cluster, a new high-performance computing system designed to support nuclear weapons simulations and other key national security workloads. The system is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Commodity Technology Systems-2 program, an effort to provide advanced computing resources across the […]

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday the United States need not resume explosive nuclear testing, though he and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams acknowledged the president could choose to do so for reasons beyond technical necessity. Both officials’ answers were prompted by sharp questioning from Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) during […]

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday the United States need not resume explosive nuclear testing, though he and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams acknowledged the president could choose to do so for reasons beyond technical necessity. Both officials’ answers were prompted by sharp questioning from Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) during […]

A group of environmentalists, fresh off touring the Savannah River Site as part of an environmental review, told a press briefing that “the most expensive building ever in U.S. history” is the path to an arms race. The environmental review is a result of a court case settlement between these environmental groups and the federal […]

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, said she has “faith” the models used at the national labs are good, but it’s “always good to be ready” to test weapons regardless. “I think we should listen to the scientists,” Fischer said in a panel with the Center for Strategic […]

Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) April 15 pressed Energy Secretary Chris Wright over funding instability affecting key projects at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), warning that continued uncertainty could delay work central to the nation’s nuclear stockpile stewardship mission. Lee, speaking at the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee’s hearing on the White House’s Department […]

Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) April 15 pressed Energy Secretary Chris Wright over funding instability affecting key projects at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), warning that continued uncertainty could delay work central to the nation’s nuclear stockpile stewardship mission. Lee, speaking at the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee’s hearing on the White House’s Department […]

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, said she has “faith” the models used at the national labs are good, but it’s “always good to be ready” to test weapons regardless. “I think we should listen to the scientists,” Fischer said in a panel with the Center for Strategic […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) biggest budget request yet for fiscal 2027 would include $27.4 billion for weapons activities, according to the Department of Energy’s budget justification document released over the weekend. That would be an increase of $7 billion, or 35%, from the fiscal 2026 enacted levels of $20.4 billion, which included the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s biggest budget request yet for fiscal 2027 would include $27.4 billion for weapons activities, according to the Department of Energy’s budget justification document released over the weekend. That would be an increase of $7 billion, or 35%, from the fiscal 2026 enacted levels of $20.4 billion, which included the One […]

Thomas Dinanno, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said he has “not been in any discussions” where U.S. testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere has been under consideration. “We’re still assessing,” Dinanno said in testimony Tuesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’ve made no decision specifically on how or what […]

Thomas Dinanno, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said he has “not been in any discussions” where U.S. testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere has been under consideration. “We’re still assessing,” Dinanno said in testimony Tuesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’ve made no decision specifically on how or what […]

The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) completed a record of 13 tritium extractions between fiscal 2025 and 2026, the agency said Jan. 23. This extraction amount was completed in nine months, the agency’s press release said. The previous record was eight extractions in 12 months between fiscal 2022 and 2023. “This […]

The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) completed a record of 13 tritium extractions between fiscal 2025 and 2026, the agency said Jan. 23. This extraction amount was completed in nine months, the agency’s press release said. The previous record was eight extractions in 12 months between fiscal 2022 and 2023. “This […]

The husband-and-wife team at the helm of Longenecker & Associates (L&A) have pledged to donate $500,000 over time to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas. Longenecker & Associates said in a Dec. 9 press release that L&A CEO John Longenecker and Founder/Board Chair Bonnie Longenecker have made an immediate grant of $250,000 to […]

Nuclear tech company Oklo has been conducting a multi-day plutonium experiment with DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory this week to validate plutonium as fuel for future fast reactor development and deployment. A press release by Oklo said the company used plutonium materials already in LANL’s inventory to carry out a series of low-power experiments at […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently conducted an experiment on weapons-grade plutonium to assess how resilient a nuclear weapon will prove when it comes up against an adversary’s missile defenses.  The experiment was conducted at the lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), where fusion ignition, or the output of more energy than was input, was first achieved […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently conducted an experiment on weapons-grade plutonium to assess how resilient a nuclear weapon will prove when it comes up against an adversary’s missile defenses.  The experiment was conducted at the lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), where fusion ignition, or the output of more energy than was input, was first achieved […]

The Department of Energy told the Exchange Monitor Monday that, despite media outlets saying otherwise, President Donald Trump will not be meeting in the Oval Office with high-level nuclear weapons complex officials. News outlets such as CNN reported Friday that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams, and officials […]

The Department of Energy told the Exchange Monitor Monday that, despite media outlets saying otherwise, President Donald Trump will not be meeting in the Oval Office with high-level nuclear weapons complex officials. News outlets such as CNN reported Friday that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) head Brandon Williams, and officials […]

Laura McGill, director of Sandia National Laboratories, announced Thursday she was “absolutely confident” in the nation’s nuclear stockpile and had completed the lab’s annual certification of the stockpile. The stockpile assessment letter, which is addressed to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and will then go to Congress and the President, was finalized Sept. 22, the […]

Ernest Moniz, former energy secretary and head of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour returning to explosive nuclear testing would have a “quite terrible” impact “on multiple dimensions.” When asked about President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would return to nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with other countries, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Sandia National Laboratories announced Thursday it conducted a flight test of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on an F-35 aircraft in August. The flight tests took place at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, with aircraft generation from Hill Air Force Base in Utah, a press release from Sandia said. […]

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would test nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other countries, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright clarified this did not mean explosive tests. “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Wright said in the interview last week on […]