Budget & Policy

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 As South Carolina considers potential legal action to fight the planned suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, officials are pushing the Obama Administration on how it plans to fulfill its surplus plutonium disposition commitment. Due to cost increases, last week the National Nuclear Security Administration announced that it […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget released last week proposes terminating $10 million in Department of Energy Office of Science funding for the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has lab officials concerned for the future of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The Lujan Neutron […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 A senior White House official this week continued to defend the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request for threat reduction and nonproliferation work, suggesting that the request was adequate to meet President Obama’s nuclear security goals. Requested funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation account dipped in FY […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 A National Nuclear Security Administration official last week outlined a host of concerns with the way NNSA and Department of Energy small business contracting is impacting industry, including in the list reverse auctions, restrictive size standards, acquisition strategies and underutilization of contract vehicles. One big concern is the consequence of […]

NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration late last week opened a procurement for facilities maintenance services at the Office of Secure Transportation and the agency’s Albuquerque Complex, issuing a draft Request for Proposals. The agency is seeking a small business to perform the work, which will take place in three […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Senate lawmakers have begun fighting back against the Obama Administration’s decision to place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility project on cold standby. In a March 6 letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, seven Senators—including both members of South Carolina’s Senate delegation and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the new head […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 The Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request includes $8.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, and plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent are beginning to win over one of the staunchest critics of nuclear funding lapses. Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 On top of the $11.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2015 President Obama is requesting for the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Administration wants another $600 million for weapons and nonproliferation spending, though the additional request received a chilly response on Capitol Hill this week. The additional funds are part of […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration may have options to meet the nation’s plutonium pit needs short of large-scale new construction, according to a new report from Congressional Research Service analyst Jonathan Medalia. Such options “have the potential to produce 80 (pits per year) and permit other plutonium activities at relatively […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Timed just before the Obama Administration released its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request this week, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) reintroduced legislation late last week that would cut $100 billion in nuclear weapons spending over the next decade. Markey first introduced the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 A National Nuclear Security Administration pilot project to strengthen physical security at radiological facilities in Mexico City and Peru is being criticized by the Government Accountability Office for not involving several key agencies that could have helped the project. In a report released this week, the GAO said the “radiological […]

NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 IN CONGRESS A House Armed Services Committee hearing with Strategic Command and Pacific Command was postponed this week because of snow in Washington, D.C. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney is likely to appear before the committee in early April, though a date has not been formally set. The Senate Armed Services […]

Increase Comes At Expense of Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/04/2014   Forced to prioritize between National Nuclear Security Administration programs in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, the Obama Administration sent a clear signal that it would support the agency’s weapons program today, drawing criticism from nonproliferation advocates. The Administration requested $8.31 […]

NNSA to Issue Partial Stop Work Order to Contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/04/2014 The Obama Administration is moving to formally shut down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, with the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request submitted to Congress today providing money to place the project into “cold-standby,” and the Administration […]

Report Describes Apparent Tensions Between Technical Director, Staff Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014   There appear to be significant tensions between the technical staff at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Board’s Office of the Technical Director, according to a report NS&D Monitor obtained this week. The report provides the full, unredacted version […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Expanding on previous comments about a “public interest” model for managing the nation’s national laboratories, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held said this week that the agency need to move toward a “more agile” governance relationship between the labs and its federal overseers. Speaking at the Energy Communities […]

Senate Could Vote on State Department Arms Control Nominee, Rose Gottemoeller, Next Week Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 An attempt to get two top Department of Energy nominees confirmed hit a roadblock this week when an anonymous hold was placed on the pair. Senate Republicans attempted to “hotline” the nominations of Frank Klotz, the Administration’s pick […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 An interim report from the Congressionally established panel examining governance options for the National Nuclear Security Administration is expected to be completed in late March when members of the panel are set to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on their initial findings, study co-chairman Norm Augustine told NS&D […]

Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Labor union officials are so far taking a wait-and-see stance toward the Department of Energy’s recently announced plans for reorganizing its health, safety and security functions, though the anticipated role going forward of DOE’s current Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer, Glenn Podonsky, is giving organized labor […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 A senior Department of Energy official late this week confirmed DOE has been examining the possible creation of a new organization that would be responsible for major line-item construction projects, but stressed that the idea was one among many under consideration to help improve how DOE manages projects. “There are […]

The Department of Energy over the weekend provided an additional $1.7 million USEC to continue work on the American Centrifuge Project under a subcontract with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, bringing total funding so far up to $13.5 million, according to a USEC financial filing. Currently USEC’s American Centrifuge project is under a new 18-month DOE-funded […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week raised issues with the safety basis with an evaporator at Hanford’s tank farms. In a March review, the DNFSB found several concerns with the safety basis 242-A Evaporator, which is used to concentrate liquid tank waste at Hanford.  “Specifically, a number of identified hazards are not properly […]

NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) announced late this week that he will not seek re-election this November. Pastor is a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, among other Congressional roles. “After 23 years in Congress serving the people of Arizona, I have decided that I will not seek […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Large fees for contractors managing the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons laboratories may be a thing of the past, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held said this week at the Sixth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. In response to questions at the sixth annual summit, Held called the “creeping privatization” of […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The Department of Energy is dissolving its Office of Health, Safety and Security in a new reorganization officially announced this week that DOE says is intended to better enhance its safety and security functions. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing first reported, the reorganization will entail the creation of a new […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 While Congress approved a reprogramming request to move $59.2 million to construction activities at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility late last year, those funds have yet to reach the project, NS&D Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration originally submitted the reprogramming request to Congress in early August […]

NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 IN CONGRESS The nation’s nuclear forces will be the subject of a pair of Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in several weeks. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will appear before the full committee at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 27 alongside Cyber Command chief Gen. Keith Alexander, while the panel’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]

Here’s a look at the events we will be keeping an eye on this week: Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, the commander of U.S. Global Strike Command, will speak at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Air Force Association Boardroom at 1501 Lee Highway in Arlington, Va. The speech is part of the Peter Huessy Congressional Breakfast […]

Raising questions about how much the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management supports National Nuclear Security Administration missions, the House Appropriations Committee last week directed $21.3 million in funding for nonproliferation work in Russia to go toward spent foreign fuel work at the Savannah River Site and the Idaho National Laboratory. In the report […]

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the former chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee and an advocate of National Nuclear Security Administration reform efforts, announced late last week that he will seek to become chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The current chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), has reached his six-year […]