Non-Proliferation

Russia is considering withdrawing from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified by the United Nations in 1996, Reuters, ABC News and other outlets report.  Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s State Duma, made the announcement on Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier had warned that Moscow could rescind its ratification […]

If another nuclear arms control treaty replaces the New START treaty that expires in 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration will need new technologies to keep track of Russia’s large and widely dispersed nuclear arsenal, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.  The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has started investing in […]

If another nuclear arms control treaty replaces the New START treaty that expires in 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration will need new technologies to keep track of Russia’s large and widely dispersed nuclear arsenal, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.  The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has started investing in […]

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Monday announced plans to create a commercial nuclear fusion facility within 10 years, The Associated Press reports.  The Biden administration sees fusion as a carbon-free energy source for powering homes and businesses. The Lawrence Livermore National Lab scientist in charge of nuclear weapon design and physics, whose team frequently uses […]

The U.S.-Japan Nuclear Security Working Group convened for its 12th meeting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee earlier this month for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear non-proliferation issues. Corey Hinderstein, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, and Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, deputy director general of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign […]

The U.S. and Philippine governments are in the home stretch of signing a 123 agreement to boost cooperation on both civil energy projects and nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Quoting Philippine Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the Manila Bulletin — that nation’s largest English language newspaper — said the two countries are on the brink of signing the […]

The U.S. and Philippine governments are in the home stretch of signing a 123 agreement to boost cooperation on both civil energy projects and nuclear non-proliferation efforts.  Quoting Philippine Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the Manila Bulletin — that nation’s largest English language newspaper — said the two countries are on the brink of signing the […]

The U.S.-Japan Nuclear Security Working Group convened for its 12th meeting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee earlier this month for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear non-proliferation issues.  Corey Hinderstein, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, and Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, deputy director general of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign […]

Sen. Roger Wicker, (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers, (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, on Friday sent a letter to Strategic Command (STRATCOM), “demanding a full accounting of why an Iranian propagandist and former regime official participated as a keynote speaker in a STRATCOM-sponsored event.” […]

Frank Rose, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator, recently spent a week in East Asia where he visited counterparts in Japan and South Korea. The trip, from July 18 to July 24 “aimed to strengthen bilateral ties, regional nuclear security, and enable discussions of how best to address challenges in the evolving geopolitical […]

In a statement Monday from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, the U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. “For more than fifty years, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has endured as the foundation of a system built on nuclear restraint,” Miller said. “The challenges we […]

After doling out $62 million in fiscal year 2022 for establishing a domestic supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99, the Department of Energy has zeroed out funding for cooperative agreements with companies that can do the work without using highly enriched uranium. At least $62 million was payed out through the program in fiscal year […]

The Department of Energy wants to sign cooperative agreements with companies that can help establish a domestic supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium. U.S. companies with mature technologies to achieve commercial-scale production of molybdenum-99 in U.S. facilities can apply, according to a notice DOE posted to the federal government’s procurement […]

Wagner Group mercenaries entered a Russian nuclear base where they hoped to steal backpack-sized nuclear weapons to use as bargaining chips during their short-lived mutiny last month, Ukraine’s chief spymaster Kyrylo Budanov told Reuters in a recent interview. U.S. and other Western officials insist that Wagner mercenaries were never within reach of Russian nuclear weapons […]

National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby and nonproliferation lead Corey Hinderstein visited Georgia in June, a nation the agency says is on the frontlines of nuclear-materials smuggling.  The NNSA has “extensive ties” to Georgia, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and has worked in the country for more than 20 years on […]

National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby and nonproliferation lead Corey Hinderstein visited Georgia in June, a nation the agency says is on the frontlines of nuclear-materials smuggling.  The NNSA has “extensive ties” to Georgia, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and has worked in the country for more than 20 years on […]

Personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the State Department met recently with counterparts from the five Nuclear Weapons States to discuss strategic risk reduction and stemming the spread of nuclear weapons.  Chaired by the U.S. delegation of the Nuclear Weapons States, officials met with counterparts from China, France, Russia and the U.K. in […]

The United States has stopped sharing with Russia certain information required under the New START nuclear arms treaty, implementing so-called “countermeasures” to Moscow’s suspension of its participation in the bilateral agreement, according to the State Department. Four specific measures, all of which are reversible, are now in effect to mirror Russia’s refusal to abide by […]

Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, the site of the first of the only two nuclear weapons deployed in wartime, leaders of the Group of Seven nations reaffirmed a commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  Along with the city of Nagasaki, Hiroshima “offers a reminder of the unprecedented devastation and immense human suffering the people […]

Some programs to ferret out potential insider threats at the Department of Energy are still not in place eight years after they were established, the Government Accountability Office reported Thursday. DOE established its Insider Threats Program in 2014 but has “not implemented all required measures” for the program, like ensuring employees are trained to identify […]

Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, the site of the first of the only two nuclear weapons deployed in wartime, leaders of the Group of Seven nations reaffirmed a commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  Along with the city of Nagasaki, Hiroshima “offers a reminder of the unprecedented devastation and immense human suffering the people […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, in cooperation with U.S. partner nations, plans to establish an integrated global system to detect smuggled nuclear material before it can be used in acts of terrorism.  The NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) announced deployment of a Counter Nuclear Smuggling System on the federal government’s contracting […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, in cooperation with U.S. partner nations, plans to establish an integrated global system to detect smuggled nuclear material before it can be used in acts of terrorism.  The NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) announced deployment of a Counter Nuclear Smuggling System on the federal government’s contracting […]

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) have reintroduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act to prohibit the U.S. President from launching a nuclear strike without prior authorization from Congress.  The legislation, filed Friday, would also institute safeguards to prevent the […]

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) have reintroduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act to prohibit the U.S. President from launching a nuclear strike without prior authorization from Congress.  The legislation, filed Friday, would also institute safeguards to prevent the […]

Some parallel efforts by the National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Department to secure nuclear materials around the globe may be redundant if their individual mission goals are not more clearly defined, the Government Accountability Office found in a new report.  The GAO looked into 23 separate NNSA and DoD programs and found that “some […]

Some parallel efforts by the National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Department to secure nuclear materials around the globe may be redundant if their individual mission goals are not more clearly defined, the Government Accountability Office found in a new report.  The GAO looked into 23 separate NNSA and DoD programs and found that “some […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments enforcement office is launching an investigation into the amputation of a worker’s finger at the Savannah River Site on Dec. 1, according to a letter sent to site President and CEO Stuart MacVean.  Dated March 23 but posted online on Tuesday, the letter says DoE will investigate […]

Belgium can use low-enriched uranium to produce a valuable medical isotope instead of the highly-enriched uranium it used to import from the United States for that purpose, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday. Converting Belgium’s National Institute of Radioelements medical isotope production to low-enriched uranium was marked as a major nuclear non-proliferations milestone. More […]

Belgium can use low-enriched uranium to produce a valuable medical isotope instead of the highly-enriched uranium it used to import from the United States for that purpose, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday. Converting Belgium’s National Institute of Radioelements medical isotope production to low-enriched uranium was marked as a major nuclear non-proliferations milestone. More […]