Non-Proliferation

Australian leaders are concerned about the nuclear waste the country’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet, which the country will buy and then build under the AUKUS deal with the U.S. and U.K.  AUKUS also poses complicated questions of compliance for Australia, which is treaty-bound to neither produce or possess nuclear weapons or materials that could be used […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s longest-serving associate administrator Jeffrey Johnson, the chief of nuclear security, announced his retirement on Monday.  Johnson served eight years at NNSA following a 20-year career in uniform and seven years as a civilian employee with the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a statement from the NNSA. The NNSA did not […]

Any deployment by North Korea of a nuclear weapon would mean the fall of the Kim regime, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said this week.  The reclusive nation fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday and later announced it has the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on the launcher.  […]

A State Department spokesperson confirmed this week that Russia officially suspended its participation in the world’s biggest bilateral nuclear-weapons treaty. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also mentioned the treaty to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New Delhi, India, during what the spokesperson called a “rather brief encounter” between the two at the Quad Foreign […]

President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a classified memo establishing new rules for the permanent disposal of weapon-usable nuclear material and the handling of weaponizable radioactive substances, the White House announced. National Security Memorandum 19 “establishes the first comprehensive policy for securing radioactive materials, which present continuing domestic and global risk, along with new domestic […]

Russia’s suspension last week of the world’s biggest bilateral nuclear-weapons treaty is not official yet and Moscow was still talking to the State Department about the treaty as of Monday, a senior agency official said. “The suspension hasn’t been officially effected yet, in the sense that we’re still receiving notifications as recently as today under […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said this week Russia will “suspend” its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty but adhere to the treaty’s limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons. Media widely reported Putin’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Putin announced the suspension during a Tuesday address to Russian lawmakers in […]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said Tuesday Russia will “suspend” its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty but adhere to the treaty’s limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons. Media widely reported Putin’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Putin announced the suspension during an address to Russian lawmakers in Moscow. According […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday published a draft solicitation for an indefinite-award, indefinite-quantity Counter Nuclear Smuggling System Deployment contract with an order ceiling of $800 million. “Contractors will be responsible for providing design, integration, construction, communications, logistics, training, and equipment procurement to support the deployment of counter nuclear smuggling systems,” the semiautonomous Department […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday published a draft solicitation for an indefinite-award, indefinite-quantity Counter Nuclear Smuggling System Deployment contract with an order ceiling of $800 million. “Contractors will be responsible for providing design, integration, construction, communications, logistics, training, and equipment procurement to support the deployment of counter nuclear smuggling systems,” the semiautonomous Department […]

In a little less than a month, the Department of Energy will start doling out fines for the unauthorized sharing of nuclear technology and know-how overseas, the agency said last week. On Thursday, the agency published its final rule in the Federal Register for implementing those penalties. They will go into effect Feb. 13, DOE said. The […]

In a little less than a month, the Department of Energy will start doling out fines for the unauthorized sharing of nuclear technology and know-how overseas, the agency said last week. On Thursday, the agency published its final rule in the Federal Register for implementing those penalties. They will go into effect Feb. 13, DOE said. The […]

A woman who aided her husband’s attempt to sell nuclear-submarine secrets cannot appeal her conviction because she traded her right to appeal for a lighter sentence, the federal government said in court papers this week. While Diana Toebbe’s motive for appealing November’s verdict was not known as of Thursday — she had not yet filed […]

In a little less than a month, the Department of Energy will start doling out fines for the unauthorized sharing of nuclear technology and know-how overseas, the agency said last week. On Thursday, the agency published its final rule in the Federal Register for implementing those penalties. They will go into effect Feb. 13, DOE […]

Local childcare providers near the Los Alamos National Laboratory are complaining that lab management is undercutting their business with a planned offsite daycare center for lab employees, according to an anonymous note circulated by the city chamber of commerce to local media including the local Los Alamos Reporter. The lab “made no effort to work […]

Russia said this week that it would not accede to U.S. requests to restore access to nuclear-weapon and related sites subject to inspection under the bilateral New START nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry blamed logistical difficulties stemming from U.S. sanctions against Russia, which Washington levied […]

In keeping with a directive by Congress, a National Academies panel holds a fact-finding session next week on nuclear threats and weapons of mass destruction terrorism. The Nuclear Studies and Radiation Board (NRSB) of the National Academies plans a hybrid meeting for information-sharing between 12:45pm – 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday Aug. 15. The […]

Japan and the United States have removed all highly enriched uranium from a research reactor at Kyoto University and shipped the material to the U.S, according to a press release from the National Nuclear Security Administration.  Transfer of the material began three years ago and ended with all 45 kilograms of the fissile isotope to […]

The main nuclear-armed states and the nearly 200 states that have pledged not to acquire nuclear weapons were set to meet at U.N. headquarters in New York today for the 10th review conference of the world’s main non-proliferation treaty. The 10th review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was set […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s airborne, radiation-sniffing Nuclear Emergency Support Team was to wrap up four days of background sampling over Los Angeles on Saturday ahead of the ninth annual Summit of the Americas, the agency said. Ahead of the scheduled meeting June 6 of government, industry and community representatives from each American continent, a […]

A senior U.S. arms control negotiator on Thursday would not endorse limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal to the 1,550 strategic warheads prescribed by the New START treaty with Russia if the treaty expires in 2026 without a new accord in place.  “I don’t think we should sort of right now figure out what is the […]

The Arms Control Association’s annual meeting was scheduled to begin in Washington Thursday morning, with addresses from U.S. and U.N. officials planned throughout the proceedings, the disarmament-advocating group said. The Washington-based non-government group was scheduled to hold the meeting at the National Press Club in Washington, a few blocks from the White House, beginning at […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s airborne, radiation-sniffing Nuclear Emergency Support Team was to begin the first of four days of background sampling over Los Angeles on Wednesday ahead of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, the agency said. Ahead of the meeting of government, industry and community representatives from each American continent, a low-flying National […]

Some nonproliferation news came out of President Joe Biden’s first trip to Asia this week, when Biden and  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the Savannah River Site and Y-12 National Security complex had taken delivery of a combined 30 kilograms of uranium from three Japanese facilities. The shipment, completed in March, was part of […]

Some nonproliferation news came out of President Joe Biden’s first trip to Asia today, when Biden and the Japanese prime minister announced the Savannah River Site and Y-12 National Security complex had taken delivery of a combined 30 kilograms of uranium from three Japanese facilities. The shipment, completed in March, was part of a four-year […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was set Monday to kick off a major exercise in Austin, Texas, to train a long list of local, regional and state agencies about the proper response to a radiological incident. The Cobalt Magnet 22 exercise will be the such exercise held in three years, a spokesperson for the National […]

With an eye toward exposing national security blindspots in nations considering nuclear power, the National Nuclear Security Administration is talking to people in Turkey, Africa and southeast Asia, an agency official told a National Academies panel this week. “There are some countries in Africa, Turkey is one of the countries that’s currently looking at developing […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February invasion of Ukraine led to the takeover of both active nuclear power plants and the shuttered Chernobyl plant, adding an unsettling radiological dimension to the war, the head of a Ukrainian research laboratory said Tuesday in a virtual presentation to a National Academies of Science panel. While Russian troops have […]

With an eye toward exposing national security blindspots in nations considering nuclear power, the National Nuclear Security Administration is talking to people in Turkey, Africa and southeast Asia, an agency official told a National Academies panel Tuesday. “There are some countries in Africa, Turkey is one of the countries that’s currently looking at developing a […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February invasion of Ukraine led to the takeover of both active nuclear power plants and the shuttered Chernobyl plant, adding an unsettling radiological dimension to the war, the head of a Ukrainian research laboratory said Tuesday in a virtual presentation to a National Academies of Science panel. While Russian troops have […]