Non-Proliferation

President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree halting his nation’s participation in a bilateral agreement with the United States through which each country would dispose of 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium, a move the White House condemned. The Kremlin cited hostile U.S. actions and failure to dispose of its own excess […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site said Friday it has begun downblending 6 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium. The milestone follows DOE’s announcement on April 5 that it would downblend the material and send it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal. The process of blending plutonium oxide […]

CB&I AREVA MOX Services provided “misleading” information in determining how much construction of the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will cost, and how long it will take to build the plant, according to an updated project baseline report released Sept. 23 by the Energy Department’s Office of Project Management Oversight and […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site said Friday it has begun downblending 6 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium. The milestone follows DOE’s announcement on April 5 that it would downblend the material and send it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal. The process of blending plutonium oxide with an […]

CB&I AREVA MOX Services provided “misleading” information in determining how much construction of the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will cost, and how long it will take to build the plant, according to an updated project baseline report released Sept. 23 by the Energy Department’s Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments. […]

Lawmakers this week introduced new legislation in the House and Senate that would prevent the president from conducting a first-use nuclear strike without first obtaining a declaration of war by Congress. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on Tuesday submitted the legislation, called the “Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of […]

Obama administration officials on Tuesday doubled down on their opposition to international efforts to negotiate a nuclear weapons ban through the United Nations. Anita Friedt, principal deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that pursuit of a nuclear weapons […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, alongside Poland, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repatriated 61 kilograms of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Poland, making the country the 31st plus Taiwan to become HEU-free, the Department of Energy announced Monday. The two-day operation followed 10 years of cooperation to remove over 700 kilograms of […]

Following the United Nations Security Council’s adoption on Sept. 23 of a resolution encouraging nations to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Republicans lambasted what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called a “toothless resolution” while Democrats lauded its passage as key in reaffirming global norms against nuclear testing. The nonbinding resolution, adopted in a 14-0 […]

Obama administration officials on Tuesday doubled down on their opposition to international efforts to negotiate a nuclear weapons ban through the United Nations. Anita Friedt, principal deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that pursuit of a nuclear weapons […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, alongside Poland, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repatriated 61 kilograms of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Poland, making the country the 31st plus Taiwan to become HEU-free, the Department of Energy announced Monday. The two-day operation followed 10  years of cooperation to remove over 700 kilograms of […]

CB&I AREVA MOX Services provided “misleading” information in determining how much construction of the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will cost, and how long it will take to build the plant, according to an updated project baseline report released Friday by the Energy Department’s Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments. The […]

Following adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution encouraging nations to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, some Republicans on Friday lambasted what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called a “toothless resolution” while Democrats lauded its passage as key in reaffirming global norms against nuclear testing. The U.N. Security Council adopted in […]

The state of South Carolina appears to hope a letter sent out by the Energy Department that addresses the timeline for new nuclear waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will buffer the state’s argument that the federal government should continue building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River […]

There is still no projection for the release date of a final environmental assessment (EA) on the Savannah River Site’s possible receipt of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany, according to a Sept. 20 update on Department of Energy EAs and environmental impact statements (EIS). The department projected a July 2016 earlier this year after issuing […]

In a letter Thursday to President Barack Obama, 29 Republican senators argued against enactment of a “no first use” policy for the U.S. nuclear deterrent. “While no American wishes to employ nuclear weapons in conflict, establishing a no first use policy would weaken the nation’s security and make the world less safe by crippling America’s nuclear deterrence posture—a stabilizing […]

Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force. The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of the CTBT at the United Nations in New York, where […]

The Obama administration’s $8.6 million payment to Iran for 32 metric tons of heavy water was conducted absolutely transparently, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday. The deal was reported to Congress and discussed with lawmakers, Moniz said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “There was no mystery about it, […]

The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution encouraging entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and urging nations to refrain from any nuclear explosive blasts while they wait for the global prohibition to be enacted. There was no indication that the resolution places any binding commitments on nations. Republicans in […]

The state of South Carolina appears to hope a letter sent out by the Energy Department that addresses the timeline for new nuclear waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will buffer the state’s argument that the federal government should continue building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River […]

Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force. The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth CTBT Ministerial Meeting at the United Nations in New York, where U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon […]

Republicans in the House and Senate on Tuesday filed bills that would prohibit U.S. funding in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty if the U.N. Security Council adopts any resolution imposing binding measures on the United States regarding nuclear testing. The Obama administration has said it is working with its fellow Security Council […]

The Obama administration’s $8.6 million payment to Iran for 32 metric tons of heavy water was conducted absolutely transparently, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday. The deal was reported to Congress and discussed with lawmakers, Moniz said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “There was no mystery about it, […]

The Carnegie Corporation of New York and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Thursday that they would provide potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for development of strategies for securing nuclear materials that could be used in acts of terrorism. In a statement on the request for proposals, the organizations said they are […]

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday offered strong support for a new plutonium dilution and disposal method in place of the mixed oxide fuel program that the Obama administration is pushing to cancel, calling the latter an essentially “impossible” effort. The controversy over the MOX program will be one of the next administration’s primary challenges […]

This month, the Energy Department will begin preparing some 6 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. Downblending will begin once DOE completes an assessment of a recently completed two-month long cold run of the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) […]

This month, the Energy Department will begin preparing some 6 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Downblending will begin once the quasi-independent DOE agency completes an assessment of a recently completed two-month long […]

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday offered strong support for a new plutonium dilution and disposal method in place of the mixed oxide fuel program that the Obama administration is pushing to cancel, calling the latter an essentially “impossible” effort. The controversy over the MOX program will be one of the next administration’s primary challenges […]

U.S. State Department officials gave their assurances Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council resolution the administration is preparing to strengthen the global moratoria on nuclear explosive testing will be legally nonbinding and is not an attempt to bypass the U.S. Senate, as congressional Republicans have argued. Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control […]

The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council met this week in Washington, D.C., to review progress in the nuclear nonproliferation regime, express their vision for global disarmament, and renew the push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The P5 – the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, and Russia – […]