Non-Proliferation

INTERNATIONAL U.K. authorities underestimate the risks of attack on nuclear facilities and transports, a local government adviser concluded in a report Sunday. The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) in what it called a “carefully researched and considered analysis of the U.K. and international nuclear security,” urged government, nuclear regulators, and industry to address issues associated with information […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hosted this month at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) an on-site inspection activity for Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) inspection experts, the agency said Thursday. CTBT experts from over 30 countries visited NNSS for three days to study nuclear explosive test indicators and other field experimental operations at […]

President Barack Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan Friday, where he commemorated the over 100,000 lives lost from the U.S. atomic bombing of Japanese cities and called for nuclear stockpile reductions and the securing of nuclear weapons. Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site where on Aug. 6, 1945, […]

Negotiations remain ongoing on the highly enriched uranium (HEU) shipment from the United Kingdom to the U.S. that was announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit earlier this year, according to documents published Tuesday from the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Euratom Supply Agency […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has appointed Jay Tilden as associate administrator and Dave Bowman as deputy associate administrator for counterterrorism and counterproliferation, the agency announced Monday. Most recently Tilden served as acting associate administrator following Steve Aoki’s departure from the position late last year, the announcement said. He previously also worked as deputy […]

International cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation improved over the last year, largely due to the Iran nuclear deal, according to a May 17 report by the Council on Foreign Relations. The Council of Councils (CoC) Report Card on International Cooperation evaluates multilateral activities on global challenges by surveying its network of 26 foreign policy institutes worldwide. Its […]

The Senate confirmed Laura Holgate Thursday to be U.S. Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Vienna Office of the United Nations. President Barack Obama nominated Holgate in August, at which time National Security Advisor Susan Rice said Holgate has played a key role in strengthening the global nuclear security architecture. “Laura […]

Negotiations remain ongoing on the highly enriched uranium (HEU) shipment from the United Kingdom to the U.S. that was announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit earlier this year, according to a document published Tuesday from the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Euratom Supply […]

International cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation improved over the last year, largely due to the Iran nuclear deal, according to a May 17 report by the Council on Foreign Relations. Th Council of Councils (CoC) Report Card on International Cooperation evaluates multilateral activities on global challenges by surveying its network of 26 foreign policy institutes worldwide. Its […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has appointed Jay Tilden as associate administrator and Dave Bowman as deputy associate administrator for counterterrorism and counterproliferation, the agency announced Monday. Most recently Tilden served as acting associate administrator following Steve Aoki’s departure from the position late last year, the announcement said. He previously also worked as deputy […]

The Department of Energy will proceed with plans to purchase Iranian heavy water, despite lingering sentiment in some quarters of Capitol Hill that it should not do so, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz assured an audience of journalists and Beltway insiders Wednesday morning. It was a course of action that — despite sometimes strenuous objection in […]

The Department of Energy will proceed with plans to purchase Iranian heavy water, despite lingering sentiment in some quarters of Capitol Hill that it should not do so, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz assured an audience of journalists and Beltway insiders Wednesday morning. It was a course of action that — despite sometimes strenuous objection in […]

Two new facilities for secure radiological material storage have been dedicated at a radioactive waste disposal institution in Tajikistan, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced Thursday. The facilities at the State Institution Radioactive Waste Disposal Site are part of a broader U.S. effort to prevent terrorists from acquiring radiological materials, the agency said. Tajikistan […]

President Barack Obama’s trip to Japan later this month will include a stop in the city of Hiroshima, the White House announced Tuesday. This will make him the first serving U.S. president to visit the site of the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic bomb strike. Obama “will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime […]

Defense Daily With tensions rising between the United States and Russia in Europe and the Middle East, lawmakers responsible for securing the Soviet Union’s nuclear stockpile after its collapse on Monday called for building a bridge between the old enemies at least on the subject of nuclear weapons. Retired Sens. Sam Nun (D-Ga.) and Richard […]

President Barack Obama’s trip to Japan later this month will include a stop in the city of Hiroshima, the White House announced Tuesday. This will make him the first serving U.S. president to visit the site of the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic bomb strike. Obama “will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime […]

The entry into force of the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) was a key step in preventing nuclear terrorism, but much work remains, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday. The update took effect Sunday, a month after the necessary two-thirds of the 152 CPPNM member nations ratified the […]

The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations began its second round of meetings in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The working group serves as a forum for cooperative action, under the U.N. General Assembly, with the purpose to “address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions, and norms that will need to be […]

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter Monday asked Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz for information on the current status of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) programs. The letter, signed by committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), […]

The Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) will formally enter into force on Sunday, a month after the International Atomic Energy Agency announced the measure had received the necessary number of ratifications. “The entry into force of the Amendment demonstrates the determination of the international community to act together […]

NATO will hold its 12th annual Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation next week in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The conference, to be held May 9-10, will involve “open and informal dialogue, addressing arms control and disarmament issues,” according to a NATO statement issued Friday. Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, the institution’s assistant secretary […]

The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations began its second round of meetings in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The working group serves as a forum for cooperative action, under the U.N. General Assembly, with the purpose to “address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions, and norms that will need to be […]

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter Monday asked Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz for information on the current status of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) programs. The letter, signed by committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), […]

The Obama administration, according to multiple news reports, is buying 32 tons of heavy water from Iran as a follow-on to the historic nuclear accord negotiated last year, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory stands to play a key role in storing and selling the material and using a significant amount of it to boost […]

The House Armed Services Committee markup of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) extended into the evening Wednesday, with amendments under consideration that involved funding shifts that would boost spending on certain nuclear nonproliferation research and development and dismantlement activities. One amendment offered under the Strategic Forces Subcommittee mark would block $10 million worth […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said it conducted Tuesday an experimental conventional explosion as part of a series of tests intended to improve underground nuclear explosion detection capabilities. The explosion, the fifth in the Source Physics Experiment (SPE) series conducted at the Nevada National Security Site, involved detonation of chemical explosives equivalent to 5,000 […]

The Obama administration, according to multiple news reports, is buying 32 tons of heavy water from Iran as a follow-on to the historic nuclear accord negotiated last year, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee stands to play a key role in storing and selling the material and using a significant amount of it […]

BWXT Technologies said Thursday a subsidiary company has received a $241.5 million contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration to downblend 10.4 metric tons of highly enriched uranium to a proliferation-resistant low-enriched form available for use as commercial nuclear reactor fuel. The Nuclear Fuel Services contract is due to last through early 2019, according to […]

A U.S. citizen has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government in the U.S. and helping develop special nuclear material in China without authorization from the Department of Energy, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday and announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho, a nuclear engineer […]

Two professional nuclear societies are asking Congress to confirm as U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a senior National Security Council official whose nomination has been blocked due to Senate disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal. The American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) said Tuesday they […]