Non-Proliferation

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has withdrawn a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on behalf of the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK-CEN), for the export of 134 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, according to correspondence shared with NS&D Monitor between the NRC and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). A […]

A new report on preventing nuclear terrorism highlights restoration of the U.S.-Russian nonproliferation relationship and U.S. nuclear security spending levels as key measures to address gaps in nuclear security worldwide. The report from Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom said that despite nuclear security improvements in recent years, the phasing out of U.S.-Russian nonproliferation […]

The United States and the regulatory China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) have commissioned a new nuclear security Center of Excellence (COE) in China, the Department Of Energy (DOE) announced Friday. Officials from the DOE, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and Department of Defense worked with the CAEA to open the COE, which is intended […]

Retired Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, former commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, is a member of Consolidated Nuclear Security’s three-member Technical Safety Board. The board’s existence came to public light recently when CNS – the government’s managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants – made a reference on its website to […]

The upcoming Nuclear Security Summit would have greater impact if it expanded its focus to include negotiations for a long-stalled fissile material ban treaty, according to a former Canadian diplomat and member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. Speaking Tuesday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Paul Meyer, who once served […]

It would only take a few decades to phase out all non-weapon use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) worldwide, making a ban on the production of HEU for any purpose a feasible policy goal, according to a new report from the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), a group of nonproliferation experts from 18 countries. The report, authored […]

Paraguay last week ratified the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, leaving support from just 10 nations needed before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. “We are now approaching the finishing line,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in a press release. “I hope that after a […]

Paraguay last week ratified the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, leaving support from just 10 nations needed before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. “We are now approaching the finishing line,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in a press release. “I hope that after a […]

It would only take a few decades to phase out all non-weapon use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) worldwide, making a ban on the production of HEU for any purpose a feasible policy goal, according to a new report from the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), a group of nonproliferation experts from 18 countries. The report, authored […]

A nuclear nonproliferation official appointed by President Barack Obama said the administration seeks to achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) by generating discussions among the public on its merits. In a speech last Friday at the 2016 Deterrence and Assurance Conference held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Adam Scheinman, special representative […]

The nuclear industry will continue its nuclear security efforts regardless of the status of multilateral political action, Jack Edlow, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Summit (NIS) 2016 International Board of Advisors, said this week. Edlow spoke to reporters on a conference call about the NIS, an official side event to the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded contracts to two companies for nonproliferation and arms control work, according to limited sources justification announcements posted this week. The NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization, which focuses on the disposition of surplus plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the security of vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide, and […]

Eleven more nations must ratify the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. Ivory Coast became the latest ratifying nation on Feb. 10, according to an IAEA press release. “This is the most important area of unfinished business […]

Eleven more nations must ratify the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. Ivory Coast became the latest ratifying nation on Feb. 10, according to an IAEA press release. “This is the most important area of unfinished business […]

U.S. and Russian officials on Wednesday renewed claims that their governments had violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and sparred over the consequences of aggressive rhetoric toward one another. Jon Wolfsthal, senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, said at the ExchangeMonitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit that the U.S. seeks a resolution […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Frank Klotz on Wednesday lauded the Obama administration’s progress in modernizing the nation’s nuclear warheads and conducting nonproliferation activities worldwide. Speaking at the ExchangeMonitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit about the NNSA’s $12.9 billion budget request for fiscal 2017, Klotz noted that the proposal includes $222.9 million to complete production of the W76-1 warhead by fiscal 2019; $616.1 million to […]

IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted U.S.-Russian arms control cooperation under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in a statement Friday on the fifth anniversary of the accord’s entry into force. “New START is more important now than when it went into effect. It gives us the confidence and level of […]

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI), along with its Department of Nuclear Engineering and a Cyclotron Institute professor, have developed a new method to determine the origins of weapon-usable plutonium, the NSSPI announced last week. The nuclear forensics methodology helps “track the production source of black market nuclear materials, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is requesting $1.8 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation (DNN) programs in fiscal 2017. The funding request is down from the $1.9 billion it currently receives due to prior year carryover balances and planned termination of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The NNSA’s DNN program partners with the State, […]

Five years after entry into force of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, it is clear that what was hoped to be the beginning of a new set of major U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaties will instead be the first and last under the Obama administration. President Barack Obama early in his tenure laid out […]

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI), along with its Department of Nuclear Engineering and a Cyclotron Institute professor, have developed a new method to determine the origins of weapon-usable plutonium, the NSSPI announced last week.   The nuclear forensics methodology helps “track the production source of black market nuclear […]

Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted U.S.-Russian arms control cooperation under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in a statement Friday on the fifth anniversary of the accord’s entry into force. “New START is more important now than when it went into effect. It gives us the confidence and level of oversight we need – […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The U.S. State Department last Wednesday hosted a Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) meeting in which midlevel officials from the United States and 70 partner states gathered to discuss collective nonproliferation efforts. More than 100 PSI member states have committed to taking actions to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 As the United Nations’ Conference on Disarmament (CD) begins its 2016 session, one nonproliferation expert doubts the likelihood of significant progress in the body’s long-stalled arms control negotiations. The multilateral forum, which held its first public plenary meeting of the year last week, faces a stalemate of almost two decades […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 No timetable has been set for the Department of Energy to decide if 1 million graphite spheres – each containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany – will be transported to the Savannah River Site for processing and disposal. The department must first go through several courses of action, including […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 With less than a year until the next president takes office, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday highlighted the Obama administration’s key international nuclear security and nonproliferation achievements, as well as the political challenges that remain in the U.S. nuclear modernization program. During a Wilson Center address on nuclear […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization in civilian research reactors is more difficult and progressing more slowly than previously expected, according to a study released last week by a National Academy of Sciences committee. The study said the timeline for global elimination of HEU use in civilian reactors and reactor conversions to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking a small business or small business-led team for the design and installation of radiation detection and communications systems in support of the Office of Global Material Security’s Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) Program, according to a presolicitation posted this week. This […]

With less than a year until the next president takes office, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday highlighted the Obama administration’s key international nuclear security and nonproliferation achievements, as well as the political challenges that remain in the U.S. nuclear modernization program.   During a Wilson Center address on nuclear nonproliferation, Moniz said the […]

Senior delegates from 37 nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency, European Union, and United Nations met last Thursday in Livermore, Calif., to practice effective responses to emerging nuclear security threats, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced yesterday. Apex Gold, “the first ever minister-level gathering to identify national and international actions to address a […]