Non-Proliferation

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 Internal controls for financial management of the State Department’s Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF), which operates within the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), were “designed and implemented effectively,” according to a newly released third-party audit. However, the review, released on Monday, also found several control areas that need […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has awarded Parsons Government Services International a $16,937,062 task order for nuclear security work in Kiev, Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced last Friday. The task order for “Global Nuclear Security, Ukraine Nuclear Security and Readiness Program” falls under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating […]

Switzerland has sent 2.2 kilograms of weapon-grade uranium reactor fuel to the United States for storage, the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said on Wednesday. The shipment makes Switzerland the 27th country, plus Taiwan, to divest itself of all highly enriched uranium, according to an NNSA press release. The spent U.S.-origin HEU […]

The United States has submitted its instrument of ratification for the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) to Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and plans to “very soon” introduce to the U.N. its instrument of ratification for the International Convention for the Suppression of […]

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) awarded Parsons Government Services International a $16,937,062 task order for nuclear security work in Kiev, Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced on Friday. The task order for “Global Nuclear Security, Ukraine Nuclear Security and Readiness Program” falls under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contract II, awarded in 2011 to […]

Internal controls for financial management of the State Department’s Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF), which operates within the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), were “designed and implemented effectively,” according to a newly released third-party audit. However, the review, released yesterday, also found several control areas that need improvement. ISN requested the audit, which […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yesterday defended ongoing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, and countered 14 nonproliferation experts who in a Tuesday letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said plutonium downblending would be better for national security and the federal budget than construction of the MOX Plant at […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 The U.S.-South Korea “123 Agreement” renewed in April will enter into force between Oct. 29 and Dec. 7 without any congressional objections, independent nuclear nonproliferation expert and former House and Senate staffer Jodi Lieberman said yesterday during a panel discussion on the agreement at the Center for Strategic and International […]

Carlsbad, N.M. Mayor Dale Janway disputed former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s recent claims that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant would have to expand and adopt new waste policies to accept the material result of downblending some34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium designated for disposal. Released yesterday, a letter sent by Janway […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/4/2015 A truck carrying coveralls that contained samples of highly enriched uranium (HEU) was flagged last year upon trying to exit the Protected Area of the Y-12 National Security Complex, the Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General’s Office (IG) revealed in a report released today. The IG said it received a […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/28/15 As the Energy Department mulls how to dispose of 34 metric tons of excess U.S. plutonium, former New Mexico Governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on Aug. 21 sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), urging him to push DOE to move forward with the embattled […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/28/15 The State Department this week refuted Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) claim that Russia’s R-500 cruise missile is the primary culprit of the nation’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. “The R-500 is not the missile that we have determined is in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 8/28/2015 The government of Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday signed a formal agreement establishing a facility in the country’s northeast that will provide a reliable supply of low-enriched reactor fuel to IAEA member states. The fuel bank, set to open in two years at the Ulba Metallurgical […]

The government of Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today in the Kazakh capital Astana signed a formal agreement establishing a facility in the country’s northeast that will provide a reliable supply of low-enriched reactor fuel to IAEA member states. The fuel bank, set to open in two years at the Ulba Metallurgical […]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that the White House release the Defense Department’s risk assessment of Russia’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, Cruz’s office announced yesterday. Cruz accused the White House of “blocking” the release of the Pentagon report and preventing […]

The Red Team charged with looking at plutonium disposition options, including the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and downblending the material, submitted its findings to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Aug. 17, the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on Tuesday afternoon. “The MOX Red Team report was delivered to […]

The deadline has passed for the government-commissioned Red Team to present its determination to the Energy Department regarding a "best path forward" for disposing of 34 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium. DOE two weeks ago extended from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17 the deadline for the Red Team, chaired by Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

Brian Bradley  NS&D Monitor  8/7/2015 The Energy Department has extended its deadline for the red team reviewing options for disposal of tons of U.S. plutonium to report its findings to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17, an NNSA official told NS&D Monitor yesterday. “[I]t was done to ensure that the red […]

Brian Bradley  WC Monitor  8/7/2015 The Energy Department has extended its deadline for the red team reviewing options for disposal of tons of U.S. plutonium to report its findings to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17, an NNSA official told WC Monitor yesterday. “[I]t was done to ensure that the red team […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Expanding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to include countries in Europe and Asia will offset power imbalances and encourage Russia’s compliance, two experts said Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “Right now the INF Treaty issue is a diplomatic issue between the United States and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced this week it has repatriated “three irradiators containing U.S.-origin radioactive sources from Mexico.” A U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft flew the three irradiators containing  the“ high-activity radioisotope” cesium 137 from southern Mexico to the United States, at which time the shipment was “securely transported via truck to a […]

Multilateralizing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to include countries in Europe and Asia will offset power imbalances and encourage Russia’s compliance, two experts said yesterday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “Right now the INF Treaty issue is a diplomatic issue between the United States and Russia, but if the Russians […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/24/2015 The use of weapon-usable highly enriched uranium (HEU) for civilian applications worldwide is becoming a thing of the past despite political obstacles, according to Andrew Bieniawski, vice president of material security and minimization at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and a former National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official. Bieniawski late […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/17/2015 The United States should unilaterally reduce its nuclear arsenal without fear of Russia’s nuclear modernization program, according to Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow at the Arms Control Association. "I also disagree with those . . . who say we cannot now risk much deeper cuts in our current nuclear arsenals," Thielmann […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/17/2015 [Eds. Note: NS&D Monitor originally published this story on July 10, following the email of last week’s issue. We have re-published the story in this week’s emailed issue, to make sure all of our subscribers have gotten the chance to read it.] Released on July 8, an independent review of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/17/2015 U.S. allies have “no confusion” that Russia remains in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Obama administration has seen no indication that the Putin government plans to return to compliance, Jon Wolfsthal, National Security Council senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, said during a speech […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 7/17/2015 Despite progress on global nuclear disarmament, there is little chance of a world without the bomb, Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said during a speech at the State Department on Wednesday. “The nuclear genie’s there, and until everybody wants to do […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/17/2015 Despite the end of U.S.-Russian Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) activities, nuclear security cooperation between the two countries remains strong and arms control initiatives must be jointly undertaken to be effective, Department of State officials said this week. The U.S.-Russian relationship framed several nuclear security discussions at the agency’s Generation Prague […]

The world will never rid itself of nuclear weapons, despite progress on the “noble cause” of global disarmament, Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said during a speech at the State Department yesterday. “The nuclear genie’s there, and until everybody wants to do away with nuclear weapons, […]

U.S. allies have “no confusion” that Russia “remains in violation” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, and the Obama Administration has seen “no indication” that the country plans to return to compliance, Jon Wolfsthal, National Security Council Senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, said during a speech at the State Department yesterday. […]