Non-Proliferation

Despite the end of cooperative threat reduction activities between the United States and Russia, nuclear security cooperation between the two countries remains strong, according to Thomas Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation at the State Department. "The U.S. and Russia continue to cooperate in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism," […]

The United States should unilaterally cut down on 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 said yesterday at […]

The U.S. should offer “total transparency” to Russia to inspect U.S. Mk 41 Vertical Launch Systems, to help resolve claims by both sides that the other violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, a nuclear expert said during a speech on Capitol Hill yesterday. In its 2014 report on arms control compliance, the State […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor  7/10/2015 Released on Wednesday, an independent review of The Aerospace Corporation’s recent study of plutonium disposition options projects similar costs for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and a downblending alternative to dispose of surplus plutonium. The Nuclear Infrastructure Council posted the review, which essentially rejects Aerospace’s $47.5 billion life cycle cost […]

Lance Moore NS&D Monitor 7/10/2015 Russia is undergoing a full-scale process of rearmament and a costly modernization of strategic and non-strategic nuclear weapons programs, lagging behind the pace of U.S. modernization programs, according to a panel of nuclear experts, who in Washington yesterday said the slower pace discredits Putin’s recent nuclear posturing. The experts downplayed […]

Nonproliferation and nuclear arms reduction should be joint, balanced efforts, according to Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. “I think fewer probably [are] better,” Sokolski said about nuclear weapons yesterday at the Heritage Foundation. “If you come down, you don’t want to be alone,” he said, referring to parity in multilateral […]

The United States and the National Nuclear Security Administration should increase funding for research and development aimed at replacing the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in naval reactors with the use of low enriched uranium (LEU), according to Andrew Bieniawski, vice president of material security and minimization at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Bieniawski presented […]

Vencore this week announced that it was awarded a $10 million sole-source indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery (IDIQ) program with Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque to include mission-critical support for the nuclear detonation detection system, according to a Vencore press release. More broadly, the contract will support the development and testing of military-use applications, including radar, satellite and telemetry […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors has approved an agreement that will create a nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan, the Department of State announced last week. The agreement between the IAEA and Kazakhstan will give IAEA member states access to low enriched uranium “for peaceful nuclear reactor fuel if they could not obtain […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 House lawmakers voted this week against an amendment offered to the Fiscal Year 2016 defense appropriations bill that would have moved $25 million from an Air Force procurement account to the defense-wide research and development account to bolster U.S. military response options to respond to Russia’s alleged violation of the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/12/2015 The proposed shipment of a batch of German highly enriched uranium to the Savannah River Site would violate both German and European law, according to a complaint Greenpeace Germany filed this week with the European Commission attempting to stop the plan. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes […]

The proposed shipment of a batch of German highly enriched uranium to the Savannah River Site would violate both German and European law, according to a complaint Greenpeace Germany filed yesterday with the European Commission attempting to stop the plan. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes in the form of graphite spheres […]

Deploying U.S. intermediate-range cruise missiles in the United Kingdom should be considered in response to Russia’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 if that country doesn’t return to compliance with the agreement, the head of the House Armed Services Committee told reporters yesterday. “I think it is definitely an option which […]

Russia remains in violation of its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1987 to not “possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles,” according to the State Department’s annual arms control compliance report […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 With numerous studies pointing to downblending as a significantly cheaper option for surplus plutonium disposition than the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, Senate authorizers are asking for more answers on downblending and alternate uses for the MOX facility. A 2014 Department of Energy analysis of plutonium disposition options and a […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 In a capstone to the successful ‘Megatons to Megawatts’ program, President Barack Obama this week terminated an executive order that had been intended to ensure payments to Russia under the program would not be impacted by lawsuits. Under the “Megatons to Megawatts” program, 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium […]

NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 IN NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration announced this week the successful removal of three unused radioactive sources from the Armenian capital of Yerevan. The effort was conducted by the Armenia Nuclear Regulatory Authority with aid from the NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Since 2002, ANRA and the NNSA have removed and […]

NNSA Conducts Tests to Detect Underground Foreign Nuclear Explosions NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration last week completed the fourth experiment in a series of tests aimed at improving the ability to detect underground nuclear explosions, known as the Source Physics Experiment. The tests are part of arms control verification efforts and could […]

While tensions between the U.S. and Russia remain high, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday highlighted recent areas of cooperative success between the two nations, including the New START Treaty. “From 2009 to 2012, we achieved a great deal together, a great deal of cooperation with Russia, to advance our interests—Russia and ours—[including] a New START […]

President Barack Obama on Tuesday terminated a state of emergency geared toward curbing any potential risks posed by an accumulation of weapons-usable fissile material in Russia. Determining that it was no longer needed, Obama revoked a 2012 executive order that was issued to help protect highly enriched uranium from creditors, and to ensure that Russia […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/22/2015 To aid nonproliferation efforts, the National Nuclear Security Administration would be directed to establish a new “Uranium Science Institute” under the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of committee this week. The bill would provide a total of $426.8 million for the […]

Mike Nartker RW Monitor 5/22/2015 Senate appropriators are looking to have the National Nuclear Security Administration come up with a plan to have new domestic sources of molybdenum-99 up and running in the next 18 months. In the report accompanying the Senate version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of […]

Report Ballooning MOX Costs to $47.5 Billion Criticized by Project Supporters Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 While a highly scrutinized report on surplus plutonium disposition options released this week found that downblending the material for disposal would cost a fraction of turning it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, it details hurdles remaining for both approaches. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 The State Department this week called out a Russian diplomat’s recent announcement that his country has “virtually exhausted” bilateral nuclear reductions with the United States through the New START Treaty. “Of course we have not exhausted bilateral nuclear disarmament options,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to NS&D […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 As “slightly messy” debates continue at the ongoing Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (RevCon), experts this week laid out options for a path forward for disarmament at the Arms Control Association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. This year’s RevCon, which is held every five years at the United Nations in […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 As it appears that bilateral cooperation on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 continues to sputter, arms control experts this week offered recommendations for accomplishing the aims of the accord. Options include boosting weapons transparency and negotiating a similar multilateral agreement. “I see an opportunity now in using the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 Lawmakers raised various concerns over the proposed renewal of a 30-year civil nuclear agreement with China during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. The deal is currently set to expire at the end of this year. Committee Republicans and Democrats expressed concerns about possible Chinese intentions […]

Site Removes 26 Sealed Plutonium Sources Under Source Recovery Project NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 The Savannah River Site has removed 26 sealed plutonium-238 sources in collaboration with the Off-Site Source Recovery Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the site announced this week. At Savannah River, the Tritium Facilities Analytical Laboratory had needed the sources to calibrate […]

The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday said an initial staff review of renewing a 30-year-old civil nuclear agreement with China “landed on the positive side,” but lawmakers also raised numerous concerns about the deal. Committee Republicans and Democrats expressed concerns about possible Chinese intentions including providing nuclear technology to other countries and […]

As expected, an independent report on surplus plutonium disposition options released publicly Friday has found that downblending the material and disposing of it in a repository would cost a fraction of turning it into Mixed Oxide fuel for use in reactors. Downblending would cost about $17.2 billion over the life of the project, while the […]