Non-Proliferation

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) convened yesterday in Geneva, and will periodically meet until March 27, for its first of three sessions in 2015, to discuss issues including nuclear disarmament. NGOs and disarmament groups, such as Reaching Critical Will, have criticized the CD for its lack of action in recent years. In 2013, the CD […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/16/2015 The Union of Concerned Scientists is continuing its opposition to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, recommending in a report released this week that the controversial project be abandoned in favor of less expensive options. The report, “Excess Plutonium Disposition,” was authored by UCS physicist Edwin […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/16/2015 Echoing the Obama Administration’s current stance, an independent panel of national security experts on Jan. 14 reiterated its recommendation published last month in a State Department report that the U.S. should work to bring Russia back in compliance with the INF Treaty and not withdraw from the agreement in an […]

The Union of Concerned Scientists is continuing its opposition to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, recommending in a report released yesterday that the controversial project be abandoned in favor of less expensive options. The report, “Excess Plutonium Disposition,” was authored by UCS physicist Edwin Lyman and urges NNSA to more […]

James Doyle, the Los Alamos National Laboratory nonproliferation analyst who claimed he was let go by the lab after writing a paper advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons, had his second whistleblower claim accepted by the National Nuclear Security Administration and began mediation with the lab yesterday. Doyle’s initial whistleblower complaint was based on […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/9/2015 Construction work has been completed on the Savannah River Site’s Waste Solidification Building as the site’s managing contractor is preparing to put the facility into an “interim layup” due to delays in completion of the related Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. The WSB is designed to process waste streams […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced yesterday that last month it recovered the one millionth curie of radioactive sealed sources through the Off-Site Source Recovery Project. The program, which has operated since 1999, aims to keep excess or abandoned sealed sources out of the hands of potential terrorists. “This recovery shipment of the one-millionth curie […]

The following interview about the NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation’s reorganization and coming move was conducted by Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Editor Todd Jacobson. This reorganization has been in the works for some time. What was the overarching strategy that you sought to implement and what were the general principles you were going […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/19/2014 The Senate confirmed a pair of Obama Administration nuclear weapons and arms control nominees this week, clearing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities Robert Scher and Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Frank Rose before adjourning. But the wait for Scher and Rose was quite […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/19/2014 President Barack Obama is required to submit quarterly reports to Congress detailing whether it remains in the national security interests of the U.S. to remain committed to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as long as Russia remains in noncompliance with the agreement, according to the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 A new long-term campaign to downblend 1,200 bundles of spent fuel at Savannah River’s H-Canyon is well underway, site officials said this week. In September, the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, began initial processing in an eight-to-10-year campaign to downblend highly enriched uranium from research reactor fuel stored […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/19/2014 Eleven countries, including the United States and Canada, joined this week a Joint Declaration on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes to ensure the security and reliability of molybdenum-99. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, one of the […]

The Senate is scheduled at 10 a.m. today to vote on the nomination of Frank Rose for Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, after it voted yesterday evening to end debate on his nomination. The Foreign Relations Committee cleared Rose by voice vote in February, a month after delaying a vote on Rose […]

During a rare Saturday session, the Senate passed a bill that would require President Barack Obama to demand Russia to comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and order the country to "completely and verifiably eliminate the military systems that constitute a violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty.” The U.S. has accused […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy is planning to develop a new secretarial determination regarding its uranium transfers to cover cleanup work at Portsmouth and the downblending of highly-enriched uranium, releasing last week a request for information from the public about potential impacts on the uranium markets. The move comes after industry […]

Most Nonpro Programs See a Boost Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Despite the Administration’s plans for a shutdown of the project, construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility would continue at the $345 million funding level included in the Fiscal Year 2015 spending bill released by Congressional appropriators this week. That compares to the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty has prompted the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commission a military assessment of hypothetical threats posed by any Russian deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region, while House Republicans this week pressed the Administration to provide […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 As tensions over the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Eastern Ukraine persist between the U.S. and Russia, the prospective advancement of further economic sanctions against Russia and potential placement of defensive weapons in Ukraine should have no impact on bilateral New START cooperation, according to Steven Pifer, former U.S. […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy is planning to develop a new secretarial determination regarding its uranium transfers to cover cleanup work at Portsmouth and the downblending of highly-enriched uranium, releasing last week a request for information from the public about potential impacts on the uranium markets. The move comes after industry […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 A State Department official during this week’s Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons called on countries, non-governmental organizations and academics to help the U.S. generate the trust and verification tools needed to bring about further worldwide nuclear reductions. Speaking on Dec. 9, the second and final day […]

Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty has prompted the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commission a military assessment of hypothetical threats posed by any Russian deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region, while House Republicans yesterday pressed the Administration to provide a clear timeline and outline specific […]

The spending bill Congressional appropriators unveiled last night would provide $345 million for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and direct continued construction of the plant. That compares to the $196 million included in the Administration’s FY’15 budget request, which called for work on the plant to be ramped down as it moves into a […]

In a statement read by a Vatican official on Dec. 8 during the opening ceremony of the two-day Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Pope Francis expressed opposition to nuclear weapons spending and what he said was the misallocation of resources away from “integral human development, education, health and the fight against […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 House and Senate authorizers are curtailing the Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program, withdrawing support for the program after Fiscal Year 2015, according to the compromise version of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act released this week. The CTR program, created by Sens. Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation is moving forward with a reorganization that would consolidate its sub-programs into four offices to reduce overlap between the programs and better align its efforts, NNSA nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington said at an all-hands meeting Dec. 2. Under the reorganization, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 The U.S. State Department is partnering with the Nuclear Threat Initiative to start an international nuclear forum to increase understanding among nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states of the technical problems of and solutions to verifying nuclear disarmament. Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, announced the International Partnership […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Dec. 3 announced a joint subcommittee hearing next week examining arms control “cheating” by Russia and Obama Administration responses. The HASC Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade within the House Foreign Affairs Committee will meet on Dec. 10 to hear testimony from Rose […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation is moving forward with a reorganization that would consolidate its sub-programs into four offices to reduce overlap between the programs and better align its efforts, NNSA nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington said at an all-hands meeting yesterday. Under the reorganization, the program’s work would be broken […]

NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 IN THE WHITE HOUSE Jon Wolfsthal, a former arms control and nonproliferation advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, has been appointed as the senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Wolfsthal will begin his new job Dec. 1, serving as a President Obama’s top advisor on arms […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 Russia is planning to cut back on nuclear security cooperation with the United States, the head of Moscow’s state-run nuclear company has reportedly told Obama Administration officials, the New York Times reported this week. Sergey Kirienko reportedly told U.S. officials that new nuclear security work is not “envisioned” in 2015. […]