Non-Proliferation

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 AIKEN, S.C.—Lawmakers gathered at the Savannah River Site early this week voiced optimism about keeping construction going on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project in Fiscal Year 2015, but Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the future of the project remains unclear and is subject to sustained funding for the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 As the State Department released its annual compliance report this week, formally accusing Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Congressional lawmakers urged the Obama Administration to take action against Moscow. “We must take action to hold Russia accountable and bring Russia back into compliance with the treaty,” […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 A new report from Harvard University’s Belfer Center criticizes the Obama Administration for backing off its nuclear nonproliferation plans and calls on Congress to restore at least $100 million in nonproliferation cuts in Fiscal Year 2015. The report, “Cutting Too Deep: The Obama Administration’s Proposals for Nuclear Security Spending Reductions,” […]

A new report released yesterday by Harvard University’s Belfer Center criticizes the Obama Administration for backing off its nuclear nonproliferation plans and calls on Congress to restore at least $100 million in nonproliferation cuts in Fiscal Year 2015. The report, “Cutting Too Deep: The Obama Administration’s Proposals for Nuclear Security Spending Reductions,” notes that the […]

As the State Department released its annual compliance report yesterday, accusing Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Congressional lawmakers urged the Administration to take action against Moscow. “We must take action to hold Russia accountable and bring Russia back into compliance with the treaty,” Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), the ranking member of the […]

The United States has determined that Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile in 2008 that is forbidden under the terms of the treaty, according to published reports yesterday. A report in the New York Times yesterday indicated that President Obama informed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the […]

Lawmakers gathered at the Savannah River Site yesterday voiced optimism about keeping construction going on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project in Fiscal Year 2015, but Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the future of the project remains unclear and is subject to sustained funding for the facility. Moniz and National Nuclear Security Administration chief […]

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz and a handful of lawmakers will visit the Savannah River Site later today where they will tour the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility among other facilities, but it’s unclear whether any announcement about the MOX project’s future is planned. Moniz and Klotz will […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/25/2014 Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Department of Energy to perform an Environmental Impact Statement before moving forward with a plan to ship liquid HEU from Canada to the Savannah River Site. DOE is looking to ship approximately 23,000 liters of U.S.-origin material from Atomic Energy of Canada […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 In comments that appear to signal a softening against the battered Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site, Deputy Secretary of Energy nominee Liz Sherwood-Randall this week called MOX the Obama Administration’s “preferred solution” for plutonium disposition before squarely placing the onus for funding the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has signed off on a new nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam, but the addition of several policy provisions added by Senate Democrats are unlikely to find support in the House. The Senate committee this week approved the pact in legislation that is largely based on […]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has signed off on a new nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam. The committee on Tuesday approved the pact, which is largely based on legislation introduced earlier this year by committee chairman Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) that adds a 30-year expiration date to the agreement, and some future nuclear cooperation deals. […]

Experts Urge U.S. Not to Withdraw From Treaty Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Frustrated with delays by the Obama Administration in taking action on potential Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, two key Republicans this week urged the Administration to confront Moscow about the issue. In a July 17 letter to Secretary of […]

The Senate confirmed career foreign service officer Robert Wood by voice vote yesterday as the United States’ Representative to the Conference on Disarmament nearly seven months after he was first nominated to the position. Wood has been serving as the top U.S. official at the CD in an acting capacity, and his confirmation makes him […]

Administration Pulls Nominee for New DOE Under Secretary for Management Post Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 The White House announced this week plans to nominate Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall from the National Security Council to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. At the same time, though, the Obama Administration announced with no explanation the withdrawal […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The White House announced this week plans to nominate Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall from the National Security Council to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. Randall currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. If […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 Pushing back against an effort by ConverDyn to stop the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, DOE this week told a court that suspending the transfers would force it to halt the highly enriched uranium downblend program and cleanup work at Portsmouth. Last month uranium conversion company ConverDyn filed in federal […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Opposition is growing in South Carolina to the Department of Energy’s proposal to bring 900 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from Germany to the Savannah River Site for processing. This month local media in the Savannah River area ran editorials against the plan, and the proposal has become a campaign […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 Obama Administration officials emphasized the importance of innovations and new technologies in stockpile stewardship and nonproliferation at a State Department conference held in Washington this week. National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz stressed that the national laboratories play a key role in developing those technologies, speaking at the fifth […]

The U.S. Department of State is hosting the fifth annual Generation Prague conference today, which addresses national security issues. Speakers include National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Frank Klotz, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman, National Security Council Senior […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration recognized two companies yesterday for their efforts to eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium in the production of medical isotopes. The NNSA recognized United Pharmacy Partners, LLC., (UPPI) and Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., (LMI) for their efforts to increase the use of non-HEU-based molybdenum-99. The NNSA has spent the […]

Pushing back against an effort by ConverDyn to stop the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, DOE this week told a court that suspending the transfers would bring to a halt cleanup work at Portsmouth and the highly enriched uranium downblend program. Last month uranium conversion company ConverDyn filed in federal court a request for a […]

Coming out against the proposed shipment of highly enriched uranium from Germany to the Savannah River Site for processing, the newspapers the Aiken Standard and The Augusta Chronicle penned editorials Sunday opposing the plan. The Department of Energy has launched an environmental assessment on the potential processing of 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin HEU from the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stoked tensions between Washington and Moscow, and the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee said this week that it raised serious questions about Ukraine’s 20-year-old decision to give up its nuclear weapons as well. “The Ukraine was the third […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 The recent Nuclear Security Summit took important steps toward strengthening a regime beyond the summit process for protecting vulnerable material, though more work needs to be done to ensure progress in the future, nuclear security watchers said this week. A key achievement of the Summit held in the Hague was […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Thirty-five nations at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Netherlands this week agreed to an initiative that would strengthen the international nuclear security architecture, highlighting the third gathering of international leaders to deal with strengthening nuclear security around the world. In all, leaders from 58 countries assembled in The Hague, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Frustrated with the Obama Administration’s reaction to possible Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, House and Senate Republicans introduced legislation this week designed to hold Moscow accountable for the potential cheating. GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced companion resolutions that would declare that Russia “violated and […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Planned shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium from Canada to the Savannah River Site for processing have been delayed again, and now appear to be slated for September 2015. Officials said in late 2012 that the processing of the material could start in 2013 and end in 2016, but officials […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy has dropped from its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request a laser-based protective force training system it had planned on providing to Russia due to concerns about the U.S. relationship with Moscow. The March 26 announcement from DOE Press Secretary Bill Gibbons came two days after 18 […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 A four-year effort to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world failed to provide effective security for the world’s most at-risk nuclear materials, according to a report released yesterday by Harvard’s Belfer Center. The report, “Advancing Nuclear Security: Evaluating Progress and Setting New Goals,” comes on the eve of next […]