Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

A medical isotope production facility planned by Northwest Medical Isotopes has cleared another obstacle, passing a safety review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Corvallis, Ore.-based company was notified of the results of the NRC staff safety evaluation report in a Nov. 16 letter from the commission. “[S]taff finds that the preliminary design and analysis […]

Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not be published on Friday, Nov. 24, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 1.

Changing the structure of the contract for the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility would not necessarily help restrain the rising costs for building the plant that will eliminate stocks of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report Wednesday. The report does not include any recommended action, but rather reveals […]

Congress this week sent a defense authorization bill to President Donald Trump’s desk that would authorize research into a new nuclear-capable cruise missile, allow construction of a controversial plutonium processing facility the administration wants to cancel, and let the Department of Energy build a new office building for nuclear-weapons support personnel in Albuquerque. The House […]

An interest group representing communities that host Department of Energy nuclear weapons and cleanup sites wants a meeting with the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), who earlier this summer urged the White House to dissolve the decades-old safety watchdog. The Energy Communities Alliance “believes DNFSB must not be eliminated in order […]

Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published on Friday, Nov. 24, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 1.

Construction of the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee will ceremonially begin Monday with assistance from two U.S. lawmakers. Scheduled to attend the 10 a.m. Nov. 20 groundbreaking ceremony are Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). The Energy […]

President Donald Trump plans to nominate nuclear industry lobbyist and former Capitol Hill staffer Melissa Burnison as assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, the White House announced Wednesday. If nominated and then confirmed by the Senate, Burnison would lead the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs as the principal Department of Energy […]

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Wednesday introduced exceptionally short legislation that would prevent the United States from initiating a nuclear first strike against a foe. The bill has just one section, which reads in total: “Section 1. Policy on No-First-Use of Nuclear Weapons. It is the policy of the United States to not use […]

WASHINGTON — At the end of a mostly civil hearing Tuesday in which former federal officials advised senators against limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to launch nuclear weapons, Trump critic Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) emphasized the importance of ongoing nuclear deterrent modernization programs. “Many of us have been to the facilities where [nuclear weapons] are […]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to convene a hearing today to discuss whether the U.S. president should have sole authority to launch the nation’s nuclear weapons. The hearing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Eastern time at the Senate Dirksen Office Building Room 419 on Capitol Hill. Presiding over the session is committee […]

The fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes Congress to give the National Nuclear Security Administration even more money than President Donald Trump requested, while also bucking the commander in chief on a couple big nuclear programs. The latest NDAA, which emerged from a bicameral conference committee Wednesday afternoon, would allow congressional appropriators to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced that it somewhat-less-recently recognized contractors and national laboratory staff at the Nevada National Security Site for technical contributions to nuclear stockpile stewardship. Earlier this week, the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency shared the names of those projects with NS&D Monitor. The following teams at the former nuclear weapon-testing […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced that it somewhat-less-recently recognized contractors and national laboratory staff at the Nevada National Security Site for technical contributions to nuclear stockpile stewardship. Earlier this week, the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency shared the names of those projects with Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The following teams at the […]

Water leaked into a plutonium pit-storage area at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, after an August thunderstorm, the Department of Energy disclosed this month. On Aug. 13 and 14, thunderstorms dumped about 2 inches of rain on the north Texas city, according to data compiled by the National Weather Service. During the storm, “rain […]

It will cost about $1.2 trillion in current dollars to modernize and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 30 years, including $261 billion in Department of Energy spending, the Congressional Budget Office said this week. Even fairly major changes to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) part of that portfolio would shave only about $10 […]

It will cost about $1.2 trillion to modernize and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 30 years, including $261 billion in Department of Energy spending, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. In the report “Approaches for Managing the Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2017 to 2046,” the nonpartisan office also considered ways to reduce the […]

Pentagon nuclear arsenal modernization prime Northrop Grumman exceeded expectations with its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, while fellow nuke prime Lockheed Martin underperformed the Wall Street consensus. Northrop posted a 10-percent earnings increase over the year-ago quarter on a 6-percent rise in quarterly revenue. Earnings per share of $3.68 beat the Wall Street consensus of $2.90, as […]

Lawmakers cloistered on Capitol Hill are set to settle a policy dispute over a new office building for more than 1,000 defense nuclear workers in New Mexico as part of final negotiations over the 2018 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA). House and Senate lawmakers formally kicked off conference negotiations Wednesday on the NDAA, initiating a process […]

A private entity is set to take deed of an old nuclear-weapons support facility in Kansas City, Mo., for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward said. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) approved transfer of the Bannister Federal Complex, where the NNSA once manufactured non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons, […]

Pentagon nuclear arsenal modernization prime Northrop Grumman exceeded expectations with its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, posting a 10-percent earnings increase over the year-ago quarter on a 6-percent rise in quarterly revenue. Earnings per share of $3.68 beat the Wall Street consensus of $2.90, as reported by the website MarketWatch, while revenue in the quarter ended Sept. […]

The Department of Energy is preparing to solicit bids for a new three-story office building at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Albuquerque Complex on Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, according to a procurement note released last week. The semiautonomous nuclear agency expects to release plans for the new building around Nov. 17. Proposals […]

A private entity is set to take deed of an old nuclear-weapons support facility in Kansas City, Mo., for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward said Thursday. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) approved transfer of the Bannister Federal Complex, where the NNSA once manufactured non-nuclear components of nuclear […]

Anti-nuke groups suing to halt construction of a crucial defense uranium facility in Tennessee told a federal judge their lawsuit against the Department of Energy should be heard in Washington, D.C., and not in Tennessee, as the agency wishes. In a court filing last week, the plaintiffs said they opposed the DOE motion to move […]

Anti-nuke groups suing to halt construction of a crucial defense uranium facility in Tennessee told a federal judge their lawsuit against the Department of Energy should be heard in Washington, D.C., and not in Tennessee, as the agency wishes. In a court filing last week, the plaintiffs said they opposed the DOE motion to move […]

The story “’Tenfold’ Increase in U.S. Nukes Would Require Massive Investment, Wonks Say” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Oct. 12) should have said uranium refining during the Cold War took place at the K-25 plant at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.

President Donald Trump called it “fake” news and arms control wonks called it impossible: a radical increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal the commander in chief demanded during a private meeting at the Pentagon in July, according to an NBC News report Wednesday. During the meeting with Cabinet officials and military brass, Trump reportedly said he […]

President Donald Trump called it “fake” news and arms control wonks called it impossible: a radical increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal the commander in chief demanded during a private meeting at the Pentagon in July, according to an NBC News report Wednesday. During the meeting with Cabinet officials and military brass, Trump reportedly said he […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) took the head of the House Armed Services Committee along on a tour of the Y-12 National Security Complex and its Uranium Processing Facility last week. Fleischmann’s office said in a Friday press release that the Tennessee congressman was “thrilled” HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) could join him for the […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site downblended 16 kilograms of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium in fiscal 2017, and is expected to nearly double amount in the current budget year. Officials from the South Carolina facility reported the figure last week during a bimonthly meeting of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). Downblending began in September 2016, […]