Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The Department of Energy (DOE) might not have enough heavy water to meet its long-term nuclear weapons and non-weapons activity needs, according to a newly released audit report from the DOE Inspector General’s Office. Heavy water for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities is stored primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should improve its tritium enterprise training program and address its maintenance backlog, DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found in a newly released report. The EA assessment of SRS’ tritium facility safety system management found that site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ site-wide technical training program does […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) might not have enough heavy water inventory to meet its long-term nuclear weapons and non-weapons activity needs, according to a newly released audit report from the DOE Inspector General’s Office. Heavy water for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities is stored primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex in […]

NS&D Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.

Lyle Cary has been named the new vice president of safeguards, security, and emergency services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the sites’ management and operations contractor announced Wednesday. Ken Freeman, currently serving in that role, is set to retire at the end of […]

President-elect Donald Trump unleashed a cascade of alarm and analysis at the end of the week with a tweet on the need for a stronger U.S. nuclear deterrent, which led to an interview in which he reportedly indicated his readiness for a new atomic arms race. Just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his nation to strengthen […]

The Savannah River Site’s security contractor earned $5.66 million out of a possible $5.92 million, or 95.5 percent, of its performance award fee for fiscal 2016. The Department of Energy highlighted Centerra-Savannah River Site’s efforts in keeping employees safe and cutting costs in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30. Contractors earn award fees each year by […]

Lyle Cary has been named the new vice president of safeguards, security, and emergency services at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the sites’ management and operations contractor announced Wednesday. Ken Freeman, currently serving in that role, is set to retire at the end of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is accepting bids for the new contract to provide protective force services at the agency’s Nevada National Security Site. The contract would feature a one-year base period, from June 1, 2017, to May 31, 2018, followed by four single-year option periods through the end of May 2022, says the request […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found deficiencies in Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) procedures to guide employees at the Pantex Plant in Texas on the proper disposal of classified information, resulting in four security incidents in recent years, according to a Nov. 30 enforcement letter to Morgan Smith, CNS president and chief executive. The […]

Slashing the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is one option to save tens of billions of dollars in the coming decade for efforts to reduce the growing federal deficit, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The CBO’s latest analysis of deficit-cutting opportunities covers the 2017 to 2026 fiscal years and encompasses 115 options to […]

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee said this week it received a 2016 Star of Excellence workplace safety award from the National Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA). The award, which recognizes facilities with a recordable injury rate 75 percent stronger than U.S. businesses in the same industry, was presented in September at the VPPPA […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration last week issued the request for proposals for the next protective force services contract at the Nevada National Security Site. The selected contractor, among a host of duties, would provide uniformed personnel to provide security at the NNSS, Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base, and North Las Vegas […]

The Department of Energy’s Enterprise Assessment office found deficiencies in Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) procedures to guide employees on the proper disposal of classified information, resulting in four security incidents over the past few years at the Pantex Plant in Texas, according to a Nov. 30 enforcement letter from to Morgan Smith, CNS president and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) anticipates awarding a contract extension to Centerra Group for security protective force services at the Nevada National Security Site, according to a special notice posted Nov. 23. The notice said the NNSA expects to award a modification around Dec. 31, 2016, the date that Centerra’s current contract is set […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the management and operating contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant, said Tuesday it surpassed its small business contracting goals for fiscal year 2016. CNS awarded more than $276 million to small businesses across its two sites, 67 percent of all the funding […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will within the next 13 days release a request for proposals for protective force services at the Nevada National Security Site, according to a special notice posted Wednesday. The sources sought solicitation said the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency is seeking a contractor for work to be performed at the […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), whose name has been run through the rumor mill this week as a possible candidate for Secretary of Defense under President-elect Donald Trump, on Thursday emphasized the importance of nuclear modernization and the NATO alliance. Since his election, only Trump surrogates have reversed his campaign rhetoric that […]

NS&D Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Look for the next edition in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 2.

A group of experts and policy makers on Wednesday urged the incoming Donald Trump administration to make cuts to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and modernization program, along with adopting several nuclear policy changes. All the proposals are outlined in a new Ploughshares Fund report, 10 Big Nuclear Ideas for the Next President. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Smith […]

A group of experts and policy makers on Wednesday urged the incoming Donald Trump administration to make cuts to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and modernization program, along with adopting several nuclear policy changes. All the proposals are outlined in a new Ploughshares Fund report, 10 Big Nuclear Ideas for the Next President. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Smith […]

Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday in the U.S. presidential election stunned political pundits and prompted speculation about a number of policy areas likely to change once President Barack Obama leaves office – not least among them the future of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. During their campaigns the Republican and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton offered two […]

Plutonium metal operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site resumed last month, following a yearlong suspension that started with a safety pause induced in September 2015 by facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Plutonium metal operations, in which plutonium is repackaged from its original storage container in K Area, to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Planning and Programming will extend for three months its contract with TechSource Inc. for technical support services, according to a notice posted Tuesday. The modification extends the expiration of the current task order from Nov. 12, 2016, to Feb. 12, 2017, and adds $611,372.70 to the current ceiling […]

The ExchangeMonitor has launched the Your Voice/Our Voice opinion space in its weekly Weapons Complex Monitor e-newsletter. If you or your company is involved with the legacy nuclear cleanup work managed by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, we want to hear from you. Send us a short letter to the editor (300 words) […]

Nuclear deterrence has regularly emerged as a topic of discussion during the 2016 presidential campaign, primarily as a means of illustrating the merits of the candidates’ capacity for leadership. Democrat Hillary Clinton recently highlighted a joint statement by 10 former Air Force nuclear launch officers that said Trump is “easily baited” and unfit to hold […]

The U.S. Defense Department is intent on fixing decades of underinvestment in the nation’s nuclear deterrent, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday. The insufficient funding dates to the close of the Cold War, “when the United States believed it would be safe to allow funding for the nuclear enterprise to drop, and drop it did, […]

Two nuclear watchdog organizations are urging Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to order a new site-wide environmental impact statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex due to changes in a major construction project at the Tennessee nuclear weapons facility. The updated EIS is necessary after the department amended its 2011 record of decision for the new […]

A suspicious package that turned out to be an air freshener triggered an hour-long emergency response Wednesday evening at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. DOE sent out a press release at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time that “a security event is in progress that has triggered emergency response activities at the Department […]

Two nuclear watchdog organizations on Friday said they had requested that Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz order a new site-wide environmental impact statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. The updated EIS is necessary after the department amended its 2011 record of decision for the new Uranium Processing Facility, changing the plan from building a […]