Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Computer operations have been disrupted at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant for at least 24 hours, but the National Nuclear Security Administration declined to provide details about the problem or the extent of the impacts. The “service disruption” began on Monday afternoon and was still in effect on Tuesday night. NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt confirmed […]

Calling the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility the “apex of problems,” Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is opposing the $345 million in MOX funding included in legislation that cleared the subcommittee yesterday. That funding level would allow construction to continue at the beleaguered project, and matches the House level. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday issued a presolicitation notice for a full and open competition for the contract covering management and operations of the Nevada National Security Site. National Security Technologies, LLC, currently holds the contract, which is set to expire in September 2016. The follow-on contract is expected to have a five year […]

The Department of Energy supports bringing the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Administration back under the Energy Department in line with recommendations of the Congressional Advisory Panel, according to a DOE response to the panel’s findings obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. DOE largely agreed to the panel’s recommendations from late last year, including the most extreme, which […]

System Upgrade on Hold Due to Lack of Funding Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 Costs have more than quadrupled for a security system upgrade at the Nevada National Security Site with no firm completion date due to a lack of funding and project management issues by contractor National Security Technologies, LLC, according to a Department […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 The United States should seek to improve ts arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons to hedge against actors who might seek to offset this country’s conventional superiority, a former U.S. senior defense official said this week. “I think that we have to address qualitative inferiority that the United States has in […]

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 Senate Armed Services Committee late this week completed its markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes authorized funding and policy provisions for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Department programs associated with the nuclear triad. Notably, the bill would require the Defense Secretary […]

Court Overturns Sabotage Convictions for Y-12 Protestors NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 In a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court has reversed the conviction of three Plowshares protesters on sabotage charges for the 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., for resentencing on the […]

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 White House yesterday released a Statement of Administration Policy that stated President Barack Obama’s “senior advisers would recommend” a veto if Congress approves the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The 11-page statement outlines the Administration’s opposition to eight NDAA elements that involve nuclear technology, nuclear […]

Costs have more than quadrupled for a security system upgrade at the Nevada National Security Site with no firm completion date due to a lack of funding and project management issues by contractor National Security Technologies, LLC, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report released yesterday. The Argus project aims to update the […]

A nuclear expert and former senior U.S. defense official yesterday said the U.S. should improve its arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons to hedge against actors who might seek to offset this country’s conventional superiority. “I think that we have to address qualitative inferiority that the United States has in what we used to call tactical […]

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) is looking to have the National Nuclear Security Administration establish a “Business Board,” modeled on the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board. Lujan has submitted an amendment establishing the NNSA Business Board to be considered during House floor debate on the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The House Rules Committee […]

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 […]

In a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court has reversed the conviction of three Plowshares protesters on sabotage charges for the 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Knoxville for re-sentencing on the other charge of injuring government property. If the government doesn’t appeal […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/8/2015 While Babcock and Wilcox’s Technical Services Group is still grappling with the loss of the Y-12 and Pantex managing contracts, B&W President and CEO James Ferland expressed optimism this week about the unit’s future, especially as B&W moves forward with a restructuring to spin-off its power generating unit. In a […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor  5/8/2015 In another step by the Obama Administration away from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the long-awaited Surplus Plutonium Disposition Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement no longer includes MOX as a “preferred alternative” for disposing of the material. The National Nuclear Security Administration recently posted the final SEIS for the […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/8/2015 While Babcock and Wilcox’s Technical Services Group is still grappling with the loss of the Y-12 and Pantex managing contracts, B&W President and CEO James Ferland expressed optimism this week about the unit’s future, especially as B&W moves forward with a restructuring to spin-off its power generating unit. In a […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/8/2015 Operations at the Pantex Plant were briefly suspended early this week in what the contractor that manages the plant has described as a “quality pause.” The pause was initiated after site workers “questioned non-nuclear hardware assembly processes,” a spokesman for the site’s managing contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, said. The […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/8/2015 A senior U.S. diplomat defended ongoing efforts to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex late last week at the 2015 Review Conference (RevCon) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, saying such efforts could help advance some disarmament goals.  “Modernization of our nuclear enterprise will over time allow for still greater reductions […]

ATLC Agrees To Two-Month Extension for Current Contract NS&D Monitor 5/8/2015 The stretched-out and so-far-unsuccessful union negotiations at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant are apparently having an impact on Y-12 in Oak Ridge, the sister plant that is managed under the same contract as the Amarillo, Texas, plant. Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades […]

Babcock and Wilcox appears to have gotten 2015 off to a good start, reporting yesterday increases in revenue and income for the first quarter compared to the same period last year. B&W reported first quarter revenues of $730.6 million, a 10.4 percent increase from the same period in 2014. The company also reported an operating […]

A brief “quality pause” that occurred earlier this week at the Pantex Plant was initiated after site workers “questioned non-nuclear hardware assembly processes,” a spokesman for the site’s managing contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, said yesterday. The pause lasted for about two hours on May 4, according to CNS spokesman George Rangel. “Consolidated Nuclear Security […]

The long-awaited Surplus Plutonium Disposition Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement does not have a “preferred alternative” for disposing of the material, though the 2012 draft version had pointed to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site.  The National Nuclear Security Administration recently posted the final SEIS for the disposition […]

In an apparent response to quality concerns, the Pantex Plant paused operations yesterday. The pause was announced in a message Pantex Operations Manager Michelle Reichert sent to employees, a copy of which was obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. “We are not achieving the quality our customers – or our nation – deserve every day. […]

Language in House E&W Bill Called ‘Unnecessarily Restrictive’ by Administration Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 The Obama Administration is continuing to try to distance itself from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, objecting this week to language in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act that would keep construction […]

Kerry Announces Current Stockpile Size of 4,717   Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Concerned about an increased emphasis on nuclear weapons dismantlement, the House Armed Services Committee this week added language to the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would cap the National Nuclear Security Administration’s dismantlement budget at $50 million over the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 The House Armed Services Committee agreed to a set of five amendments to the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would directly impact the Defense Department’s role in nuclear enterprise during a lengthy markup hearing on the bill this week. The bill was ultimately reported out of committee […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 Lawmakers were unsuccessful this week during floor debate on the House Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill in several attempts to reduce funding in the bill for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities. The full House subsequently voted 240-177 to approve the energy spending bill, which would […]