Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

French Ambassador Gerard Araud will visit the Savannah River Site today, touring the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. Araud will be accompanied by several other French officials and will meet with AREVA Chief Executive Officer Gary Mignogna as well as French employees at the site. Along with CB&I, AREVA is part of the […]

ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums Acquired by Access Intelligence WC Monitor 3/13/2015 ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums was acquired this week by Access Intelligence, LLC, a business-to-business media and information company headquartered in Rockville, Md., serving the chemical, defense, satellite, aviation, cable, telecommunications, media and public relations markets. The acquisition comes roughly three months after Ed Helminski, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 The U.S. currently possesses about 7,100 total nuclear warheads, including 2,340 retired and under Department of Energy custody, about 2,080 deployed and about 2,680 in storage, according to a report recently released by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). “At the beginning of 2015, the U.S. Defense Department maintained a […]

Senate Appropriators Suggest Hard Decisions Await NNSA Budget Request Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz told Senate appropriators this week that the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex was on track to be completed by 2025 within a $6.5 billion budget cap. Testifying before the […]

NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums was acquired this week by Access Intelligence, LLC, a business-to-business media and information company headquartered in Rockville, Md., serving the chemical, defense, satellite, aviation, cable, telecommunications, media and public relations markets. The acquisition comes roughly three months after Ed Helminski, the founder of ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums, passed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration awarded a trio of Office of Secure Transportation support services contracts to small business-led teams last month. The NNSA last year decided to break the OST support services contracts into three different vehicles for Training Support Services, Administration Support Services, and Logistics and Fleet Management […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration wants Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security to double the rate of purified metal production in Building 9212 in an effort to reduce the Material at Risk (MAR) in the aging facility. Eventually, Building 9212’s capabilities will be replaced as part of the Uranium Processing Facility […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security has acknowledged that implementation of benefit changes at Y-12 and Pantex has not gone as planned or hoped, but a top official recently sent a message to thousands of workers promising to address their complaints and make things better. Morgan Smith, the contractor’s chief operating officer, said […]

Pantex Changing Procedures After Technician Receives ‘Higher Than Anticipated’ Dose NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 The Pantex Plant is bolstering its procedures after an instrument technician was exposed to a “higher than anticipated” radiation dose while doing maintenance work in a nuclear materials storage building. The unidentified worker was exposed Jan. 23 while performing maintenance in a Special […]

Y-12 Contractor Adjusts Some UPF Design Contracts NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 As the design work on the Uranium Processing Facility transitions to management under Bechtel National via a subcontract with Consolidated Nuclear Security, there have been changes in the workload of the teams participating in the project’s four Basic Ordering Agreements, with some of the companies […]

NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 IN THE NNSA Deputy Energy Secretary Liz Sherwood-Randall made her first trip to the Savannah River Site in her current position last week, quietly visiting a variety of facilities. Among the stops on Sherwood-Randall’s tour was the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which is the subject of a pair of reviews while […]

National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz told Senate appropriators yesterday that the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex was on track to be completed by 2025 within a $6.5 billion budget cap. Testifying before the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Klotz was pressed about UPF—and NNSA’s two other major […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration wants Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security to double the rate of purified metal production in Building 9212 in an effort to reduce the Material at Risk in the aging facility. Eventually, Building 9212’s capabilities will be replaced as part of the Uranium Processing Facility or shifted to other facilities at […]

The Pantex Plant is bolstering its procedures after an instrument technician was exposed to a “higher than anticipated” radiation dose while doing maintenance work in a nuclear materials storage building. The unidentified worker was exposed Jan. 23 while performing maintenance in a Special Nuclear Materials Storage Facility at Pantex.   George Rangel, a spokesman for Pantex […]

A June 2014 incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex that left classified material potentially exposed was due to “poor work control processes that had existed for over a decade,” the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement said last month in a letter to current Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security. DOE chose not to levy […]

Here’s a look at the events we’ll be keeping an eye on this week:   National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Frank Klotz, weapons program chief Don Cook, nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington and Navy Adm. John Richardson, the director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, will testify before the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee at 9 a.m. […]

Deputy Energy Secretary Liz Sherwood-Randall made her first trip to the Savannah River Site in her current position last week, quietly visiting a variety of facilities. Among the stops on Sherwood-Randall’s tour was the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which is the subject of a pair of reviews while DOE officials wait to chart a […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 Modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent will begin to create “affordability problems” starting in 2021, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall told the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week. The 2021 period is just outside the five-year window included in budget documents earlier this […]

NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 IN CONGRESS Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said this week that she will not seek reelection in 2016, opening up the top Democratic slot on the powerful spending panel. Mikulski, 78, has spent the last 30 years in the Senate, becoming chairman of the Senate […]

NNSA Preparing Supplement Analysis Linked to New UPF Plans NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed it is “in the process” of preparing a Supplement Analysis to determine if the agency needs to revise Y-12’s site-wide environmental impact statement because of changing plans for the Uranium Processing Facility. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz told House appropriators this week that he is not in favor of changing the name of the Department of Energy as a Congressional advisory panel recommended last year, but declined to say whether he supports one of the more extreme recommendations of the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 Leaders of strategic deterrence advocacy groups are reacting positively to the Air Force’s implementation of the Force Improvement Program (FIP), which began in February 2014 to address morale issues and equipment flaws in the service’s nuclear enterprise. “We think the Force Improvement Program is the right program at the right […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/6/2015 The Congressional Budget Office has released information supplementing its January nuclear weapons cost study for Fiscal Year 2015-2024, which shows defense costs for all three legs of the nuclear triad peaking in either 2022 or 2023. The study estimates total government spending on nuclear weapons at $348 billion during the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed it is “in the process” of preparing a Supplement Analysis to determine if the agency needs to revise Y-12’s site-wide environmental impact statement at because of changing plans for the Uranium Processing Facility. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman at the NNSA’s Production Office, responded to questions about compliance with […]

National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz told House appropriators yesterday that he was not in favor of changing the name of the Department of Energy as a Congressional advisory panel recommended last year, but Klotz declined to say how whether he supports one of the more extreme recommendations of the panel: moving the semi-autonomous […]

Modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent will begin to create “affordability problems” starting in 2021, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics told the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee yesterday. The 2021 period is just outside the five-year window included in budget documents earlier this year, and coincides with the beginning of construction […]

The July 28, 2012, break-in by a trio of peace activists at the Y-12 National Security Complex is the subject of a lengthy article in the New Yorker this week. The article, by journalist Eric Schlosser, chronicles the security incident that led to a massive shakeup in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s security ranks as […]

National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz has warned that potential sequestration cuts in Fiscal Year 2016 could be “devastating” to the agency’s weapons program, but he said yesterday that any decisions about prioritizing work haven’t been made. And those decisions will only be made in consultation with the Department of Defense. “We will have […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 More than three dozen Air Force senior leaders convened at Minot AFB on Feb. 20 for the quarterly meeting of the Nuclear Oversight Board (NOB), whose creation was announced by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in November, days before announcing his resignation, according to an Air Force press release. “We […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 The Defense Department is reviewing the top three modernization plans of each leg of the nuclear triad as officials grapple with a tight budget environment while nuclear weapon systems are aging out of their service lives and modernization bills are coming due, according to the Navy’s top enlisted official. During […]