Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Mystery Material Sets Off Monitoring Alarms at Y-12 Beta-2E Facility NS&D Monitor 12/5/2014 For the first time in at least 15 years, a worker’s personal air monitor picked up an “action level” of an unidentified hazardous material used in a secret operation in a secret part of the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to a […]

The current level of spending on nuclear weapons “is unnecessary and unsustainable,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) argues in a Dec. 3 op-ed in the Washington Post. Feinstein, currently the chair of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, makes the case for reducing the number of ‘hedge’ weapons in the stockpile. “Of our stockpile of […]

Robert Scher, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, signaled support for nuclear modernization and fixing the problems found in recent reviews of the nuclear enterprise in testimony yesterday at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.  “[W]e have spent a lot of time working to ensure […]

The United States must upgrade its nuclear deterrent and the $60-$100 billion pricetag to modernize all three legs of the triad included in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review should be manageable, former Congressman Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) and National Defense Panel member told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on the sidelines of a Dec. 2 hearing before […]

An Operations Squad Commander with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Secure Transportation “engaged in unsuitable, reportable behaviors,” the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said yesterday. The IG did not release its report on the Office of Secure Transportation, which protects nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons components as they are transported around the weapons […]

The National Defense Panel, co-chaired by Dr. William Perry and Gen. John Abizaid, at 10 a.m. today will deliver its verbal assessment of the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review released in July to the House Armed Services Committee. The panel’s written assessment, released July 31, asserts that modernization of nuclear forces – namely long-range strike capabilities […]

If the military reduces its planned SSBN posture from 12 to eight, delays the start construction date of the Ohio-class replacement from Fiscal Year 2021 to FY 2025, and defers development of the long-range strike bomber until at least FY 2025, the U.S. would save $55 billion, according to a recently released Congressional Budget Office […]

President Obama should scale back plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the New York Times said in a Nov. 28 editorial. Referencing recent promises by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to improve the working conditions of the Navy and Air Force legs of the nuclear deterrent, the Times suggested that “more spending on security […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is splitting its Office of Secure Transportation support services contract into three parts to help boost small business interest in the contracts, the NNSA said last week. The current OST support services contract is held by New Mexico-based Innovative Technology Partnerships, but the follow-on contracts will be broken into five-year […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Uranium Processing Facility project officials provided the first glimpse of the new approach on the revamped multi-billion-dollar project this week, revealing that the structure will consist of three main buildings. The approach represents a departure from the “big box” strategy that was scrapped earlier this year because of massive […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise briefed Congress last week on its final recommendations and is putting the finishing touches on its report, NS&D Monitor has learned. The report was initially due in July, but delays in standing up the panel slowed its progress, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 Soon after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced last week  upcoming reforms to the under-resourced U.S. nuclear enterprise, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called for his Congressional peers to appropriate funding toward the aging nuclear arsenal, and urged President Obama to dump his “Global Zero” […]

As is our annual practice, NS&D Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox Dec. 5. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will continue to be published Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 A high emphasis on past performance and a lack of focus on broad manufacturing approaches could dissuade some companies from bidding on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City National Security Campus contract, industry officials have told NS&D Monitor. The NNSA said earlier this month that it was planning to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 The United States should take another look at its policy of excluding low-enriched uranium from foreign-owned companies from its tritium production efforts, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released late last week. In a report requested by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the GAO noted […]

Permanent Security Fence Going Up in Front of Y-12 NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 A new security barrier is being constructed at the Y-12 National Security Complex and this time it will be permanent. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office, confirmed this week that a “temporary” security fence alongside Y-12 entrance […]

NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 IN THE WHITE HOUSE Jon Wolfsthal, a former arms control and nonproliferation advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, has been appointed as the senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Wolfsthal will begin his new job Dec. 1, serving as a President Obama’s top advisor on arms […]

The Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise briefed Congress last week on its final recommendations and is putting the finishing touches on its report, NS&D Monitor has learned. The report was initially due in July, but delays in standing up the panel slowed its progress, though its chairmen, former Lockheed […]

The U.S. should take another look at its policy of excluding low-enriched uranium from foreign-owned companies from its tritium production efforts, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Friday. In a report requested by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the GAO noted that conditions have changed drastically since the […]

Moments after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s Nov. 14 announcement of upcoming reforms to the under-resourced U.S. nuclear enterprise, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called for his congressional peers to appropriate funding toward the aging nuclear arsenal, and charged President Obama to dump his “Global Zero” philosophy, equating the concept […]

  Hagel: Pentagon to Increase Funding to Rejuvenate Nuclear Enterprise Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 The Defense Department plans to increase funding for the U.S. nuclear enterprise by an additional 10 percent over the next five years to help reform the nation’s aging nuclear deterrent, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Nov. 14. The funding will […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 The United States can afford nuclear modernization, but where it falls on President Obama’s list is a matter for debate and will determine which projects will get done. That was the message that Clark Murdock, Director of the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is not planning to release the names of the Source Selection Authority or Source Evaluation Board for its Kansas City National Security Campus procurement, the agency said late last week. “We consider the name of the source selection authority and any source evaluation board member […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 National Security Technologies officials are working to improve the safety culture at the Nevada National Security Site after being prompted to shape up in a recent letter from Nevada Field Office Manager Steve Lawrence. The National Nuclear Safety Administration hasn’t released the letter from Lawrence, but it was prompted by […]

One Guard Involved in 2013 Machine Gun Accidental Discharge Back at Work NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has remained mum about fallout from the July 28, 2013 security incident in which a machine gun was accidentally discharged inside a hardened patrol vehicle at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, but a union official […]

Developer Begins Study on Remediation of Former KC Plant Home NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 Work to disposition the National Nuclear Security Administration’s former home at the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City began this week as developer CenterPoint Properties Trust started an extensive site analysis and environmental review of the World War II era facility. CenterPoint […]

If the Obama Administration prioritizes nuclear modernization, the nuclear triad can survive a tight budgetary climate. That was the message that Clark Murdock, Director of the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, delivered on Wednesday at CSIS’ annual Global Security Forum in Washington. “The question is what does the […]

Work to disposition the National Nuclear Security Administration’s former home at the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City began yesterday as developer CenterPoint Properties Trust started an extensive site analysis and environmental review of the World War II era facility. CenterPoint teamed with Zimmer Real Estate Services to build a new home for the NNSA’s […]

National Security Technologies officials are working to improve the safety culture at the Nevada National Security Site after being prompted to shape up in a recent letter from Nevada Field Office Manager Steve Lawrence. The NNSA hasn’t released the letter from Lawrence, but it was prompted by a series of incidents, including a June 13 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is not planning to release the names of the Source Selection Authority or Source Evaluation Board for its Kansas City National Security Campus procurement, NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver said Friday. The agency announced the SEB for its Y-12/Pantex procurement, but shied away from revealing the SSA once the contract was […]