Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. AECOM Facing Legal Challenges to Planned Purchase of URS AECOM disclosed earlier this month that it is facing several […]

Fired Y-12 Guard Loses Final Appeal for Reinstatement NS&D Monitor 8/22/2014 One of the casualties of 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has suffered another setback. Kirk Garland, the security police officer fired after the security breach, lost his arbitration case in which he sought backpay and reinstatement. Garland said he was notified […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s new Kansas City Plant will be formally dedicated Friday in an event that is expected to be attended by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), among others. Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies completed the move to its new home last month, […]

After establishing a program manager for uranium production, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said the agency is strengthening—and in some cases creating—program manager positions for all of its life extension programs as well as its plutonium and tritium work. Speaking at U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium in La Vista, Neb., last week, Klotz […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold its second public meeting on safety culture at Department of Energy nuclear facilities on Aug. 27 at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. During the all-day meeting, the DNFSB will hear testimony during a 9 a.m. session from senior Navy officials about the Navy’s approach to maintaining its nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is proposing to consolidate its production of tritium to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar site, according to a recently released draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The preferred alternative outlined in the long-awaited Aug. 1 SEIS outlines the NNSA’s interest in irradiating 2,500 tritium-producing burnable absorber rods at Watts Bar, […]

Madelyn Creedon will be sworn in as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator today, NNSA spokesman Al Stotts said. Creedon’s swearing in will take place in a small ceremony in the office of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Creedon was confirmed by the Senate July 23 after a lengthy wait. She’ll make the move […]

As is our annual practice, Nuclear Security and Deterrence Monitor is taking a summer publication break and will not publish for the next two weeks. The next regular issue will be on your desk Aug. 22. Subscribers to the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing service will receive editions twice-a-week on a Tuesday/Thursday basis during the break. […]

Recommendation Would Avoid Call For Drastic Move to DoD, Independent Agency Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 The Congressional advisory panel on the governance of the nuclear security enterprise is solidifying the recommendations it will make in its final report and is preparing to call for the authority of the National Nuclear Security Administration to be […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 The second anniversary of the July 28, 2012, security breach that radically transformed the Y-12 National Security Complex and had an impact on security throughout the government enterprise passed this week, and the three perpetrators—self-named the Transform Now Plowshares—issued a statement defending their actions and calling on followers to not […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 The delivery of key nuclear detonation sensor equipment for use on Air Force satellites has been jeopardized by poor project management at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office report released this week. The National Nuclear Security Administration was tasked with producing […]

NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board Member Joseph Bader passed away this week at the age of 75. Bader had served on the DNFSB since 2004, and previously held executive and senior management positions at several companies, including Hill International, Inc., Fluor Daniel, Inc., Urenco, Inc., Exxon Nuclear and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In […]

DNFSB Reveals Concerns About Maintaining Y-12 Uranium Facilities NS&D Monitor 8/1/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has so far refused to release a copy of the annual assessment of Y-12’s old production facilities, but a recently released memo by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board revealed some highlights—as well as the concerns about […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration spent $3.3 million to compete the combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contracts, according to a cost-benefit analysis sent by the agency to Congress earlier this year. The report was mandated by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2013 and 2014 Defense Authorization bills due to questions from lawmakers about the cost […]

Deputy Energy Secretary Nominee Faces Long Road After Senate Energy Hearing Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 Madelyn Creedon was confirmed by the Senate this week as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Principal Deputy Administrator, giving the agency a full complement of Senate-confirmed officials for the first time in nearly 20 months. Creedon, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 With new Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security in place, the Uranium Processing Facility is revamping its management structure and bringing in a senior project management official from Los Alamos National Laboratory to serve as deputy project director. Project Director Brian Reilly said in a recent message to the UPF project […]

Security Guards Reach Settlement With Former Site Security Contractor NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 More than 350 Oak Ridge security guards will receive back pay for overtime as a result of a settlement in their 2012 federal lawsuit against G4S Government Solutions, the government’s former security contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and Oak Ridge National […]

NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 Y-12’s Procurement Operations were recently recognized by the NNSA for achieving the highest savings rate across the weapons complex in 2013. Y-12 was able to achieve a 6.51 percent savings rate on its total strategic spending, according to the NNSA’s Supply Chain Management Center. The NNSA also said that Y-12 was embarking […]

Madelyn Creedon was confirmed by the Senate yesterday as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Principal Deputy Administrator, giving the agency a full complement of Senate-confirmed officials for the first time in nearly 20 months. Creedon, who was confirmed by a voice vote, joins NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz, Defense Programs chief Don Cook and Nonproliferation chief […]

The Senate is expected to vote today on the nomination of Madelyn Creedon to be the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Principal Deputy Administrator, potentially ending a more than nine-month confirmation wait. Creedon was nominated to the position Nov. 7 but her nomination has been stalled in the Senate due to a partisan stalemate on nominees. […]

With new Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security in place, the Uranium Processing Facility is revamping its management structure and bringing in a senior project management official from Los Alamos National Laboratory to serve as deputy project director. Project Director Brian Reilly said in a recent message to the UPF project team obtained by NS&D Monitor […]

Temporary Fencing at Y-12 Entrance Still Drawing Questions NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Fifteen months after a “temporary” security fence was erected to block an area near the entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex, the temporary structure is still in place and apparently will remain so for the foreseeable future. The fence was constructed along the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Reforms that have helped cut costs and streamline operations at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant may not be widely applicable elsewhere across the weapons complex, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week that summarizes previous studies of the Kansas City Plant model. The model, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Figuring out what is wrong with the National Nuclear Security Administration may have been the easy part for the Congressional advisory panel on governance of the nuclear enterprise, but coming up with recommendations on how to fix the agency is proving to be a little more difficult. The 12-member advisory […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear criticality safety program is improving but remains “inadequate,” according to a Department of Energy report submitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board late last week. Operations at the lab’s Plutonium Facility have been paused since June of last year because of criticality safety concerns—the […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, who headed the Red Team that reviewed the uranium operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex and recommended an alternative strategy to the Uranium Processing Facility, had a positive response to the NNSA’s creation of a uranium program manager. NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/18/2014 As some cleanup work at the Savannah River Site is winding down, the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, is looking to emphasize the role SRS facilities can play in future national security and nonproliferation missions, new SRNS President Carol Johnson told WC Monitor in a recent interview. A […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has closed a 2004 recommendation that called on the Department of Energy to strengthen active confinement ventilation systems at National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management sites. When it first drafted the recommendation, the Board was concerned that DOE was relying on […]

NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate confirmed career foreign service officer Robert Wood by voice vote July 15 as the United States’ Representative to the Conference on Disarmament. Wood’s confirmation came nearly seven months after he was first nominated to the position. Wood has been serving as the top U.S. official at the CD […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has closed a 2004 recommendation that called on the Department of Energy to strengthen its active confinement systems at National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management sites. When it drafted the recommendation, the Board was concerned that DOE was relying on passive or non-safety related confinement systems […]