Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

NNSA to Issue Partial Stop Work Order to Contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/04/2014 The Obama Administration is moving to formally shut down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, with the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request submitted to Congress today providing money to place the project into “cold-standby,” and the Administration […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners is weighing its options after the Government Accountability Office late this week rejected its latest protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex contract award. The GAO upheld NNSA’s selection of Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for the new contract, whittling down the potential moves […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 After recent steps pointing toward the potential termination of the project, more clarity on the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is expected to come with the release of the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request next week. Bruce Held, acting head of the National Nuclear Security […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Faced with a barrage of questions from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee about modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent, new Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney this week signaled that investing in the nation’s nuclear deterrent should remain a priority for the Obama Administration. Haney appeared before the committee […]

UPF PROJECT DIRECTOR CONFIRMS DESIGN SLOW DOWN NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director John Eschenberg confirmed this week that work is being scaled back in some areas at the project while potential alternatives are being explored. Eschenberg, in a sideline interview following his Feb. 27 talk at the University of Tennessee’s Institute […]

NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch, the former commander of Strategic Air Command and former Air Force Chief of Staff, was awarded this week with the second annual Johnny Foster Award by ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums. Welch retired from the Air Force 24 years ago, but has been a fixture in the […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The Department of Energy is dissolving its Office of Health, Safety and Security in a new reorganization officially announced this week that DOE says is intended to better enhance its safety and security functions. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing first reported, the reorganization will entail the creation of a new […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 While Congress approved a reprogramming request to move $59.2 million to construction activities at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility late last year, those funds have yet to reach the project, NS&D Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration originally submitted the reprogramming request to Congress in early August […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The ‘Red Team’ that’s looking for affordable alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility is expected to have their recommendations to the National Nuclear Security Administration by mid-April, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, who’s heading the team. Mason said those are his “marching orders” from NNSA Acting […]

Acting NNSA Administrator Says Security Did Its Job Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Bruce Held, the acting administrator of the NNSA, this week confirmed new details of the mid-January incident involving the mishandling of uranium at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Responding to questions following his keynote address at the Sixth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held met with Y-12 National Security Complex officials this week and held an all-hands meeting at the plant to address a material accountability incident involving uranium oxide. NNSA spokeswoman Keri Fulton confirmed that an incident involving a small amount of U3O8, triuranium octoxide, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 Both House and Senate appropriators are looking to boost funds for Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction funding above the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 request and aim to prevent use of the funds to put the project into “cold standby.” Citing rising costs for the project, the Department of […]

Full House Committee Clears FY 2015 E&W Approps Bill, Providing $8.2B to NNSA Weapons Program Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 The House Appropriations Committee cleared its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, endorsing the National Nuclear Security Administration’s shift to what it called a “more realistic” strategy to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 With lawmakers raising questions about the Obama Administration’s ‘3+2’ strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney this week continued to advocate for the full suite of modernization efforts proposed by the Administration. Authorizers and appropriators in both the House and Senate have raised questions […]

70 Incumbent Employees Turn Down Job Offers from CNS Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 With less than two weeks to go before the official transition of contractors at Y-12 and Pantex, Consolidated Nuclear Security is going through a series of final readiness reviews in conjunction with the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office and taking […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 UPF Procurement Chief on Temporary Assignment in UK With the Uranium Processing Facility project in a lull while the National Nuclear Security Administration and its contractors put together a new strategy for how to proceed, the UPF procurement manager has temporarily left the project. Bechtel veteran Rich Brown, who’s headed the UPF […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 Klotz to Make First Visit to Plant on July 8 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will continue his tour of the weapons complex when he visits the Kansas City Plant July 8. Klotz’s visit will be timed with the completion of an 18-month move from the plant’s former home, the […]

National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will continue his tour of the weapons complex when he visits the Kansas City Plant July 8. Klotz’s visit will be timed with the completion of an 18-month move from the plant’s former home, the Bannister Federal Complex, to a new 1.5 million square foot facility about eight […]

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee spending bill for Fiscal Year 2015 would boost Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction funding to $400 million and would prevent funds from being used for “cold standby” of the project, panel Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said yesterday following a markup of the bill. Citing rising costs for […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Republicans and Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee, who previously have sparred over legislative language about the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, both expressed concern this week about increasing tension and flagging employee morale at the Board that was revealed by NW&M Monitor last week. NW&M Monitor also revealed […]

Staff reports NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said last week that he’s pleased with the way the transition of contractors is proceeding at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants. “What we’re pleased with is the positive collaboration between the incoming and outgoing contractors, which is our expectation,” Klotz […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014    Work underway to set up the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessment (IEA) is slowing down ongoing DOE enforcement investigations, IEA Director Glenn Podonsky said late this week. The new office, which was created as part of a reorganization of DOE’s safety and security functions, contains the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will visit the Pantex Plant June 17 as his tour across the weapons complex continues. Klotz last week visited the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in May he toured the Nevada National Security Site and Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. Confirmed in […]

Bill Would Trim $111 Million From Weapons Account, Boost Funding For MOX Facility Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, including a slight $111 million cut to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, though the […]

Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Tensions are running high at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board amidst personnel changes in a set of key management positions and a sharp drop in employee satisfaction over the last year, as well as a more recent Inspector General’s investigation in response to a complaint about […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 A stunning event that took place on July 28, 2012 took another stunning turn this week when the sentencing hearing for the three Y-12 protesters was postponed as it neared its conclusion because of surprising snowfall that forced the closure of the Federal Courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn. William Quigley, a […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Pantex Guards Union said this week it will seek to reinstate 11 security officers who were fired by contractor B&W Pantex after the company claimed they engaged in a “sick-out” and failed to report for work on Jan. 21. B&W filed a charge the 11 security officers assigned to […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week closed a 2009 recommendation on policies and standards related to quantitative risk assessment methodologies in the Department of Energy complex. In December, the Department told the DNFSB numerous steps it had taken to resolve issues in the recommendation “Risk Assessment Methodologies at […]

HONEYWELL LOOKING TO TRIM WORKFORCE BY 84 EMPLOYEES NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies is planning to trim its workforce by 84 employees, a spokesperson said this week. Honeywell spokeswoman Shaunda Parks said the plant’s move out of the Bannister Federal Complex and into a new home “necessitated” the […]

Y-12 STABILIZES WEEPING CYLINDERS AT BETA-2E NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 An unusual and potentially tricky situation in Y-12’s Beta-2E facility—where warhead parts are assembled and disassembled and inspected for quality—has apparently been stabilized until future actions for disposition become necessary. A November report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board described the situation and […]