Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Oak Ridge/Y-12/Pantex protective force contract are getting an extra 10 days to complete proposals, though the extension does not appear to be related to the recent security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The NNSA yesterday issued a second amendment to the Request for Proposals on […]

Babcock & Wilcox yesterday reported improved earnings for the second quarter of 2012, with revenue increasing $100 million over the same quarter in 2011. The company reported revenues of $852.6 million in the quarter ending June 30, adding up to $0.54 earnings per share, compared to $0.39 in the second quarter of 2011. However, B&W […]

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) continued to pressure the Administration for backing off its plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal, releasing a June 5 letter that calls on President Obama to restore funding for the modernization plan. Turner has led the charge to restore funding for the modernization plan, and the House-passed […]

In a scathing editorial published yesterday, the New York Times ripped a House of Representatives plan to link reductions to the nation’s nuclear stockpile to implementation of the New START Treaty. “Did House Republicans somehow miss the end of the cold war?” the Times said, discounting “misplaced strategic priorities” in the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense […]

The topic of New Mexico’s two nuclear weapons laboratories is becoming a hot topic in the race for Jeff Bingaman’s Senate seat, the Albuquerque Journal said yesterday. A spokesman for Republican candidate Heather Wilson blasted Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich for supporting the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act earlier this month, which does […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has finalized the structure of its new production office, establishing a mix of federal officials between the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant. The agency will celebrate the opening of the new geographically dispersed office—functional leadership of the office is split between the two sites—with ceremonies in Amarillo […]

Thirty-three House Democrats want President Obama to make good on a promise to veto the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act if it contains House-passed provisions linking tying the implementation of the New START Treaty with Russia to efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent. In a June 18 letter, the lawmakers—led by Rep. Ed […]

A new report by the Washington Times suggests the Obama Administration is poised to push for reductions dramatically below the levels found in the New START Treaty to as low as 1,000 strategic deployed nuclear weapons. According to the Times, the new reduction target would be outlined in a soon-to-be-released Nuclear Posture Review implementation study […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration needs to increase its investment in nuclear weapon and material transportation infrastructure as workload is expected to rise in the next decade, according to an analysis by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General released Tuesday. The truck fleet run by the agency’s Office of Secure Transportation is past […]

A priest was arrested last week and is facing 18 months in jail after breaking into the National Nuclear Security Administration’s under-construction Kansas City Plant, which is being built several miles from the plant’s current home. Carl Kabat, who was identified by the National Catholic Reporter as a 78-year-old priest from the Missionary Oblates of […]

The conventional wisdom among Republicans advocating modernizing the nation’s nuclear weapons complex is that investments in the weapons complex are necessary to allow the nation to reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal. But a former Obama Administration official said late last week that the reverse is also true, and he suggested that existing support among Democrats […]

Two employees from the Nevada National Security Site are being honored as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s contractor and federal security professionals of the year, an award that was renamed this year to honor former NNSA security chief Brad Peterson, who was killed in a car crash earlier this year. The Nevada Site Office’s DeAnn […]

A new report out by the Project on Government Oversight and Taxpayers for Common Sense suggests massive cuts to plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex as part of a plan that could reduce the nation’s deficit by $688 billion over the next 10 years. The report takes aim at a host of familiar […]

Arms control advocates for the second straight year are up in arms over language in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act that would tie funding to implement the New START Treaty with Russia to efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal, accusing House Republicans of “partisan hostage […]

With the House set to take up its version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act today, the White House is threatening to veto the bill if it contains provisions that would link implementation of the New START Treaty with efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. In a Statement of Administration Policy […]

A report that will be issued today by Global Zero, and backed by retired Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman Gen. James Cartwright, suggests that the United States could drastically reduce its nuclear stockpile and eliminate one leg of the triad, the New York Times and Associated Press reported. According to news outlets, the Global […]

A handful of arms control groups have submitted to the White House a petition that includes more than 50,000 signatures urging President Obama to follow through on his vision to reduce United States reliance on nuclear weapons. The groups submitted the petition during a May 7 meeting with Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications […]

A tower that was used for above-ground nuclear experiments during the 1960s will finally be demolished next week. The Bare Reactor Experiment-Nevada (BREN) Tower stands 1,527 feet tall, and is larger than the Empire State Building in New York City and Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Tower. The NNSA said it will be the tallest structure to […]

Reducing the size of the nation’s nuclear arsenal to 900 nuclear weapons, as a report issued by Global Zero yesterday advocates, would allow the nation to significantly scale back its plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal, the study’s chairman said in a teleconference with reporters yesterday. Retired Gen. James Cartwright, who […]

Debate in the House on the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Act began late last week, and Republicans fought back an attempt to cut $180.4 million from the NNSA’s weapons account. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment that would have cut the funds from the NNSA’s weapons account and shift it to […]

A new study sponsored by the Stimson Center puts the annual tab for maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrent at as much as $31 billion, more than 50 percent more than the Administration’s own estimate of what it takes to steward the nuclear deterrent. The figure, which represents Fiscal Year 2011 spending, includes $8.2 billion in […]

With the start of construction on the Uranium Processing Facility looming, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising concerns about some of the safety features designed for the facility. In an April 2 letter to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Tom D’Agostino, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur revealed that the agency earlier this year had […]

Fiscal Year 2011 Performance Evaluation Reviews are continuing to trickle out of the National Nuclear Security Administration. After releasing the annual report cards for six of its contractors early last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by NW&M Monitor and other media outlet and organizations, the agency released the FY2011 PER […]

The United States is continuing to slowly reduce its strategic deployed nuclear stockpile under the New START Treaty’s counting rules, according to the twice yearly exchange of data released about U.S. and Russian weapons required under the New START Treaty. As of March 1, the U.S. has 1,737 strategic deployed nuclear warheads, the State Department […]

Earlier rumblings of possible lawsuits to stall construction of the Uranium Processing Facility have not materialized, but the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance—with the support of other activist groups and peace organizations—has stepped up efforts to sway public opinion and influence Congressional appropriators about the high-priced government project. On April 13, OREPA released a seven-page […]

GOP frustration with the Obama Administration’s recent decision to scale back its plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal boiled over yesterday as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee blasted the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to defer construction of a major plutonium handling facility for five […]

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has been a frequent critic of the Administration and its decision to scale back its nuclear modernization plans in the face of budgetary pressure, but in a speech yesterday, Kyl placed part of the blame on a different party: Congress. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club, Kyl suggested that the actions by appropriators […]

During debate on the New START Treaty in 2010, the directors of the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories endorsed the Obama Administration’s nuclear modernization plan. But given the changes to the plan in the last 18 months, which include the deferment of construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and delays to the […]

Sen. Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who helped secure promises from the Obama Administration to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex in arsenal in exchange for his support of the New START Treaty, is urging Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) to hold a hearing to assess whether the Administration is still living […]

Three Senate Republicans took to Politico yesterday to urge the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to boost funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. In an April 22 commentary, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) suggested that the appropriations panel—which marks up the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy […]