Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Writing in the Washington Post, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft yesterday suggested a measured approach to future reductions to the nation’s nuclear stockpile based. Three hundred warheads, which is said to be the low end of the range of reductions being considered by the Obama Administration, is […]

The Government Accountability Office has given a sound bill of health to a 2009 Air Force/National Nuclear Security Administration study that recommended against increasing the transport of nuclear weapons via air travel. The GAO was asked by Congress to analyze the results and methodology of the Congressionally mandated study that found that despite technological advances, […]

Brad Peterson, the principal deputy assistant deputy administrator of the NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation, is in critical condition at an Albuquerque, N.M., hospital after he was involved in a serious car accident Saturday. Peterson was a passenger in a car that was struck by a speeding vehicle while turning onto Eubank Boulevard from a […]

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, will formally introduce a bill today to tie progress on modernizing the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal to current and future reductions to the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Turner’s “Maintaining the President’s Commitment to our Nuclear Deterrent and National Security Act […]

Senior National Nuclear Security Administration official Brad Peterson, who most recently served as the deputy chief of the agency’s Office of Secure Transportation, died yesterday due to injuries sustained in a serious car accident in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday. He was 53. Peterson was a passenger in a car that was struck by a speeding […]

Three teams are expected to submit bids for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract by Tuesday’s deadline, closing the latest chapter in a protracted effort to change the agency’s contracting strategy for its nuclear production facilities. A team led by Babcock & Wilcox and including URS, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell […]

Dianne Ely will take over the new Directed Stockpile Work and Campaigns Program Director for Pantex Plant contractor B&W Pantex, replacing Jeff Yarbrough, who recently accepted a position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Ely has worked as B&W Pantex’s acting Deputy General Manager for the last seven months, and she previously served as the plant’s […]

John Eschenberg, who is currently serving as the interim manager of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office, is taking over as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Federal Project Director on the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility. Eschenberg had headed up cleanup activities at the Oak Ridge Office before taking over as the acting federal head […]

Michael Lempke is set to take over as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Associate Administrator for Infrastructure and Operations, shifting from the Office of Naval Reactors’ Naval Reactors Laboratory Field Office to assume responsibility for the agency’s site offices, NW&M Monitor has learned. Lempke will also serve as the agency’s Associate Principal Deputy Administrator, reporting […]

The Obama Administration should move quickly to further reduce the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile, the New York Times said in an editorial yesterday that suggested that a smaller stockpile could lessen the need to ramp up spending to modernize the nation’s arsenal and weapons complex. Such thinking runs counter to central bargain between […]

Senate Republicans are ramping up their criticism of the Obama Administration’s decision to scale back some of its modernization plans, with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) sparring with National Nuclear Security Administration chief Tom D’Agostino at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee budget hearing yesterday. Sessions, the top Republican on the panel, blasted the Administration […]

Sessions’ assault on the Administration’s budget came at the same time that the Republican Policy Committee outlined its stance on the issue, which mirrored the concerns raised by Sessions and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the leading voice among Senate Republicans on nuclear weapons issues. The committee is chaired by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). “President Obama […]

As part of the standup of the new NNSA Production Office, which will oversee the agency’s combined Y-12 National Security Complex/Pantex Plant management and operating contract, manager Steve Erhart will relocate to Oak Ridge, but he cautioned observers from reading too much into the decision. “There could be perceptions, but I really believe there’s no […]

The decision to shift oversight of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s field offices out of the Office of Defense Programs represents a move to better align the offices with the rest of the agency, Principal Deputy Administrator Neile Miller told NW&M Monitor in an interview. Miller outlined the changes to NNSA leadership late last week, […]

The debate between Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on the nation’s nuclear weapons budget is showing no signs of dying down any time soon. Turner extended the back-and-forth between the lawmakers yesterday, suggesting that Markey’s opposition to funding modernization efforts for the NNSA’s weapons complex is based on “grossly inaccurate, or wholly […]

Activists claimed success yesterday in the Administration’s deferment of the Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and said the fate of the facility would be a model for the elimination of other large Department of Energy construction projects. At a Capitol Hill briefing, members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a […]

The financial issues facing the nation provide the necessary spark to reform the National Nuclear Security Administration, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee told reporters yesterday. Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) has held a hearing and several briefings exploring potential NNSA reform, and while he declined to predict how far his […]

The three teams that submitted bids for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract will give oral presentations to the agency during the first week of May. The agency has notified bidders of the oral presentation schedule, which is set to run for three days beginning Tuesday, May 1. The three […]

Advocates for increasing funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program won’t find an ally in Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Feinstein suggested at an NNSA budget hearing yesterday that the Administration’s $7.58 million request for the agency’s weapons program “provides more than sufficient […]

The Government Accountability Office is expected to release a report today on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s now-deferred Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, and the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee has suggested the report won’t reflect favorably on the project. Much has changed since the committee chaired by Sen. […]

President Barack Obama yesterday reaffirmed his intention to reduce the nation’s nuclear stockpile through additional negotiations with Russia, suggesting in a speech at Hankuk University in Seoul, South Korea that he would discuss the potential reductions with Russian President Vladimir Putin in May. In South Korea for the second Nuclear Security Summit, Obama’s comments reflect […]

If the National Nuclear Security Administration restarts the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, it will likely need to be bigger—and more expensive—than current plans, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. According to the report, “New Plutonium Research Facility at Los Alamos May Not Meet All […]

Will the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility be deferred longer than five years, or not built at all? That’s the concern of the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, who suggested yesterday that the Administration’s modernization plan could be in jeopardy further into the future due to decisions made for […]

A group of 43 Republican Senators is vowing to oppose any additional reductions to the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, calling President Obama’s suggestion earlier this week that the U.S. could reduce its nuclear arsenal below the ceiling set by the New START Treaty “ill-advised.” Obama reaffirmed the Administration’s plans to reduce the nation’s stockpile earlier […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Stockpile Stewardship Program received a strong vote of confidence from the National Academy of Sciences panel analyzing technical issues facing the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but committee members continued to register concern about the future of the program. Speaking at a report briefing Friday, study chair Ellen Williams suggested that political […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has released the first set of Fiscal Year 2011 Performance Evaluation Reviews under a new policy that allows the contractor report cards to be shared with the public. The Department of Energy earlier this year reversed a policy that had kept the reviews hidden, and reviews for six NNSA contractors […]

While the Obama Administration’s recent decision to delay work on a replacement for the Ohio class nuclear submarine and the expectation of a massive cut to funding for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility have led some lawmakers to accuse the Administration of backing off of its nuclear modernization promises, a senior State Department official […]

Efforts to streamline support functions and reduce costs across the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science received an endorsement from the Government Accountability Office yesterday, though the watchdog agency noted in a report that future consolidation and streamlining attempts could run into challenges from the contractors that manage NNSA […]

Scott Smith will serve as the project manager for new National Nuclear Security Administration Enterprise Construction Management Services contractor Parsons, NW&M Monitor has learned. The NNSA formally announced the contract award yesterday, but hadn’t released details about the composition of Parsons’ winning team, which includes Project Assistance Corp. and Vector Resources. Smith has headed up […]

A sixth set of questions and answers on the final Request for Proposals for the consolidated Y-12/Pantex contract has been posted. The three pages of questions and answers can be found here.