Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Photographs being distributed anonymously that purport to show a security officer asleep on the job, as well as using an unauthorized cell phone or electronic device, inside the high-security Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could present a budding security scandal in Oak Ridge. Building 3019, which houses a large stockpile of fissile uranium-233, is considered so […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has released another set of questions and answers to the final Request for Proposals for its combined Y-12 National Security Complex/Pantex Plant management and operating contract. The fourth set of Q&As released since the final RFP was published in December, the latest group clears up potential questions about when contractors […]

As the Obama Administration considers changes to the nation’s nuclear force structure, potentially moving toward a smaller nuclear force, the Administration should begin planning now to scale back its plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent rather than waiting for budget realities to dictate changes, a Congressional Research Service official said at an Arms Control […]

Ted Sherry, who until December was the top federal official at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 Site Office, has joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help build the lab’s national security work, ORNL Global Security chief Brent Park said Friday. Sherry will start Feb. 6 as the Director of Advanced Programs, and Park said […]

While the federal workforce at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant is expected to shrink as part of the consolidation of the management and operating contracts at the sites, don’t expect it to happen quickly. Pantex Site Office Manager Steve Erhart, who has been tapped to head up the new Nuclear Security […]

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) continued to lash out at lawmakers that have suggested that the nation’s nuclear deterrent should be a target for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, suggesting that spending estimates for the nation’s nuclear activities have been greatly exaggerated. Led by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), 65 Congressmen on Oct. 11 called […]

Babcock & Wilcox yesterday reported a revenue increase of more than 10 percent in the third quarter of 2011, though the company also saw a drop in operating income from last year. For the third quarter of 2011, B&W reported revenues of $707.6 million, an increase of $74.8 million, or 11.8 percent, from the same […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s biggest backer is continuing to push for full funding for the agency’s weapons program. In the wake of a hearing with senior Administration officials last week, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, yesterday released a Nov. 4 letter to leaders on the […]

The battle over nuclear modernization funding could be close to claiming its first victim. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) yesterday moved to block the nomination of the Obama Administration’s pick to be the ambassador to Russia over concerns about potential cuts to funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. With the Administration’s funding plan […]

With potential cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program looming, the Obama Administration isn’t doing enough to advocate for its own nuclear weapons modernization plan, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) said yesterday. Senate and House appropriators have cut between $400 and $500 million from the NNSA’s weapons program, and while Republicans on both sides […]

If and when the Obama Administration ramps up its push for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, its plan for modernization of the nation’s weapons complex and arsenal is almost certain to play a central role in the debate. But several nuclear weapons experts and supporters of the treaty suggested yesterday that the two […]

Senate leaders have given up on a plan to move a standalone bill containing 71 amendments that failed to make it into the chamber’s version of the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization Act, including a provision that would allow the Department of Defense to transfer $125 million to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. […]

Sixty-two lawmakers have signed on to a letter drafted by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that calls on the Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction to cut liberally from the nation’s nuclear weapons budget as it looks for areas in the federal budget to slash. Markey will join retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, chairman of the […]

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The chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee fired back at a plan to reduce government spending unveiled by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) yesterday, calling a plan that would slash funding to maintain and modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent by $200 billion over 10 years “irrational.” With the support of 63 other House […]

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and eight other Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee are urging their counterparts in the Senate to “stand by” a commitment to fund the modernization of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex as lawmakers continue to face significant pressure to cut from portions of the plan. In the letter, Turner, the […]

Gen. Robert Kehler, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, acknowledged yesterday that Congressional belt-tightening is forcing the command to examine all facets of its deterrent mission, but he advocated for maintaining the modernization plan for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal and maintaining the current triad of nuclear delivery vehicles. Speaking to reporters at […]

Repeating criticism of Senate cuts to nuclear weapons modernization efforts in the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) shot back at Senate aides who have brushed off his accusations that other projects were funded at the expense of modernization. Yesterday, Turner repeated his […]

The Pentagon’s willingness to transfer additional budget authority to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program depends largely on the appetite in Congress for the agency’s modernization program, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Miller told NW&M Monitor. The Pentagon transferred $5.7 billion of its budget authority for Fiscal Years 2011-2015—and another […]

With just a few weeks remaining before the Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction is expected to complete its work, the New York Times weighed in on the nation’s nuclear budget with a scathing take on the Obama Administration’s nuclear modernization plans. In an editorial published yesterday, the Times mirrors positions taken recently by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) […]

Four senior Obama Administration officials are slated to appear before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Wednesday as the panel examines the ongoing Pentagon nuclear deterrence review, the impact of budget cuts to the Administration’s nuclear modernization plan and plans for future nuclear reductions. Jim Miller, the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for […]