Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has formally told Secretary of Energy Chris Wright that the board plans to remain active on safety despite being down to a single member. The DNFSB’s acting chair, Thomas Summers, left the small agency when his term ended Oct. 18. The Summers’ exit leaves Patricia Lee as the […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the Bechtel-led contractor team that oversees the Y-12 National Security Complex, is looking at office space near the facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. CNS recently took in expressions of interest (EOI) from potential suppliers of office space located within five to 20 miles of the Y-12 complex at the Department of […]

National news outlets reported early Tuesday that former Vice President Richard (Dick) Cheney has died at age 84. The Wyoming native served as vice president to President George W. Bush for eight years after serving in Congress and in high-level positions, including secretary of defense and chief of staff, for various Republican administrations, Fox News […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes Brandon Williams, the newly confirmed administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will prioritize a list of safety challenges that the board wrote him about last month. “Congratulations on your confirmation as Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)!” the nation’s nuclear safety watchdog started its […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) officially announced Saturday Oct. 18 that Acting Chair Thomas Summers has ended his service with the agency following the expiration of his five-year term. “Mr. Summers served the board with distinction, most recently as acting chairman, leading the agency during a period of significant transition and sustained operational […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) furloughed around 1,400 employees, 80% of its workforce, with only 375 exempted as critical personnel that will still come into work Monday. “Today, roughly 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration is being furloughed,” Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Monday. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) furloughed around 1,400 employees, 80% of its workforce, with only 375 exempted as critical personnel that will still come into work Monday. A source told the Exchange Monitor Monday the current focus is keeping the Y-12 National Security Complex and Pantex Plant running since both sites run out of […]

Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week that a prolonged shutdown would force temporary suspension of nuclear security programs. Williams told Johnson this in a private meeting, Politico reported. Williams, who oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and nonproliferation programs, said such programs and […]

“House of Dynamite,” a major motion picture about a potential nuclear strike on a major U.S. city, has opened in theatres and streams on Netflix Oct. 24. The thriller film, directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, known for movies “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” centers around the U.S. Strategic Command, the White House Situation […]

Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill at the end of September with the goal to reduce spending on nuclear weapons, a release on Markey’s website said. According to Markey’s website, the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act (SANE) would reduce the number of Columbia-class submarines purchased from 12 to eight, […]

Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill at the end of September with the goal to reduce spending on nuclear weapons, a release on Markey’s website said. According to Markey’s website, the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act (SANE) would reduce the number of Columbia-class submarines purchased from 12 to eight, […]

“House of Dynamite,” a major motion picture about a potential nuclear strike on a major U.S. city, has opened in theatres and streams on Netflix Oct. 24. The thriller film, directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, known for movies “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” centers around the U.S. Strategic Command, the White House Situation […]

Thomas Summers, the acting chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), is scheduled to see his tenure on the safety watchdog for Department of Energy defense nuclear sites come to an end later this month. Summers, a retired Air Force colonel who has also served as a senior adviser in the Office of […]

WASHINGTON – For technical reasons there is no current need for the United States to conduct above-ground or underground nuclear weapons’ tests, David Beck, President Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy administrator of defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), told a Senate hearing Tuesday.  Beck was responding to Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), whose […]

Management for a Y-12 building found its emergency notification system in “degrading condition” due to its volume levels lowering, according to a September nuclear watchdog report. The buildings in question are Building 9204-2E and Building 9204-2, which are conjoined by a section of a wall. While work orders have been placed to repair the emergency […]

The Senate, amid an ongoing government shutdown, passed its mammoth annual authorization bill, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 70-20 Thursday with an en bloc amendment that includes a provision on an explosives facility in Amarillo, Texas. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had a 71-page en bloc amendment […]

Thomas Summers, the acting chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), is scheduled to see his tenure on the safety watchdog for Department of Energy defense nuclear sites come to an end later this month. Summers, a retired Air Force colonel who has also served as a senior adviser in the Office of […]

Management for a Y-12 building found its emergency notification system in “degrading condition” due to its volume levels lowering, according to a September nuclear watchdog report. The buildings in question are Building 9204-2E and Building 9204-2, which are conjoined by a section of a wall. While work orders have been placed to repair the emergency […]

Thomas Summers, the acting chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), is scheduled to see his tenure on the safety watchdog for Department of Energy defense nuclear sites come to an end later this month. Summers, a retired Air Force colonel who has also served as a senior adviser in the Office of […]

WASHINGTON – For technical reasons there is no current need for the United States to conduct above-ground or underground nuclear weapons’ tests, David Beck, President Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy administrator of defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), told a Senate hearing Tuesday.  Beck was responding to Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), whose […]

President Donald Trump last week signed an order extending the lifespan of 19 federal advisory committees, including one devoted to the study of radiation and worker health, by two years. According to the order, signed Sept. 29 and published in the Monday Federal Register, the advisory committees will continue to operate until at least Sept. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

As the government funding deadline looms and the House is until Wednesday, government agencies, including the Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, are preparing for the possibility of a shutdown. If no eleventh-hour stopgap is agreed to, a shutdown could start at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday Oct. 1, just after the end […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed treating four flanged tritium waste containers, according to a Sept. 26 press release by the New Mexico Environment Department. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous branch in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile informed the New Mexico Environment Department […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) does not have a plan to safely continue operating in an aged uranium processing facility until the new one is ready, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages at the Oak Ridge […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) failed to provide “real-time monitoring data” on its radioactive tritium venting to the local community, local environmentalist groups said this week. A Sept. 18 statement by Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations in Los Alamos that includes Concerned Citizens […]

Tritium venting is complete on two of four flanged waste containers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Sunday Sept. 21. After some glitches, work was paused Sunday prior to resuming depressurization of the third flanged tritium waste container (FTWC), NNSA said in […]