Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

The National Nuclear Security Administration said it finished construction of a new 15 kilovolt electrical distribution system that will provide redundant power supply for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. In a press release Tuesday, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency said the Expand Electrical Distribution System hit its CD-4 milestone — DOE project […]

The administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration is the Department of Energy’s delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 64th annual General Conference in Vienna next week, the DOE nuke agency said Thursday. The annual meeting of the United Nations body, which promotes peaceful uses of nuclear energy and nuclear-weapons nonproliferation, is scheduled to […]

The story “Bidders for New Y-12, Pantex Contract Can Tour Sites This Month” (Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, Vol. 25, No. 35) should have said the city of Oak Ridge was the first of several stakeholders to write a letter to the National Nuclear Security Administration advocating for splitting management of Y-12 into a standalone […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said it finished construction of a new 15 kilovolt electrical distribution system that will provide redundant power supply for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. In a press release Tuesday, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency said the Expand Electrical Distribution System hit its CD-4 milestone — […]

The paperwork went through Monday to officially extend Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies for another year as the management and operations contractor of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear-weapons components hub. A notice about the modification that picked up the Honeywell subsidiary’s option appeared on the federal government’s online hub for acquisition and procurement documents, […]

Congress’ fight over the National Nuclear Security Administration’s 2021 budget poses “challenges” for rolling out new nuclear delivery systems and carrier vehicles that already are poised to debut “just barely in time,” the vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff said Thursday morning. “If you’ve been in the acquisition business in this building very […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved retired Army Gen. Lucas Polakowski to be assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, and staff director of the joint civil-military group that coordinates nuclear weapons acquisition. Polakowski was one of six civilian nominations the Committee advanced in a meeting Tuesday, held just over a […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee is calling in the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and the undersecretary of defense in charge of nuclear weapons procurement for a very-late-in-the-season hearing on the civilian weapons agency’s budget. The hearing, “Matters Relating to the Budget of the National Nuclear Security […]

The Air Force’s program to acquire a new fleet of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, which fast became a one-horse race that Northrop Grumman won, is a model for the sort of procurement ethos that will help the U.S. acquire new weapons as fast as China, the commander of U.S. nuclear forces said Monday. “China can […]

Turab Lookman, a former Los Alamos physicist, dodged a six-month prison sentence last week, when a federal judge sentenced him to five years probation and a fine for lying to federal investigators about his connection to China’s Thousand Talents program. With good behavior, Lookman’s probation might end sooner, according to the sentencing minute sheet filed […]

The story “Post-WIPP Disposal ‘Far and Away’ Biggest TRU Waste Challenge for NNSA Pit Mission, Official Says,” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Sept. 10, 2020] should have said that James McConnell, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) associate administrator for safety, infrastructure, and operations, said disposal of transuranic waste will be the NNSA’s biggest waste-management challenge, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration finished building a non-nuclear prototype of the B61-12, a refurbished version of the oldest deployed U.S. nuclear weapon that will homogenize four existing versions of the nuclear gravity bomb. The semiautonomous DOE nuclear weapons agency announced the milestone late last week in a press release. Personnel assembled the B61-12 first […]

Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., which should help students there start careers in the Energy Department’s weapons complex. South Carolina State, founded in 1896, is the only historically black college or university in the United States to offer a bachelor’s degree in […]

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said Tuesday the final, conferenced version of the fiscal year defense authorization likely won’t be completed until after the Nov. 3 election. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the outgoing HASC ranking member, noted the conference committee will need to particularly work on settling differences between the […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that could reduce the National Nuclear Security Administration’s autonomy within the Department of Energy. With a pandemic raging in the final four months of an election year, the bill may not become law before the next session of Congress begins in January and kills […]

Confirmed active cases of COVID-19 among National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) employees rose by six this week, the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency said Friday. The NNSA was tracking 104 active cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus on Friday, enough that the rate of confirmed cases outpaced recoveries by half a […]

Issue watchers debated this week whether the secret nuclear weapon discussed in Bob Woodward’s new book about President Donald Trump is the W76-2 low-yield warhead. According to a leaked passage from the Watergate journalist’s soon-to-be-published book, Rage, Trump told Woodward in an interview, sometime between December and July, that “I have built a nuclear — […]

Companies interested in managing the two main civilian nuclear-weapon production sites under a potential 10-year, $28-billion contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration will be allowed to visit the facilities on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24. The agency announced in June that it would not pick up further options on incumbent Consolidated Nuclear Security’s contract […]

Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., which should help students there start careers in the Energy Department’s weapons complex. South Carolina State, founded in 1896, is the only historically black college or university in the United States to offer a bachelor’s degree in […]

Issue watchers debated Wednesday whether the secret nuclear weapon discussed in Bob Woodward’s new book about President Donald Trump is the W76-2 low-yield warhead. According to a leaked passage from the Watergate journalist’s soon-to-be-published book, Rage, Trump told Woodward in an interview, sometime between December and July, that “I have built a nuclear — a […]

Companies interested in managing the two main civilian nuclear-weapon production sites under a potential 10-year, $28-billion contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration will be allowed to visit the facilities on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24. The agency announced in June that it would not pick up further options on incumbent Consolidated Nuclear Security’s contract […]

Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., which should help students there start careers in the Energy Department’s weapons complex. South Carolina State, founded in 1896, is the only historically black college or university in the United States to offer a bachelor’s degree in […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should stop managing the Y-12 National Security Campus and the Pantex Plant under a single contract, a Washington, D.C.-based group representing localities that host Department of Energy nuclear-weapon sites said Tuesday. “[D]oes one contract between two very different sites still make sense?” Seth Kirshenberg, executive director of the Energy […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider a bill this week that would tighten the secretary of energy’s control over the National Nuclear Security Administration. H.R. 8159, the ‘‘Department of Energy Organization and Management Improvement Act,’’ would make the change by amending the National Nuclear Security Administration Act to say that “Each officer or […]

By Frank Wolfe Defense Daily The U.S. Air Force on Sept. 2 awarded Northrop Grumman a $135 million contract for refurbishment of the inertial navigation system of the Boeing AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). “Work encompasses the disassembly, cleaning, inspection, maintenance, re-assembly, testing and finishing actions as required to return the end item to a […]

Recoveries from COVID-19 outpaced new confirmed cases among employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week, the agency said Friday. The semiautonomous DOE nuclear-weapon steward was tracking 98 confirmed, active cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a spokesperson said. That is down by 13 confirmed, active cases from last week. […]

The Pentagon is keeping a close eye on nuclear weapons life-extension programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but to date there have been no signs of any delays, a senior Defense Department official said Wednesday. “I don’t believe that there have been any COVID-related implications to the life-extension programs,” Robert […]

The Senate delegation from Massachusetts looks set to retain it tag-team of nuclear disarmament advocates into the next presidential term, now that Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has defeated Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in a Democratic primary in the blue state. At deadline Friday, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth had not released the official […]

To settle a lawsuit filed in 2016, the federal government will pay $600 million to South Carolina in recognition of the Department of Energy’s inability to remove several metric tons of plutonium from the state by a legal deadline of 2022, the parties said Monday. The money is expected by the end of September from […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California received a VIP visit from the head of U.S. Strategic Command this week, as it continues to work on the warhead-refresh for the airborne leg of the nation's nuclear triad. Navy Adm. Charles Richard visited the Livermore, Calif., weapons laboratory on Monday, as wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic continued […]