Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box at the lab’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according to a Department […]

It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box in the Departent of Energy site’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Thursday released performance evaluations for the major site operations contractors across the U.S. nuclear security enterprise, and all earned the vast majority of the available fees. The NNSA contractors covered under the performance evaluations published manage seven sites across the country.  Notably, there was a changing of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week presented Defense Programs Awards of Excellence to several hundred employees across five active sites in the nuclear security enterprise. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency every year recognizes personnel in its Stockpile Stewardship program who achieve “significant achievement by providing increased quality, productivity, cost savings, or enhanced […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it has presented Defense Programs Awards of Excellence to several hundred employees across five active sites in the nuclear security enterprise. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency every year recognizes personnel in its Stockpile Stewardship program who achieve “significant achievement by providing increased quality, productivity, cost savings, […]

The federal government’s nuclear health-and-safety watchdog has raised concerns about whether an exhaust tunnel at the Savannah River Site’s nuclear materials processing facility can withstand the impact of an earthquake. The concern is related to two ongoing issues at the facility that have not yet been remedied, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said […]

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gabe Anseeuw this month became military assistant and executive staff director to Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Anseeuw replaced Cmdr. Christopher Osborn, who was Gordon-Hagerty’s interim right-hand for about six months. Osborn filled in after Capt. Owen Travis retired […]

The federal government’s nuclear health-and-safety watchdog has raised concerns about whether an exhaust tunnel at the Savannah River Site’s nuclear materials processing facility can withstand the impact of an earthquake. The concern is related to two ongoing issues at the facility that have not yet been remedied, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said […]

WASHINGTON — The White House has someone in mind to fill a vacancy on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the acting head of the independent nuclear-health-and-safety watchdog said in a public meeting here Thursday. Acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton would not identify the potential nominee. The DNFSB has been without a fifth board member since […]

Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not be published on Dec. 28 in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Please look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.

As employees at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project continue to receive termination notices, local stakeholders in the Aiken, S.C., area are optimistic that more jobs are on the way and that the local economy will remain stable. That is because other contractors have been making necessary hires for various missions at the 310-square-mile Department of Energy […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who this year secured full construction funding for a crucial defense uranium plant in his state, announced this week he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which capacity he is the gatekeeper for upper chamber funding of the Department of Energy and […]

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gabe Anseeuw this month became military assistant and executive staff director to Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Anseeuw replaced Cmdr. Christopher Osborn, who was Gordon-Hagerty’s interim right-hand for about six months. Osborn filled in after Capt. Owen Travis retired […]

An appeals court’s October order for removal of 1 metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, took effect Tuesday, depriving the Department of Energy of some legal wiggle room to contest the directive. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., gave notice that its October ruling was, as far […]

Nominees for high-level nuclear energy and weapons jobs at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation procoess for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that William Bookless and Rita Baranwal — nominees respectively for senior posts in DOE’s National […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who this year secured full construction funding for a crucial defense uranium plant in his state even as he stood in the way of the Trump administration’s plans for civilian nuclear-waste disposal, on Monday announced he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the crucial Senate Appropriations energy and water […]

The Department of Energy told a federal court Friday that rushing 1 metric ton of plutonium out of South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, will delay the day it can move even more of the fissile material out of the state by three to six months. Removing the plutonium from the Savannah River Site in […]

Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had […]

The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats. The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 7 it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate […]

Fluor Federal Services will build a nuclear weapons storage and maintenance facility at the Frances E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., under a three-and-a-quarter-year U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract announced this week and worth $145 million. The 90,000-square-foot facility will include a fueling station, a generator building, and a fire pump building, […]

Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland Air Force […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) swirled more rapidly around the drain this week, as the canceled project’s prime contractor announced more layoffs that will cut across trades, disciplines, and salary tiers at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. MOX Services will lay off another 70 people on Feb. 4, bringing the total […]

MOX Services will lay off another 70 people on Feb. 4, bringing the total projected job losses at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to just over 1,000 by the second month of 2019, according to a notice posted late Tuesday by the nonprofit SC Works organization. MOX Services has so far announced two […]

The cost to replace the Air Force’s aging aircraft fleet and build new advanced jets is only expected to rise over the next three decades, averaging between $15 billion and $23 billion through 2040, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. The CBO report, titled “The Cost of Replacing Today’s Air Force Fleet” and released […]

The Pentagon will unveil its fiscal year 2020 presidential budget (PB) request Feb. 4, the department’s chief military spokesman said Dec. 10. Whether the topline will be $700 billion or $750 billion remains to be seen. Army Col. Robert Manning declined to comment on recent reports that President Trump is now considering submitting a $750 […]

Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, according to the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate the […]

The U.K. Defense Minister announced an additional $512 million (400 million British pounds) investment in funding for the nuclear armed ballistic missile Dreadnought-class submarine program on Thursday. The Defense Ministry said this new funding release supports the building phase of the program and will “safeguard” 8,000 jobs that support the submarine program and its supply chain. […]

A Government Accountability Office report published recently roughs out the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) timeline for producing a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile warhead by roughly 2030. The NNSA would begin studying options for a W78 replacement between April and June 2019, nail down a cost and schedule baseline by June 2022, and produce the first war-ready […]