Stockpile Stewardship

A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

U.S. lawmakers, Obama administration officials, and international organization leaders made the case this week that the United States would reap benefits for its national security if it ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The National Nuclear Security Administration and the State Department hosted an event on Capitol Hill on scientific innovation in nuclear […]

The nearly comprehensive global moratoria on nuclear explosive testing will remain fragile in the absence of a legally binding prohibition on such activities, Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), warned this week during a trip to Washington, D.C. “If there is no entry into […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Nuclear Weapons Stockpile will extend for one month its contract with TechSource Inc. for technical and analytical support services, according to a notice posted this week. The modification extends the current task order from Nov. 12, 2016, to Dec. 11, 2016, adding $41,352.34 to the current ceiling […]

A new report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified as […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday detonated a conventional explosive underground at the Nevada National Security Site, the sixth in a set of experiments meant to enhance U.S. abilities to monitor low-yield nuclear testing and detect underground explosions. The activity, part of the agency’s Source Physics Experiment research, involved the detonation of chemical […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday detonated a conventional explosive underground at the Nevada National Security Site, the sixth in a set of experiments meant to enhance U.S. abilities to monitor low-yield nuclear testing and detect underground explosions. The activity, part of the agency’s Source Physics Experiment research, involved the detonation of chemical […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not fully implemented its Enhanced Surveillance Program, in part due to decreased funding over the years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released Wednesday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency’s 2007 Surveillance Transformation Project, an effort to address the growing backlog of required surveillance weapons […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not fully implemented its Enhanced Surveillance Program, in part due to decreased funding over the years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released Wednesday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency’s 2007 Surveillance Transformation Project, an effort to address the growing backlog of required surveillance weapons […]

A new research capability funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is being dedicated this week by the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Washington State University, NNSA announced Thursday. This new Dynamic Compression Sector (DCS) is intended to support NNSA’s stockpile stewardship mission in addition to the Department of Defense’s national security […]

A new thermal neutron source at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) in South Carolina began operations at the end of June in support of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium mission, the lab announced last week. The neutron source, which cost $3.1 million to design and install, was built by Adelphi Technologies and is […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), the management and operations contractor for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, 89 percent of its award fee – $20.98 million of the available $23.63 million – for its performance in fiscal 2015. The contractor received an “Excellent” rating on four of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), the M&O contractor for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, 89 percent of its award fee – $20.98 million of the available $23.63 million – for its performance in fiscal 2015. The contractor received an “Excellent” rating on four of the six […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said it conducted Tuesday an experimental conventional explosion as part of a series of tests intended to improve underground nuclear explosion detection capabilities. The explosion, the fifth in the Source Physics Experiment (SPE) series conducted at the Nevada National Security Site, involved detonation of chemical explosives equivalent to 5,000 […]

Dimitri Kusnezov, chief scientist of the National Nuclear Security Administration, fully subscribes to his agency’s commitment “to maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing,” but he also describes a more nuanced view of the contingent future of nuclear testing in a world that is always changing. “What does it take to […]

A nuclear nonproliferation official appointed by President Barack Obama said the administration seeks to achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) by generating discussions among the public on its merits. In a speech last Friday at the 2016 Deterrence and Assurance Conference held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Adam Scheinman, special representative […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/15/2016 The state of design competition at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) national security laboratories is not adequate to maintain design and production skills within the nuclear enterprise, according to the co-chairs of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee created by the request of Congress to study […]

WC Monitor 11/6/2015 Definitive Historical Record of U.S. Nuclear Testing Updated The National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office, in collaboration with the three national weapons laboratories and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has updated the most “definitive” record on the conduct of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, NNSA’s Nevada Field Office announced on Monday. Updates […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/6/2015 Tritium production is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s “most pressing defense mission need,” according to the recently released “Tritium and Enriched Uranium Management Plan Through 2060” from the Energy Department. Tritium for use in the NNSA’s weapons program is produced by burning unencumbered low-enriched uranium at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office, in collaboration with the three national weapons laboratories and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has updated the most “definitive” record on the conduct of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, according to NNSA’s Nevada Field Office announced yesterday. Updates to “United States Nuclear Tests—July 1945 through September 1992,” include […]

Tritium production is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s “most pressing defense mission need,” according to the recently released “Tritium and Enriched Uranium Management Plan through 2060” published by the Energy Department. Tritium for use in the NNSA’s weapons program is produced by burning unencumbered LEU at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar nuclear plant. The […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/23/2015 Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its national laboratories this week highlighted the role of recruitment and retention of scientists and engineers as critical components of the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the NNSA’s initiative to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without full-scale nuclear testing. The U.S. nuclear […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/23/2015 The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has awarded a subcontract to Silicon Valley-based Penguin Computing for stockpile stewardship computing services at three National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories, the NNSA announced this week. The contract supporting the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program involves a $39 million award to […]

Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its national laboratories highlighted yesterday the role of recruitment and retention of scientists and engineers as critical components of the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the NNSA’s initiative to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without full-scale nuclear testing. The U.S. nuclear enterprise has “one of the most […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has awarded a subcontract to Silicon Valley-based Penguin Computing for stockpile stewardship computing services at three National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories, the NNSA announced yesterday. The contract supporting the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program involves a $39 million award to the company for “7 Petaflops (quadrillion […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 The U.S. focus on extending the service life of the nation’s existing nuclear arsenal could threaten critical warhead design and development capabilities, John Harvey, former principal deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, said on Tuesday. “In order to maintain critical capabilities, nuclear […]

The U.S. focus on extending the service life of the nation’s nuclear arsenal could threaten critical warhead design and development capabilities, John Harvey, former principal deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, said on Tuesday. “In order to maintain critical capabilities, nuclear designers and engineers must routinely exercise […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/10/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and National Security Technologies (NSTec) effectively managed the subcritical experiments they performed at the Nevada National Security Site’s (NNSS) U1a Complex, according to a June 26 audit report by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. “Nothing came to our attention to indicate that […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and National Security Technologies (NSTec) effectively managed the subcritical experiments they performed at the Nevada National Security Site’s (NNSS) U1a Complex, according to an audit report released yesterday by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General. “Nothing came to our attention to indicate that the [DOE] had not effectively […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration released this week the latest update to its Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, outlining a plan that it says balances near- and long-term stockpile, infrastructure and science and technology needs—as long as Congress provides necessary funding for the program. “NNSA has great confidence in its ability […]