Warhead & Weapons Development

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, zeroing out funding for work on a refurbished cruise missile warhead and drawing quick criticism from a Republican Senator on the panel. As the panel unveiled some details of its funding bill, matching the Obama […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council is currently examining expanding the scope of the W88 Alt 370, debating replacing the conventional high explosive as part of an effort to replace the arming, fuzing and firing mechanism on the warhead, Navy Strategic Systems Programs Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict said Friday. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club, Benedict […]

The Obama Administration is objecting to House attempts to accelerate some warhead modernization efforts and is threatening to veto the House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act if the provisions remain in the bill. In a Statement of Administration Policy, the Administration said it opposes language in the bill that would speed […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s B61 life extension program has reached another milestone as Sandia National Laboratories officials successfully conducted the first wind tunnel test of the refurbished nuclear bomb. The eight days of testing at the largest wind tunnel that could accommodate the warhead, the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center at Arnold […]

Budgetary pressure and technical considerations are likely to doom the Obama Administration’s “3+2” strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright said yesterday. Speaking at George Washington University, Albright said he supported the strategy, which would modernize and consolidate the nation’s nuclear stockpile through three interoperable warheads, a […]

Recent surveillance work on the W78 and W88 warheads has revealed that the warheads can be sustained until 2030, allowing the National Nuclear Security Administration to delay work on an interoperable warhead, NNSA weapons program chief Don Cook said yesterday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Cook would not comment directly on the […]

Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories recently completed the first full-system mechanical environment test on a refurbished B61 nuclear bomb, marking a key milestone in the life extension program for the weapons system, the National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday. The test is the first in a series of environmental tests designed to certify that […]

Staff reports NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason said he’d received positive feedback on the work of the Red Team that recommended major changes in the strategy to secure the future of uranium missions at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Mason headed up the effort and initially briefing […]

Roger Snodgrass For NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—New National Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said a recent suggestion by a Uranium Processing Facility Red Team that the agency scale back its plans to modernize its uranium processing activities at the Y-12 National Security Complex is “an approach we ought to consider,” but he was less […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s strategy for maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent can’t absorb any more cuts or schedule delays, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held told a Senate panel this week. The Administration has requested $8.3 billion for NNSA weapons work in Fiscal Year 2015, a $533.9 million […]

Recent surveillance work on the W78 and W88 warheads has revealed that the warheads can be sustained until 2030, allowing the National Nuclear Security Administration to delay work on an interoperable warhead, NNSA weapons program chief Don Cook said yesterday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Cook would not comment directly on the […]

The Navy’s hesitancy to begin work studying an interoperable warhead that could be used to replace the W88 and W78 warheads is endangering the project’s schedule, according to a Government Accountability Office report released late Friday. The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Air Force have been studying the concept since 2010, but the Navy […]

The nuclear weapons complex is facing a steep technical challenge and an even steeper price tag as it examines the feasibility of interoperable warheads that could be fielded on ground-launched and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, but while hopes are high that the approach could usher in a new strategy for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, a […]

The Obama Administration’s support of a “3+2” vision for the future of the nation’s nuclear stockpile, which includes the production of three interoperable warheads, has received in recent months some pushback from Congress and arms control experts, both because of technical concerns and the potential price tag of the warheads. But Under Secretary of Defense […]

A recent review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s refurbishment plans for the B61 nuclear bomb by the JASON Defense Advisory Group reveals no technical show-stoppers while suggesting that the biggest risks to the project involve money. “There are no radical new technologies being introduced into the NEP that cause JASON to have a significant […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has finalized the structure of its new production office, establishing a mix of federal officials between the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant. The agency will celebrate the opening of the new geographically dispersed office—functional leadership of the office is split between the two sites—with ceremonies in Amarillo […]

With the start of construction on the Uranium Processing Facility looming, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising concerns about some of the safety features designed for the facility. In an April 2 letter to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Tom D’Agostino, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur revealed that the agency earlier this year had […]

Dianne Ely will take over the new Directed Stockpile Work and Campaigns Program Director for Pantex Plant contractor B&W Pantex, replacing Jeff Yarbrough, who recently accepted a position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Ely has worked as B&W Pantex’s acting Deputy General Manager for the last seven months, and she previously served as the plant’s […]

Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies wants its striking production workers to vote again on the contract proposal it rejected a month ago, but a representative from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said that won’t happen as long as Honeywell refuses to change its offer. As the strike neared […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council met yesterday afternoon to decide on a path forward for the B61 life extension program, but it’s unclear what conclusion was reached. The NWC is a joint Department of Defense/National Nuclear Security Administration group that governs stockpile management decisions, and it is headed up by acting Under Secretary of Defense for […]

Babcock & Wilcox announced Nov. 12 that George Dudich has been named President of B&W Technical Services Group, replacing Bob Cochran effective immediately. The exact circumstances of Cochran’s departure from B&W Technical Services remain unclear, though the company said in its release that he left to “pursue other opportunities.” For his part, Cochran said he […]

According to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s self-imposed timeline for releasing a final Request for Proposals for its combined Y-12/Pantex M&O contract, the 60-day clock on the agency’s work will run out Friday. But the agency isn’t saying whether it will release the final RFP this week as NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha declined to reveal […]

The National Labor Relations Board has rejected a claim by striking production workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant that contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies bargained in bad faith, but as the two sides prepare to return to the bargaining table later this week, the union responded by filing a second […]

Production workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant voted last night to end a six-week strike and ratify a contract proposal from plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies. Close to 70 percent of voting members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 approved the proposal, which bore […]

The six-week long production strike at the Kansas City Plant did not impact the plant’s ability to deliver product for the National Nuclear Security Administration, and contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies did not have to dip into the reserve of non-nuclear weapons parts it has stockpiled for its move to a new facility over […]

Will this be the week the National Nuclear Security Administration releases the final Request for Proposals for its consolidated Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract? The Source Evaluation Board for the procurement released a preview of its proposed changes to the draft RFP Nov. 15 and said then that it “anticipates” the release of the final […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, as expected, has officially moved to consolidate the protective force contracts at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant, outlining plans to combine the contracts with other protective force work at the Oak Ridge Reservation in a sources sought notice released yesterday. In the notice, the NNSA suggested […]

Dan Hoag has been named the acting manager of the Y-12 Site Office and will remain as the top federal official at Y-12 through the transition to a consolidated production office with Pantex next year, the NNSA said in an internal announcement Friday. Hoag replaces Ted Sherry, who announced earlier this year that he was […]

Nearly 900 machinists and production workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant went on strike yesterday, rejecting a contract offer from plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies and arguing that the Honeywell had negotiated in “bad faith.” IAM Local 778, a branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, […]

The strike by approximately 860 production workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant stretched into a second day yesterday and it does not appear that a resolution is near after officials from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 and plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies met with […]