Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 20 No. 3 Assessment Evaluates Risks of Shipping German Uranium to SRS
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Plutonium Pit Production
Congressional MOX Advocates Denounce Downblending Alternative
Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Congressional advocates of the nation’s MOX program this week denounced one of the alternatives to the project because it includes the use of a facility that has been shut down since 2014 due to safety incidents. On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Joe Wilson (R–S.C.) and Rick Allen (R–Ga.) toured the Mixed […]
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National Laboratories
Former Livermore Employee Files Wrongful Termination Lawsuit
Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employee Anthony Rivera on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking $5 million in damages for alleged wrongful termination. Rivera is suing LLNL managing contractor Lawrence Livermore National Security “for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy,” against Department of Energy (DOE) […]
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Advanced Nuclear & SMRs
NuScale Power Announces SMR Technology Suitable for MOX
Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 A developer of small modular reactor technology announced this week that its reactors could feasibly be powered by mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. NuScale Power said a study commissioned by the U.K. National Nuclear Laboratory concluded that the company’s small modular reactor technology can effectively be used for plutonium disposition “with minimal […]
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Non-Proliferation
Doomsday Clock to be Reset Again
Chris Schneidmiller NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday will update the minute hand of its famous Doomsday Clock, alerting the world to a greater, easing, or possibly unchanged threat of global annihilation. Last January, the clock was moved from five minutes to midnight to three minutes, which the Bulletin linked […]
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International
NATO Prefers Conventional, Not Nuclear, Deterrence Toward Russia
Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Nuclear weapons play a minimal role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states’ perceptions on deterring and responding to Russian actions, according to a new report by the nongovernmental James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Researchers surveyed governmental and nongovernmental perspectives in NATO front-line states – the Czech […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Ice and Old Nukes: Weather Is a Problem
Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 A huge problem at the Y-12 National Security Complex and other facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn., has been the deteriorating infrastructure, much of which dates back to the World War II Manhattan Project, and the harsh weather of winter has not been friendly to these old facilities in recent years. […]
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International
State Dept. Highlights U.S.-Ukrainian Arms Control Notification Link
Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose on Tuesday commemorated the re-establishment of a secure communications link between the United States and Ukraine. The Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC) government-to-government connection is intended to support “certain notification requirements of arms control and confidence building agreements and commitments,” the State Department said. Originally […]
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Non-Proliferation
Officials Tout U.S.-Japanese Nonproliferation Alliance
Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 The United States and Japan continue to work together in the areas of nonproliferation, deterrence, and disarmament, U.S. and Japanese officials said last Thursday at the Center for American Progress. Jon Wolfsthal, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, said the U.S.-Japan partnership to counter weapons […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
At Oak Ridge
Y-12 UPF Gets Permanent Federal Project Chief Dale Christenson, who has served as federal project director of the Y-12 site’s Uranium Processing Facility since last spring when John Eschenberg stepped down, has been named to the top position on a permanent basis following a months-long search. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security […]