Vol. 10, No. 48 
Unpublished NNSA Doc Exposes Bad Math in Study on Moving Plutonium Pit Production, Lawmakers Say
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Budget & Policy
In Pre-Christmas Crunch, Congress Crams Through Third CR for NNSA
As expected, federal programs including nuclear-stockpile and nonproliferation work managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration would continue running at 2017 budget levels until Jan. 19, under a stopgap budget bill expected to be signed Friday. Congress passed the so-called continuing resolution late Thursday. At deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, President Donald […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Gordon-Hagerty’s Nomination to Top NNSA Post Sent to Senate
The White House this week officially nominated National Security Council and Department of Energy veteran Lisa Gordon-Hagerty to replace retired general Frank Klotz as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency in charge of U.S. nuclear warhead stewardship and nonproliferation programs. The Donald Trump administration took the procedural […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Court Orders DOE to Remove 1 Ton of Plutonium from Savannah River by 2020
The U.S. Department of Energy must remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. The injunctive order from U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs grants one of the key demands in a 2016 lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Alan Wilson, but […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
MOX Prime Parent CB&I to Be Acquired By McDermott
One of the parent companies of the prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility said Monday it will be acquired by Houston-based McDermott International in a $6-billion all-stock deal slated to close in the second quarter of 2018. At the close of the transaction CB&I, the Woodlands, […]
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Contracts & Procurement
With CH2M Acquisition, Jacobs Emerges as $15 Billion Company
Having just completed its $3.27 billion buyout of CH2M, Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering released new information Monday about its business going forward as a $15 billion engineering and infrastructure heavyweight. “Today, we are celebrating the creation of a new Jacobs,” Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said in a news release. In the release, Jacobs praised CH2M’s […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE Environmental Doc Paves Way for Germany to Send HEU to Savannah River
The Energy Department this week published a long-awaited environmental review that paves the way for the agency to accept more than 450 casks of spent nuclear fuel from Germany for processing and storage at the agency’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The spent fuel contains U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium, which was shipped to Germany […]
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Life Extension Programs
Trump Nat Sec Strategy Doesn’t Rock Boat on NNSA Mission
At least where it concerns maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal under the care of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the National Security Strategy that President Donald Trump released this week does not depart radically from the nuclear modernization plan set in place by his predecessor. The United States must sustain “a nuclear […]
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National Laboratories
New LANL Director Plans Wave of Personnel Changes
Incoming Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Director Terry Wallace plans a wave of personnel changes, including elevating an associate director to the No. 4 post at the Department of Energy facility in New Mexico, a spokesperson said this week. Carolyn Zerkle will be promoted to executive director at LANL effective Jan. 1. The executive director […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Herrera to be Deputy Technical Director at DNSFB
Katherine Herrera will become deputy technical director of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) effective Dec. 24, a spokesperson for the independent federal nuclear health-and-safety group said this week. In her new position, Herrera will help manage about two-thirds of the board’s full-time employees as the No. 2 official in the DNFSB’s Office of […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
NNSA Transfers Bannister Deed to Demolition Contractor
Privately operated Bannister Transformation and Development has taken deed to an old nuclear-weapon support facility in Kansas City, Mo., the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) confirmed last week. The semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward transferred ownership of more than 200 acres of the Bannister Federal Complex in November, according to an NNSA press release […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Centerra Scores 96% of Fee During Fiscal 2017 for Security at SRS
Centerra has won 96 percent of its potential fee award from the Department of Energy for providing a security force to protect the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In particular, DOE in a new award-fee scorecard praised Centerra-Savannah River Site for establishing and testing an “active shooter response plan.” Centerra was also cited for […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
NNSA Seeks to Ship HEU to EU Countries for Medical Isotopes
The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to ship some 3 pounds of weapon-grade uranium abroad for eventual conversion into medical isotopes, according to a license application the semiautonomous Energy Department stockpile agency filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week. The unalloyed metal covered by the application is a roughly 93-percent concentration of U.S.-origin uranium-235 […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Publication Notice
Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not be published on Dec. 29 in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Please look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.