Vol. 21, No. 12 
Trump Nonproliferation Official Teases Nuclear Policy Overhaul
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Non-Proliferation
International Arms Control Community Looks to Future of INF, New START Treaties
The international community is concerned about the future of arms control, particularly the fate of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) – issues that featured prominently during this week’s Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. The INF Treaty prohibits the fielding of ground-based cruise and ballistic […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Office Says SRNS Retaliated Against Whistleblower
The prime contractor at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina illegally fired an employee in 2014 for cooperating with a congressionally led investigation into whistleblower retaliation at the site, according to DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. The quasi-judicial Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) subsequently ordered Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) […]
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Non-Proliferation
U.S. Officials Grapple With Current, Proposed Government Funding
U.S. and international officials are wrestling with the question of what the State Department funding cuts the White House proposed last week would mean for U.S. diplomacy worldwide. In the fiscal 2018 budget blueprint released last week, the White House requested $25.6 billion in base funding for the State Department, or 28 percent less than […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
DNFSB Wants Update on DOE Emergency Preparedness at Nuke Sites
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is after the Energy Department for a long-overdue update on the agency’s plan to tighten emergency preparedness at active and former nuclear weapons sites. Sean Sullivan, appointed DNFSB chairman by President Donald Trump in January, made the request in a Feb. 16 letter to then-acting Energy Secretary Grace […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Judge Orders Removal of 1 Ton of Plutonium From S.C.
A federal judge on Monday ordered that 1 metric ton of plutonium be removed from South Carolina, but did not set a schedule for that to happen because she wants the Energy Department and the state – the two sides in a year-old lawsuit – to make that determination together over the next month. The […]
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Non-Proliferation
Trump Administration Affirms Opposition to Nuke Ban Treaty
In a message that was fundamentally preordained, the Trump administration on Thursday officially made clear that it opposes a treaty for a global ban on nuclear weapons, which will be debated next week at the United Nations. “We recently met with Ambassadors about the upcoming conference to establish a treaty banning nuclear weapons,” U.S. Ambassador […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Mattis Hails Nuclear Triad, ICBM Leg in Senate Hearing
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday reaffirmed the necessity of sustaining all three legs of the U.S. nuclear triad and indicated the “level” of that deterrent is under consideration. “The need for a nuclear deterrent . . . requires a triad,” Mattis said during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. “To determine what […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Atoms for Peace Talks on Agenda For Upcoming SRS Advisory Board Meeting
An advisory committee to the Savannah River Site is scheduled next week to discuss an international program that has previously sent, and is expected to continue sending, controversial shipments of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from other countries to the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) will on March […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
NTI Names Moniz New CEO
The Nuclear Threat Initiative has named former U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz its new chief executive officer and co-chairman of its Board of Directors. Moniz, a Ph.D. physicist, served under the Barack Obama administration as head of the Department of Energy from 2013 to 2017. He left his position upon the inauguration of President […]
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National Laboratories
Wrap Up: New Mexico Senators Want Next Nuclear Sub Named After Los Alamos Lab
New Mexico Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall on Tuesday introduced a resolution that calls on the secretary of the Navy to name the next nuclear submarine the “USS Los Alamos” in honor of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s contributions to the service. The senators’ press release noted that 2018 will be the 75th anniversary […]