Vol. 22, No. 47 
1,000-Warhead Arsenal Could Slash U.S Deficit by $13B, CBO Says
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Plutonium Pit Production
More MOX Services Layoffs Coming in February
MOX Services will lay off another 70 people on Feb. 4, bringing the total projected job losses at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to just over 1,000 by the second month of 2019, according to a notice posted late Tuesday by the nonprofit SC Works organization. MOX Services has so far announced two […]
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Budget & Policy
Main NNSA Appropriators Still in Place in Next Year’s Senate
The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) confirmed their bosses’ intentions this week. Alexander has held the post since 2015, taking over from Feinstein […]
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Budget & Policy
Manchin, Jones, Duckworth to Fill Vacant Democrat Seats on SASC
Vivienne Machi Defense Daily The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will include Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Doug Jones (D-Ala.) when it convenes for the 116th Congress in January. Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)’s office released the list of new committee assignments for his party Dec. 12. Republican assignments and all subcommittee […]
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Non-Proliferation
NNSA Minimization Office Helps Send HEU Back to China From Nigeria
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 7 it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate […]
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Non-Proliferation
Trump Counter-WMD Strategy Shouts Out NNSA Programs
The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats. The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of […]
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Warhead & Weapons Development
Boeing Cleared to Start Production of Tail Kit for B61-12 Gravity Bomb
Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland Air Force […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Fluor Scoops Contract for Nuke Storage at Missile Base
Fluor Federal Services will build a nuclear weapons storage and maintenance facility at the Frances E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., under a three-and-a-quarter-year U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract announced this week and worth $145 million. The 90,000-square-foot facility will include a fueling station, a generator building, and a fire pump building, […]
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Budget & Policy
Markey, Merkley Demand Answers From Perry on Saudi Civil-Nuke Negotiations
A pair of nuclear doves in the Senate demanded this week that Energy Secretary Rick Perry brief them about his negotiations to bring U.S. nuclear-power technology to Saudi Arabia. In a Tuesday letter to Perry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also told Perry the United States should indefinitely suspend […]