Vol. 23, No. 11 
NNSA Seeks $16.5B for 2020; Includes More Low-Yield Warhead Work
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
HASC Chair Floats Cuts for GBSD, Extension for Minuteman III
WASHINGTON — To give the Pentagon more money to spend in the future, the United States could buy fewer new intercontinental ballistic missiles and again extend its aging fleet of nuclear-tipped Minuteman III missiles, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said at a conference here Wednesday. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) has said nuclear […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Boeing Adapting B-52H for New Nuclear Cruise Missile
Boeing Co. has received a $250 million sole-source Air Force contract to prepare the planned nuclear-tipped Long-Range Standoff cruise missile to fly aboard the B-52H bomber, the Air Force announced Wednesday. The Boeing work will mostly be done in Oklahoma City and is scheduled for completion by Dec. 31, 2024, according to the Air Force. Work covered […]
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Budget & Policy
Cortez Masto Blocking Nominees for DOE Jobs Over 2018 Plutonium Shipment
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said this week she will block the Senate from quickly confirming nominees for senior Department of Energy jobs until the agency sets a date to remove half-ton a ton of plutonium from Nevada. “Until I get commitment from [Secretary of Energy Rick Perry] that [DOE] will set a date for […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Feds Say They’re Ahead of Schedule on SRS Plutonium Removal
The U.S. Department of Energy said last week it is ahead of schedule in removing 1 metric ton of plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and should finish the court-mandated process by the end of the year. The Energy Department update was seemingly prompted by a March 1 letter that South Carolina […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Former Guard at NNSS Sues Centerra for Alleged Sexual Assault
A former security guard at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) sued former site security contractor Centerra Group this week for repeated incidents of alleged sexual harassment culminating with a violent sexual assault in 2017 by five male colleagues. Jennifer Glover, who first told her story to The New York Times in January, sued Centerra […]
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Budget & Policy
NNSA Should Appoint Internal Governance Czar, Nat’l Academies Says
New political leaders at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have tamped down on internal discord and improved the agency’s relationship with the Pentagon, but the Department of Energy nuclear weapons steward should appoint a senior executive to ensure progress does not end when those political leaders depart, the National Academies said in a new report. […]
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Contracts & Procurement
DOE Pushes Back on Suggestion That Local Feds Investigate Subcontractor Ownership Ties
The Department of Energy pushed back against a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendation that local agency field offices investigate the ownership of subcontractors on nuclear sites for potential conflicts of interest. Local DOE officials should “independently review subcontractor ownership information as part of DOE consent reviews and assess potential conflicts of interest to ensure […]