Vol. 24, No. 42 
More Details on Potential Y-12, Pantex Bidders Come to Light
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Another COVID-19 Fatality at NNSA as Enterprise Again Sees More than 100 New Cases
A third National Nuclear Security Administration employee has died from COVID-19, and the agency recorded more than 100 new cases among its workforce for the second consecutive week, a spokesperson said Friday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency declined to identify the person who died, but did say they worked at the Nevada […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
Los Alamos Wraps Part of Pit Upgrades Early, Under Budget, Lab Says
The Los Alamos National Laboratory wrapped up equipment installation at the site’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility 10 months ahead of schedule, the weapons lab said this week in press release. This now-completed phase, officially, Plutonium Facility Equipment Installation-Phase 1, is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility (CMMR) project. […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
HASC Chair ‘Confident’ Biden Administration Will Consider Minimum-Deterrent Nuclear Arsenal
If Joe Biden wins the White House in the Nov. 3 election, his administration will consider backing off the U.S. nuclear buildup set in place by the Obama administration in 2016, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee predicted Thursday. “China’s philosophy has been very simple: we’re going to build a reliable nuclear arsenal […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
After 2 Years of Turf Wars, DNFSB, DOE Working on Info-Sharing Accord
By early next year, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Department of Energy could sign a memorandum of understanding about how to share information under a two year-old DOE order that limits interactions between the federal agencies. On Tuesday, the board — a roughly $30-million-a-year agency with a staff of around 100 full-timers […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
New Mexico Asks for Meeting, Money, From DOE Before Surplus Pu Goes to WIPP
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D) wants the Department of Energy to explain how its plan to dispose of some seven metric tons of diluted, weapon-usable plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant complies with environmental law, according to a recent letter. The tranche is part of the 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium that […]
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Non-Proliferation
With New START Unsettled, Russia Makes Another Arms Control Proposal
Amid the public whipsaw of New START nuclear-arms negotiations between Washington and Moscow, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, offered to limit deployment of land-based intermediate range missiles near the European border. Putin on Monday morning offered refrain from deploying the 9M729 missile near Europe if the U.S. would agree to reciprocal steps, including allowing inspections […]
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National Laboratories
Second Public Meeting on Planned Los Alamos Tritium Venting Scheduled for Thursday
Next week, the National Nuclear Security Administration will host a second virtual meeting with the public to discuss a planned release of tritium from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a notice posted online. The second virtual meeting about venting flanged tritium waste containers is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, from 5 p.m. to […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Week of Wild Weather Finally Over for Nuke Sites
At deadline Friday, winter weather had finally blown over New Mexico and Texas after an early-week barrage that gave all the nuclear-weapons sites in those states at one snow day. Non-essential dayshift employees at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, were most affected by an early winter storm that crusted the panhandle counties of Potter […]
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National Laboratories
Round-Up: Classified leak at Sandia?; Z-Machine Milestone; New Non-Pro Aid for NNSA Partner Nations; & More
Here’s this week’s collection of quick-hit news about, and with implications for, U.S. nuclear security and the nuclear security enterprise. The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments will soon investigate “the introduction of unauthorized electronic equipment (Panasonic pan-tilt-zoom cameras) into security areas for over two years and the potential unauthorized disclosure of classified information […]