Vol. 25, No. 25

Plutonium Pit Production

Acting DOE Nuke Boss Won’t Play Down Pit Costs in Armed Services Hearing

The acting head of DOE nuclear weapons programs on Thursday passed on a chance to say that a planned plutonium pit factory in South Carolina will cost as much per unit as a cheaper pit factory planned for New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! […]
  • Life Extension Programs

    COVID Could Spell Delay for W80-4, NNSA Says – But ‘A Lot of Margin’ Remains

    WASHINGTON — COVID-19-related delays at the Department of Energy and its vendors might delay refurbishment of a warhead intended for next-generation nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missiles, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week in congressional testimony. “So there’s no near-term impacts with that but there could be a schedule adjustment,” Charles […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    F35-A Nuke Cert Inches Rightward

    It may take almost a year longer than recently expected to fully certify the F-35A to internally carry one or two B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs, but the head of the service’s Nuclear Weapons Center said the nuclear end of things isn’t what’s pacing the process. “The… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence […]

  • Stockpile Stewardship

    Nightshade B Subcritical Test Fired

    WASHINGTON — Personnel at the Nevada National Security Site have fired the second in a series of three planned subcritical plutonium tests called Nightshade, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Charles Verdon, the agency’s… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! You must be logged in […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Biden Nuke Review Bundled With National Defense Strategy Next Year; ‘Significant Signal’ First on Force Structure, DOD Official Says

    The Joe Biden administration’s nuclear posture review will be bundled with a larger national defense strategy to be released in early 2022, but the administration plans to make a “significant signal” about U.S. force structure before that, a senior Pentagon… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! You must be logged in […]

  • Life Extension Programs

    Years Long W80 Alt Wraps On Time After Pandemic, Pantex Says

    The Pantex Plant wrapped up production of the W80-1 Alt 369, which replaced limited life components for the warhead that tips the Air Force’s AGM-86b Air Launched Cruise Missile, the Amarillo, Texas, plant said recently. Pantex announced the milestone in a press… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! You must be logged […]

  • International

    SRS Upgrade for Disposal of Japanese Reactor Fuel Coming Later This Year

    Later this year and sometime next year, the Savannah River Site will install a crucial pair of upgrades at the H-Canyon chemical separations facility to help site personnel prepare plutonium from a Japanese reactor for on-site solidification and, eventually, deep-geologic… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! You must be logged in […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    Active NNSA COVID Cases Down Almost Half Since Memorial Day

    Active COVID-19 cases at the National Nuclear Security Administration fell almost 47% in June as vaccination rates across the country continued to inch upward and life returned to something resembling pre-pandemic normalcy at the start of the summer. Active cases… SUBSCRIBER ACCESS Thank you for visitingNuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor! You must be logged in […]

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