Vol. 25, No. 39 
Senators Press Hinderstein About Past Iran Comments but Don’t Oppose Nomination to NNSA Nonpro Post
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
DOE Guidance Calls for Immediate Addition of COVID Vaccine Mandate to Site Contracts
Department of Energy contractor officers should by Friday, and unilaterally, if necessary, modify the agency’s existing major site contracts to include a COVID-19 mandate, according to long-awaited guidance published Wednesday by DOE. The directive applies to “Management and Operating (M&O) contracts, major site/facility contracts and onsite support service contracts,” the agency wrote in the guidance. […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
U.S. Warhead Stockpile at 3,750, State, NNSA Say
There were 3,750 nuclear warheads in the U.S. stockpile as of Sept. 2020 the State Department and National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday, down more than 250 since the final year of the Barack Obama administration. State and the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency disclosed the count after Bonnie Jenkins, under secretary for […]
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Life Extension Programs
Air Force Wraps Up B61-12 Test Regimen on F35-A
Air Force pilots in F-35A aircraft recently wrapped up the final two of 10 guided release tests to certify the jet to carry the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, the Air Force said Monday in a press release. Two F-35A Lightning II aircraft, piloted by the The 422nd and 59th Test and Evaluation Squadrons, took off […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
NNSA Seeking Comment on Prolonging Uranium Exports for Mo-99 Beyond January
A two-year extension on highly enriched uranium exports for production of the Molybdenum-99 medical isotope is set to come to an end in January, but the National Nuclear Security Administration on Tuesday started taking public comments about extending those exports. Federal law effectively allows the Secretary of Energy to unilaterally extend exports of highly enriched […]
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Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad
Nominee for Air Force Procurement Post Praises Service’s Nuclear Acquisitions
Many Air Force acquisition programs are “solid,” and “prudent,” the Biden administration’s nominee to lead those programs at the Pentagon told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday — “especially those which are currently modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent.” The declaration was part of Andrew Hunter’s advanced policy questions, which the former Pentagon hand and Hill […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Centrus Finance Exec to Retire at Year’s End
John Dorrian will retire from Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., on Dec. 31, after 27 years with the company, most recently as controller and chief accounting officer, the uranium fuel broker and enrichment technology developer announced in a recent regulatory filing. “It is anticipated that Mr. Dorrian will continue to provide transition services to the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Round Up: Hruby Remarks at UN Stockpile Unveiling; Boston Marathon Rad Sweeps; A&M Prof Advising WH; More
The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and a State Department arms control official this week released a tally of stockpiled U.S. warheads at the United Nations in New York. On its website, the NNSA subsequently posted Administrator Jill Hruby’s prepared remarks from the event. “We still believe in minimal credible deterrence as […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
CORRECTION
The story “NNSA Active COVID Cases Hit Summer High in September; Three Deaths This Week” [Vol. 25, No. 37] should have said that an employee at the Sandia National Laboratory’s California campus died of complications related to COVID-19.