Vol. 26, No. 14

Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

Adams confirmed by Senate to lead NNSA defense programs at headquarters

The Senate late Wednesday confirmed Marvin Adams to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s office of defense programs, clearing the way for the Texas A&M professor and longtime weapons-labs consultant to enter federal service for the first time. Adams had a whirlwind trip through the Senate, where lawmakers confirmed him Wednesday after the body’s Armed […]
  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Joint chiefs chairman boosts SLCM-N again in congressional hearings

    In congressional testimony in the House and Senate this week, the top-ranked U.S. general again touted his support for the low-yield, nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile the Joe Biden administration wants to cancel. The U.S. has “lots of options” and a “significant nuclear capability” even without the missile endorsed in 2018 by the Donald Trump administration, […]

  • Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle

    Centrus ticks off final big milestone in sole-source HALEU contract as DOE preps competition for follow-on

    Parts of Centrus’ high assay, low-enriched uranium cascade at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio were ready to operate as specified in a sole-source contract with the Department of Energy, the company said Wednesday. The 16-machine AC100M cascade was ready to start up by March 31, a company spokesperson said in an email Wednesday, except […]

  • National Laboratories

    Livermore, DOE EM attack demolition of old contaminated facilities

    Thanks to more than a quarter-billion dollars of congressional funds since 2018, the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is tearing down some of the most contaminated facilities in the weapons complex and “making bad things go away,” a manager at the California nuclear-weapons design lab said recently. Much progress has happened since the […]

  • Plutonium Pit Production

    Los Alamos Study Group sues NNSA over plutonium pits FOIA requests

    The New Mexico-based Los Alamos Study Group filed suit this week against the National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington, D.C., claiming the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency is violating the Freedom of Information Act when it comes to plans for expanded plutonium pit production. The Albuquerque-based Los Alamos Study Group has made 65 requests under the […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Big funding hike sought to help DNFSB fill staffing gaps

    The Joe Biden administration fiscal year 2023 budget request of $41 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would be an increase of $5 million over $36 million from the 2022 omnibus passed in early March. That 2023 request is about a 14% year-over-year increase for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). It […]

  • Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

    Air Force dubs GBSD ‘LGM-35A Sentinel’

    The Department of the Air Force has designated the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent next generation intercontinental ballistic missile under development by Northrop Grumman the LGM-35A Sentinel. “The name Sentinel recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    DNFSB announces death of one early board member Crawford

    John (Jack) William Crawford, Jr., a Navy captain who served on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover prior to stints with the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, has died, the board announced in a press release last week. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was created by Congress in 1988 […]

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