Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Recoveries from COVID-19 outpaced new confirmed cases among employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week, the agency said Friday. The semiautonomous DOE nuclear-weapon steward was tracking 98 confirmed, active cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a spokesperson said. That is down by 13 confirmed, active cases from last week. […]

The Pentagon is keeping a close eye on nuclear weapons life-extension programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but to date there have been no signs of any delays, a senior Defense Department official said Wednesday. “I don’t believe that there have been any COVID-related implications to the life-extension programs,” Robert […]

The Senate delegation from Massachusetts looks set to retain it tag-team of nuclear disarmament advocates into the next presidential term, now that Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has defeated Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in a Democratic primary in the blue state. At deadline Friday, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth had not released the official […]

To settle a lawsuit filed in 2016, the federal government will pay $600 million to South Carolina in recognition of the Department of Energy’s inability to remove several metric tons of plutonium from the state by a legal deadline of 2022, the parties said Monday. The money is expected by the end of September from […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California received a VIP visit from the head of U.S. Strategic Command this week, as it continues to work on the warhead-refresh for the airborne leg of the nation's nuclear triad. Navy Adm. Charles Richard visited the Livermore, Calif., weapons laboratory on Monday, as wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic continued […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week officially green-lit the Los Alamos National Laboratory to make 30 war-ready warhead cores in 2026 for next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles. Under the long-expected decision, the northern New Mexico weapon-design laboratory “will produce a minimum of 30 war reserve pits per year for the national pit production mission […]

China has more than 200 nuclear warheads and about enough fissile material on hand to make at least that many more, according to a report published Tuesday by the Department of Defense. Doubling that stockpile is exactly what Beijing is likely to do over the next 10 years, the Pentagon stated in the 2020 version […]

Some 1,500 people showed up online Wednesday to check out job opportunities in the nuclear security enterprise during the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) third virtual job fair of the summer. Roughly 2,000 people registered to attend by providing resumes and other information, and most of those got at least some virtual face time with […]

A report from the University of New Mexico concludes the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in recent years was worth more than $3.1 billion to the state, although the economic benefit is concentrated in a few counties. A summary of the report was presented Aug. 21 to the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) […]

A coalition of local communities surrounding the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is back in the good financial graces of the Energy Department after repaying nearly $16,000 in grant money. Earlier this year, the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) repaid the agency $15,767 for expenditures questioned  in a September 2019 report by […]

In an order as bristly as the late Wilford Brimley’s legendary mustache, a federal judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing of a former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who pleaded guilty to lying about his connection to a Chinese government program. Sentencing had been set for Wednesday in U.S. District Court for New Mexico, and […]

If the New START nuclear arms-limitation treaty expires in February, and the United States decides to boost its deployed nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy could face billions of dollars in one-time and recurring costs, the Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday. While the study, “The Potential Costs of Expanding U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces If the New […]

The downtown Seattle building contaminated with cesium-137 after what the Department of Energy called a “preventable” quality control lapse by a radiological source-removal contractor should reopen in about a year, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) top nonproliferation official said Thursday.  “We are hopeful the University of Washington could reoccupy the building within a matter […]

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Congress will need to pass a continuing resolution to keep the Department of Energy and all other federal agencies open beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, a panel of Washington, D.C., insiders said Thursday. “It’s almost guaranteed we are going to end up in a […]

Democrats do not explicitly endorse a no-first use policy for nuclear weapons, according to the official 2020 platform that crystalizes their pitch to voters ahead of the November presidential election, but they come about as close as they could. The party platform says Democrats “believe that the sole purpose of our nuclear arsenal should be […]

Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor took its annual summer recess in mid-August, but we kept track of the nuke news during the publishing holiday and have compiled it here for you. NNSA Helo Sweeps Charlotte Ahead of GOP Convention  The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) dispatched a radiation-sniffing helicopter to the skies of Charlotte, N.C., […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will name its under-construction Albuquerque headquarters building after the late John Gordon, the former agency administrator who died early this year. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the current administrator of the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency, announced the decision on Aug. 21. The building’s official name will be the John […]

Although the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to replace Consolidated Nuclear Security as the manager of the Y-12 National Security Site in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas, the incumbent will stay on at Y-12 to continue building the new factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages. “The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) project will continue […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) picked up four new confirmed cases of COVID-19 this week, bringing the nuclear-weapon agency’s total to 529 since the confirmed beginning of the U.S. outbreak, a spokesperson said Friday. So far, 416 people among the agency’s federal employees and contractors have recovered from their bouts with the disease caused […]

Michelle Reichert will next week become president and CEO of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the outgoing management and operations contractor for the Y-12 National Security Site in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Bechtel National-led company said Friday. Reichert, currently chief operating officer for the prime, will replace Morgan Smith, who is retiring after […]

A regional organization to promote communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico will soon need a new executive director for the second time in a little more than two years. The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) Board of Directors voted on July 30 to end its working relationship […]

Cal Biesecker Defense Daily Leidos on Tuesday posted higher sales and earnings in its second quarter, driven by two acquisitions earlier this year and a payment related to patent infringement, more than offsetting higher than expected negative impacts from the ongoing pandemic. Net income increased 13% to $153 million, $1.06 a share, from $136 million, […]

Jacobs Engineering on Monday reported a slight bump in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, from $3.2 billion in 2019 to $3.3 billion this year. Net revenue took a similarly modest step up for the three-month period ending June 26, from $2.6 billion to $2.7. billion on a year-over-year basis. The Department of Energy contractor, […]

The Senate overwhelmingly approved Mark Menezes as deputy secretary of energy on Tuesday, despite opposition from some nuke-wary Democrats. The 79-16 vote elevates the current undersecretary of energy to the No. 2 position at the nuclear weapons, waste, and energy agency. Menezes was sworn in to his new job Thursday, after nearly three years as undersecretary […]

Air Force and Navy service members aboard an airplane on Tuesday remotely launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile with three unarmed warheads from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. “A joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Navy sailors launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with three test […]

By Cal Biesecker Defense Daily Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday posted a steep drop in second-quarter earnings, mainly on charges at its shipyards due to efficiency and staffing challenges, at least some of which stem from COVID-19, and the company lowered its top and bottom line guidance for the year. On a conference call with […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission aims by the end of August to decide on enforcement measures for apparent license and regulatory violations by International Isotopes that contributed to the release of cesium-137 last year at a hospital facility in Seattle. An NRC official noted the schedule at the end of a teleconference Tuesday that gave the […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday kicked off a long-awaited procurement of the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract with a request for information from industry about the award that will fund the Aiken, S.C., facility’s biggest nuclear-weapons programs. The agency will sort out the value, duration, and exact form of the contract […]