Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Nevada have agreed in principle to settle a 2018 state lawsuit contesting the shipment of 500 kilograms of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site. “The parties are currently working diligently to finalize the necessary documents and to obtain final government settlement approvals,” attorneys for the state […]

The House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) markup will be delayed as the United States issues more guidelines to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) this week postponed the fiscal 2021 NDAA markup originally scheduled for April 30. There was no make-up date at deadline Friday, but Smith […]

Department of Energy contractors and subcontractors, including those working for the National Nuclear Security Administration, can be indemnified from damages arising from work to counter COVID-19, under a determination published this week  by Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. “The unprecedented magnitude and challenges associated with responding to COVID-19 present significant potential – even if remote – […]

Nearly a month after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, production of Centrus Energy Corp.’s new all-domestic enrichment cascade in Ohio is one of the first projects for the Department of Energy fearing delays from the viral outbreak. “We are continuing to make progress but we anticipate that there could be impacts on the project […]

Constellis, owner of Energy Department contractor Centerra Group, said Monday its lenders have approved an overhaul of the company’s debt package that should strengthen its balance sheet. The debt for equity exchanges received consent from 100% of term loan and revolving lenders, according to a Constellis press release. As a result, Constellis is cutting its […]

The Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in South Carolina, like its planned counterpart in New Mexico, would be able to handle the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) planned plutonium pit production mission on its own if needed, according to an environmental document released Thursday. The NNSA draft environmental impact statement also examines the effects of […]

Morgan Smith, president and CEO for the Department of Enegy’s manager for the Pantex Plant in Texas and Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, is in quarantine at home after possible exposure to someone who displayed symptoms of COVID-19, sources said Friday. Smith is isolating at home after coming into proximity with a symptomatic individual […]

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 soared to 26 from nine across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) national network of sites, laboratories, and production facilities, according to an official tally Friday by agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. The tally includes both NNSA-owned sites, and facilities where some NNSA-affiliated personnel are present.  The NNSA declined to say […]

Top Navy officials have not seen any shipyard delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet, but they are expecting and planning for future issues. “[T]o date we haven’t seen any sort of perturbations in that right now but we are anticipating that there will be, and we’re looking at what that might cost with respect […]

The Waste Management Symposia on Tuesday said both attendees at this year’s event who showed signs of possible COVID-19 infection had tested negative. Test results for “Attendee #1” were received Tuesday, one day after the results for “Attendee #2,” according to a statement from James Gallagher, chairman of the board for the annual nuclear cleanup […]

The containment vessel that blew a leak during a subcritical nuclear test last year in Nevada was not properly designed or procured, the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory concluded in a final report about the accident. The independent federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) summarized the lab’s unreleased report in a recent monthly review […]

South Carolina’s attempt to wrench hundreds of millions of dollars in fines over Department of Energy management of plutonium in the state is headed to oral arguments before a panel of appeals judges May 5, according to a recent court filing. The South Carolina state government has been trying to extract the money from DOE […]

Centrus Energy Corp. closed out 2019 by boosting revenues and trimming its losses from the prior year, but management said the COVID-19 pandemic has for now dimmed the company’s hopes of returning to profitability in 2020. On Wednesday, the Bethesda, Md.-based uranium-fuel broker and centrifuge developer reported a 2019 net loss of about $16.5 million, […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to further improve the contentious relationship between the federal agencies. That would be an additional measure on top of DOE’s revision to the controversial Order 140.1 that revised its interactions with the board. The revision comes after Congress last year directed […]

Having already taken its financial lumps during the past year, Energy Department contractor Fluor announced a measure Wednesday meant to ensure its shareholders get a fair shake “in the event of any proposed takeover.” The limited-duration stockholder rights agreement will also shield against “abusive tactics to gain control of the Company without paying all Fluor […]

Congress’ third coronavirus relief package, passed Friday, should help blunt the financial repercussions of the soaring unemployment and depressed stock market that have accompanied the outbreak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week during a press conference just before the vote. “The most important part of the bill was making it clear that the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Friday confirmed nine cases of COVID-across its national network of nuclear-weapon design laboratories and production sites. All three national laboratories had locked out all but essential employees at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Weapons Production sites were still operating normally, despite the viral disease cropping up […]

As part of a much larger spending request, the White House has requested $28 million in emergency 2020 funding to help the Department of Energy telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOE share will pay “for additional information technology requirements and telework support, also including increased cybersecurity costs, in response to coronavirus,” according to a […]

By Richard Abott Defense Daily A bipartisan group of over 100 lawmakers pushed House appropriators in a letter to fund a second Virginia-class submarine in the fiscal 2021 defense budget bill. Led by the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the letter […]

A federal judge last week rejected a request to dismiss the government’s February 2019 fraud lawsuit against a former contractor and subcontractor for the Department of Energy’s never-completed plutonium recycling plant at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Project prime MOX Services and subcontractor Wise Services failed to explain why the case should be […]

Nevada and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are attempting to resolve the lawsuit seeking the immediate removal of 500 kilograms of weapon-usable plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site, court papers filed Tuesday show. To comply with a court order in a separate federal lawsuit, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency shipped […]

Someone at Minot Air Force Base, home to a missile wing that operates nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement this week. “There is 1 positive case of COVID-19 of an adult, non-military member on base,” Minot stated Wednesday on its official Twitter account. “[B]ase leadership has declared a public health […]

James Taiclet will become president and  chief executive officer of aerospace and defense titan Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Md., effective June 15. He will succeed Marillyn Hewson, who has led the company since 2013, according to a press release. Taiclet, who came up in the defense industry through Pratt & Whitney and was later president […]

President Donald Trump will nominate a familiar face, Joyce Connery, to serve a new term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the White House said Tuesday morning. If confirmed by the Senate, Connery would serve a term expiring Oct. 18, 2025, according to the intent to nominate announcement. Initially nominated by President Barack […]

On top of the $6.5 billion required to build the Uranium Processing Facility by 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will have to spend nearly $1 billion to modernize other facilities needed to support the next-generation weapon-uranium hub, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The spending figure comes from an integrated master schedule […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is soliciting bids for a potential five-year contract, encompasssing a one-year base and four single-year options, to store low-enriched uranium required for tritium production. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch, civilian steward of the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile, released the solicitation last week. The agency wants new deals in place […]

Despite massive work-pattern shifts at a couple of the nuclear weapons laboratories due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first recorded case at Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C., production sites under the agency’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) were operating without disruption as of Friday. Even as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily Northrop Grumman on Thursday said it can’t currently predict the impact on its business from the COVID-19 pandemic but warned investors of potential increased borrowing costs and of potential disruptions to its customers and operations. In addition to higher capital costs and limits to capital, the company warned that “If […]