Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

BWX Technologies, trumpeting strong third-quarters earnings results Tuesday, said it is not under contract to build any more common missile compartment tubes for U.S. naval submarines, beyond those already contracted for production by 2021. After announcing in 2018 it had botched welds on 12 of the tubes, which were destined for both Columbia- and Virginia-class […]

Even a temporary pause on construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee could cost the federal government nearly $1 billion, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week in asking a federal judge to refuse a request from a group of environmental organizations for a stop-work […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The head of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program had reassuring words for the nuclear shipbuilding industry and its suppliers here Thursday. “I … want you to know that contrary to what you might read or hear … submarine force leadership values our close, enduring relationships with our industry partners,” Adm. […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday officially nominated Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry, who will resign as secretary of energy on Dec. 1. Brouillette, a former auto-insurance lobbyist with some turn-of-the-millennium Washington experience on his rapidly expanding resume, must be confirmed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before he […]

By Calvin Biesecker Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday reported mixed results in its third quarter, with sales up on acquisitions and work in its nuclear shipyard while earnings fell due to lower operating income from its shipbuilding and a less favorable adjustment in pension income versus a year ago. Net income sank 33 percent to […]

A radiation detection system developed at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory went into service at the Port of New York and New Jersey this year, lab management contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) announced. The On-Dock Rail Straddle Carrier Portal Monitoring System is designed to detect radiation inside intermodal shipping containers: ubiquitous […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a deal for Centrus Energy Corp. to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear reactors by building a new all-domestic enrichment cascade — technology that could one day contribute to national defense. The Bethesda, Md.-based company, the former U.S. Enrichment Corp., announced the news this week. The company […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) said this week it has commissioned a second furnace to prepare for four planned tritium extractions next year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. The Fluor-led site management and operations contractor said in a press release Tuesday that it fired up a “previously unused” second […]

The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) still suffers from flagging morale and could stand to improve communication between its staff and its politically appointed leadership, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general wrote in an annual report on the board’s biggest challenges. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general, which also serves that role for […]

With members of the House out of town this week, Congress made little progress on authorizing and appropriating government funding, including for Department of Energy defense-nuclear programs. However, Armed Services Committee staffers worked behind the scenes this week to hash out differences in the House and Senate versions of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act: […]

WASHINGTON — Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, said Thursday she would give serious thought to remaining at her post if President Donald Trump wins a second term in office and wants her on the job. “If the president so chooses to seek my advice and counsel, I would consider that […]

By Richard Abott A top U.S. Navy official said the service is unlikely to reach above 310 ships at current funding levels, let alone the congressionally-mandated goal of 355 ships. “Will we get to 355 ships? I think with today’s fiscal situation and where the Navy’s topline is right now – we can keep around […]

By Calvin Biesecker Raytheon on Thursday reported strong third quarter financial results driven by higher sales across its defense segments and improved operating performance and the company increased its outlook for the top and bottom lines this year. Net income soared 34% to $860 million, $3.08 earnings per share (EPS), from $644 million ($2.25 EPS) a […]

Engineering, construction, and procurement giant Fluor continues to experience rough waters a month after announcing plans to sell its government services branch, which includes its Department of Energy contracts. For its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Fluor reported a net loss from continuing operations of $782 million, or $5.57 per diluted share, compared to net […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

Bruce Stanski, who stepped down as Fluor chief finance officer in June as the company prepared to shed its government services business, is still consulting with the foundering construction giant as it seeks to right the ship, according to a regulatory filing. Stanski late last week signed an agreement to provide “non-executive services” and assistance […]

A backup defense authorization act unveiled this week would authorize $16.5 billion in Department of Energy nuclear-weapon spending for 2020, and explicitly authorize new program starts to bolster nuclear warhead and naval fuel efforts. Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) lifted the lid on the so-called “skinny” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) late Tuesday. […]

The top foreign affairs Democrats in Congress on Tuesday asked the State Department for a briefing about efforts to extend — or not extend — the New START arms control treaty that limits U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear weapons. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week effectively selected an Argentine diplomat as its new director general. The Board of Governors for the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday officially appointed Rafael Mariano Grossi to be director general, after he received a majority vote in closed balloting Tuesday — 24 of 35 board members, according […]

A federal judge did not recognize the Department of Energy’s legal obligation to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines to South Carolina, or properly vet the state’s claim that the agency has the money to pay up, according to court papers filed this week. In appealing the ruling in the 2016 lawsuit […]

Former Consolidated Nuclear Security manager Linda Bauer will as of Friday be the new deputy director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Top among her responsibilities, Bauer will backstop lab Director William Goldstein, acting as the director of the $2-billion-a-year nuclear weapons laboratory in his absence, if necessary. Bauer […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy might still be pursuing a potentially illegal policy of curtailing Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) oversight of certain nuclear-weapon sites, a board member said this week. The DNFSB held the meeting to quiz DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials about their reasoning for rejecting a […]

Prospects for timely passage of a permanent 2020 for the Department of Energy and other agencies dimmed a little this week, when most Senate Democrats refused to curtail debate on spending legislation that includes funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall. The Senate failed Thursday to invoke cloture on a basket of budget bills, […]

Lockheed Martin on Tuesday posted strong third-quarter financial results driven by gains in three of its reporting segments and the company raised its earnings guidance for the year due to a tax benefit. Net income increased 9 percent to $1.6 billion, $5.66 earnings per share (EPS), from $1.5 billion ($5.14 EPS) a year ago, torching consensus […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s Long-Term […]

Nevada will be allowed to seek removal of half a metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium sent to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site by amending a nearly year-old lawsuit, a federal judge ruled Monday. The state sued DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in U.S. District Court for Nevada […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is mulling whether to establish an umbrella human-resources contract to help the entire nuclear security enterprise recruit and retain new personnel. In a request for information last week, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency said it was considering a seven-year contract worth a maximum of $8 million […]