Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

An independent opinion that could help determine the outcome of a federal lawsuit claiming a Savannah River Site contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million is still being decided after nearly three years, according to a status report recently filed in the case. The joint status report was submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy and […]

By Calvin Biesecker A review initiated this month by antitrust regulators into Northrop Grumman’s compliance with terms of the government’s approval last year of the acquisition of Orbital ATK isn’t expected to impact the Air Force’s acquisition plans for a new strategic nuclear missile system, the company’s top executive said Thursday. Northrop Grumman, in its third-quarter […]

Environmental groups whose lawsuit forced the U.S. Department of Energy to partially redo an environmental review of its Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) on Monday asked the federal judge who ordered the do-over to halt construction of the next-generation weapons-uranium hub. While she ordered the agency on Sept. 24 to incorporate federal earthquake hazard data into […]

The Air Force’s next-generation nuclear bomber is winding its way through production, but don’t expect to see it flying until December 2021 at the earliest, the service’s rapid capabilities office (RCO) director said Oct. 24. The service has its first B-21 Raider test jet moving through production at prime contractor Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues that have gummed up final negotiations on the full bill. “This is sincere, but this […]

Navy Vice Adm. Charles Richard, the Donald Trump administration’s nominee to lead U.S. Strategic Command, on Thursday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that there are “issues” with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce 80 new nuclear weapon cores a year by 2030. “That requirement is sound,” Richard said, but “there are […]

The U.S. Air Force has pulled the plug nearly a year early on Boeing’s contract to mature technology for the next generation of silo-based, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, the company said this week. This is another setback for the incumbent on the current Minuteman III missile fleet, which hoped the remaining year of work on […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

Boeing on Wednesday reported big drops in sales and earnings in its third quarter as it continues to struggle with the grounding of its 737 MAX passenger plane, which it expects to return to service later this year. The safe return to service of the 737 MAX, which suffered two tragic crashes in the past […]

President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry as head of the agency responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and Cold War nuclear-waste cleanup. Brouillette has been Perry's deputy secretary for just over two years. When Trump first nominated him, a source said the longtime insurance […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress might not block the Navy from deploying a low-yield nuclear warhead this year after all, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), an influential opponent of the weapon, said here Thursday. “That’s going to be very, very difficult, very difficult, because of the strong opposition from both the White House […]

In an escalation of an ongoing turf war, the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said last week it would send personnel to the Department of Energy’s secretive nuclear explosive safety study meetings, despite that agency’s position that it should not. “We have directed our staff to attend all phases of the NES [nuclear […]

All of the U.S. military services officially have a permanent leader for the first time since May as the Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Barbara Barrett as Air Force secretary. The Senate confirmed Barrett by a vote of 85-7. Senators who voted no include Senate Armed Services Committee members Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth […]

Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

It could be 2020 before the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) incorporates the latest federal earthquake data into the agency’s environmental review of a planned next-generation uranium hub, a spokesperson this week. As part of a lawsuit brought by environmental and nuclear watchdogs, a federal judge in late September ordered the semiautonomous Department of Energy branch […]

Rose Gottemoeller, the Obama administration’s lead negotiator of the New START nuclear arms control treaty between the U.nited States and Russia, began saying public goodbyes this week as part of her long-planned departure as deputy secretary general of NATO. “I will be heading back to the United States and I’m looking forward to writing a […]

AECOM announced Monday it plans to sell its government contracting business for $2.4 billion to two investment firms rather than advancing a previous plan to spin the branch off into a stand-alone public company. Affiliates of New York City-based American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg are joining to buy AECOM’s Management Services business. In its press […]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week filed cloture on the motion to proceed with two appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, opening up the possibility of the Senate voting next week on a minibus bill full of domestic spending, and possibly a second minibus that would fund the Department of Energy. The first package […]

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear South Carolina’s argument that an appeals court illegally denied the state its right to contest the Department of Energy’s decision to close an over-budget, behind-schedule plutonium-disposal plant at the Savannah River Site. The decision from the high court, for which there is no appeal, spells the […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has cleared the future transfer of some U.S.-origin uranium and plutonium, currently in irradiated fuel rods, from South Korea’s state-owned Korea Electric Power Co. to Studsvik Nuclear AB, in Nykoping, Sweden, according to a Federal Register notice published Tuesday. In Sweden, the rods “will be used for testing the fuel cladding, guide […]

President Donald Trump this week appeared to break with the longstanding norm of not disclosing the location of U.S. nuclear weapons deployed abroad by telling a reporter he was “confident” weapons stored at Turkey’s Incirlik air base remained safe. Turkish military forces last week crossed into Syria after Trump — in a move widely criticized […]

BWX Technologies said Thursday it has received a contract to procure long-lead components for U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, which including options is worth $806 million over seven years. In a press release, the Lynchburg, Va., company said the contract from the “U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program” has a one-year base period worth […]

The security contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina received a four-month extension Friday, keeping the company on the job through Feb. 7, 2020. Centerra-SRS, a subsidiary of Florida-based Centerra, will receive $35.8 million during the extension, the Energy Department said, just three days before the company’s initial 10-year, […]

After the federal holiday on Monday, South Carolina will find out whether the Supreme Court will hear its case that an appellate court illegally allowed the U.S. Department of Energy to cancel construction down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) last year. On Friday, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hold a conference, in […]

Two members of Congress from Missouri are calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold an open hearing on a license application for export of weapon-grade uranium to Europe. The Department of Energy on July 31 filed an application for export of nearly 4.8 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to the Institute for Radioelements […]

Equipment testing and staff training is ongoing at a mock-up facility that will recover plutonium from metal cylinders used decades ago in nuclear reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The $100 million plutonium recovery mission at the 310-square-mile site near the city of Aiken is slated to begin […]

The United States and Russia both remained in compliance with the New START nuclear arms-control treaty through Sept. 1, with each signatory making only minor changes across their strategic nuclear forces, the U.S. State Department reported in its latest update. Under the bilateral pact, which entered into force in 2011, the State Department publishes a […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Oct. 4 formalized its decision to continue building the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., even as the agency complies with a federal court order to conduct an additional environmental review of the plant. The Department of Energy branch made the move official in an amended […]