Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

An air tunnel at a degrading Savannah River Site nuclear materials processing facility should be able to withstand an earthquake, according to a detailed analysis for the Department of Energy, despite concerns raised two years ago by a federal safety board. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), management and operations contractor for the 310-square-mile DOE facility […]

The Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) have made “significant progress” settling a $200-million-plus lawsuit, according to a Wednesday court filing. CB&I AREVA MOX Services, now majority owned by McDermott International, sued DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in 2016, alleging the agencies […]

The Air Force is currently expecting to see first flight of the B-21 next-generation bomber around December 2021, the service’s number-two military official revealed Wednesday. Speaking at an Air Force Association Mitchell Institute event on Capitol Hill, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said according to a software app he tracks on the new […]

Three industry sources said recently Fluor’s government services group, if not the entire company, could be an acquisition target for another player in the nuclear cleanup industry, Jacobs Engineering. Such a deal could further consolidate Jacobs’ hold on the business of environmental remediation for the U.S. Department of Energy, following its December 2017 purchase of […]

Honeywell, the parent company of several Department of Energy site-management contractors, posted an annual increase in sales and profits in the second quarter, after accounting for businesses the company spun off in the last year. Net income rose to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion in the second quarter of 2018, while sales fell 15% to […]

Senior leaders at the Department of Energy offered condolences Monday for the family of Yukiya Amano, who died late last week after announcing he would resign as director general of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agency, which guards against the spread of fissile material and promotes the peaceful use of nuclear […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday it had issued three cooperative agreements, each worth $15 million in matching funds, to companies aiming to produce the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The recipients are: Niowave, of Lansing, Mich.; NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, of Beloit, Wis.; and SHINE Medical Technologies, of Janesville, Wis. Talks are continuing […]

Northrop Grumman on Wednesday reported a strong second quarter on higher earnings and sales and strong order flow also drove a substantial increase in the company’s backlog. The company also ended the week in a position to be the sole bidder on a massive contract to build the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent: the next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic […]

The new federal budget caps deal provides $2.5 billion more in base defense spending than the 2020 budget the House of Representatives has already approved, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would need a 25% share of the extra funding to reach its preferred nuclear-weapon budget. To get the money, the semiautonomous Department of […]

The Donald Trump administration has not “committed wrongdoing” by authorizing U.S. companies to share nuclear-energy technology with Saudi Arabia, Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said this week. The committee minority on Monday published the conclusion in a nine-page report posted online almost six months after the House Democratic majority announced it was investigating […]

Former Employee Sues SRS Security Contractor For Discrimination In a federal discrimination lawsuit seeking $3.5 million, an African-American woman formerly employed by the Savannah River Site’s security contractor says she was terminated for accidentally leaving her gun in a bathroom, while a white employee kept her job after making the same error. In the complaint, […]

Citing “unfair” competition from a rival bidder, Boeing this week walked away from a potentially $25 billion Air Force contract to build the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD): the next generation of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles. In a July 23 letter to an Air Force acquisition official, Boeing President and CEO Leanne Caret said the company […]

A surprise to no one, Boeing on Wednesday swung to a loss in its second quarter on massive charges related to its 737 commercial aircraft program, which also led to a precipitous decline in sales, but the negatives were partially offset by gains in the company’s defense and services businesses. “The safe return to service of […]

The Sheep Fire at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is contained enough to allow the emergency response to be scaled back, officials said Thursday afternoon. Firefighting crews will continue to keep an eye on the blaze there are no remaining hot spots, according to an update posted on the INL website. Fire officials expect […]

Centrus Energy expects the Department of Energy by Oct. 31 to finalize the company’s contract to build a new uranium enrichment cascade in Ohio, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A temporary DOE letter contract with the Bethesda, Md., nuclear fuel company’s American Centrifuge Operating Co. subsidiary authorizes $6.4 million […]

The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it plans to award a contract sometime between July and September 2020 for production of the United States’ next nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. The service plans to buy more than 600 Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missiles, about 400 of which will go into silos starting around 2028 to replace […]

ESCO Technologies earlier this month said it acquired Globe Composite Solutions, LLC, a provider of composite-based products for the Navy and defense industry customers, including for the Virginia- and Columbia-class nuclear submarines. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Globe, which is based near Boston, is expected to have about $37 million in sales this year. Globe provides […]

The Savannah River Site’s security contractor earned $96.1% of its possible award fee from the U.S. Department of Energy for services provided during the first half of fiscal 2019. Centerra-Savannah River Site brought in just shy of $3.14 million, out of a potential $3.26 million for the period from Oct. 1, 2018, to March 31, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week removed a breached cesium-137 source from a University of Washington medical research building in Seattle, clearing the way to begin remediation of the facility following its May 3 contamination. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency on Tuesday trucked the cesium-137 source to the Pacific Northwest National […]

Marian Davis has resigned as chief financial officer of uranium fuel broker and enrichment technology company Centrus Energy Corp., according to a regulatory filing. Davis submitted her letter of resignation June 7 and was expected to leave the company after it filed its 10-Q report on quarterly earnings for the period ended June 30, according […]

Mark Esper, who could be confirmed as secretary of defense as soon as next week, held strictly to U.S. nuclear orthodoxy in his Senate confirmation hearing this week, boosting the Department of Energy’s stockpile stewardship program and urging continued funding for long-term modernization and maintenance of the nuclear arsenal. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has demanded the U.S. Supreme Court consider the case of South Carolina and the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), which the state’s senior senator says has turned the Savannah River Site into a permanent plutonium dumping ground. Graham made his argument in an amicus curiae brief filed with the court on July […]

The Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SNRS) will continue managing the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for up to three more years, the agency announced Thursday. The contract extension includes a 14-month base worth $1.5 billion, plus a pair of one-year options, the value of which DOE did not disclose. That […]

The University of California expects to bank some $22.5 million in fees in 2019 for its part in managing the two main U.S. nuclear-weapon design laboratories, the university’s Board of Regents estimated this week. The University of California (UC) is a senior partner on Triad National Security, which has managed the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

Centrus Energy Corp. has started work on a next-generation uranium enrichment cascade that could give the company a leg up in the competition to build the next domestic enrichment facility for national defense, according to a document published Wednesday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a June 27 letter to the federal regulator, the Bethesda, Md., […]

A federal appeals court decided last week it does not need to hear oral arguments about whether the U.S. government violated environmental law when it sent half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada in 2018. In what could be a sign that judges will rule swiftly on Nevada’s appeal of a lower […]

The Department of Energy is scheduled next week to send a cesium-137 source that contaminated a University of Washington building in May to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for “forensic analysis,” an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Until then, the damaged irradiator’s cesium-137 source remains in the Research and Training Building near the university’s Harborview […]

As expected, Northrop Grumman on Tuesday said that its board has elected Kathy Warden as its chairman effective Aug. 1, adding to her current duties of president and CEO of the $30 billion defense company. Warden succeeds Wes Bush, who has been the company’s chairman since July 2011. Bush will resign from the board effective July […]