Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Thursday kept its metaphorical Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, citing continuing aggressive posturing by nuclear-armed nations. “The risks associated with nuclear weapons, over the long term, are increasing for three reasons: expensive programs to modernize nuclear arsenals, expansive nuclear doctrines, and a decisive turn away from […]

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), whose Nashville, Tenn.-centered congressional district is more than 100 miles from the nearest nuclear security site, will lead the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that sets policy for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) will be the ranking member on the subcommittee, which writes the parts of […]

WASHINGTON — The United States still intends to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty next week, unless Russia destroys weapons the Trump administration says violate the Cold War accord, a senior State Department official told reporters here Thursday. The administration says Russia can only verify its compliance with the INF Treaty by destroying weapon […]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) thinks the Department of Energy may not have the authority to fund a new uranium enrichment cascade under a $115 million sole-source contract announced with Centrus Energy earlier this month. “Congress did not authorize or fund this project in the 2019 annual budget appropriations process,” Barrasso wrote in a Wednesday letter […]

More planned nuclear weapons programs will roll into production phases in the decade ending in 2028, increasing the total annual cost of these efforts by some $10 billion to $50 billion a year, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The spending estimate for 2019 through 2028 includes: the Department of Energy’s (DOE) bill for maintaining and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Jan. 18 it finished building the secondary stage for the first war-ready B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on Dec. 6. The canned subassembly is the uranium-fueled stage of the future gravity bomb, which as part of a 20-year life-extension program will homogenize four previous versions of the venerable weapon. The […]

A senior official at the University of California has been picked to lead nuclear weapons programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory effective Feb. 4, the Department of Energy facility said Tuesday. Kimberly Budil will be principal associate director for weapons and complex integration: the top nuclear weapons job at the Livermore, Calif., laboratory that […]

Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said this week she will run for president in 2020, becoming the fourth female lawmaker to seek the Democratic nomination. Harris, 54, made her official announcement Monday in an interview with ABC. She has served in the upper chamber since 2017, and previously served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it has started building the first low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead ordered by the Donald Trump administration last year. “The Pantex Plant has initiated assembly of the W76-2 First Production Unit,” an agency spokesperson wrote Friday in an email response to a query from Nuclear Security & […]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) this week announced her campaign for president in 2020, becoming the second Senate Armed Services Committee member and the third female lawmaker currently on Capitol Hill to announce a bid. Gillibrand, who joined the Senate in 2009, has long been considered a potential Democratic candidate for president. On Tuesday she revealed she […]

A lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for a canceled plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina is on hold for the duration of the partial government shutdown, according to a filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Judge Thomas Wheeler last week granted the unopposed motion to stay the lawsuit […]

South Carolina will expect to be paid another $100 million if the federal government by April 10 fails again to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Under a 2003 agreement with the federal government, South Carolina is authorized to fine DOE up to $100 million annually […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation plans to continue its relationship with the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center for another five years, under a high-level education and public relations contract announced this week. The contract, yet to be awarded, will sustain “ongoing work that is intended to improve the strategic dialogue […]

The White House this week teed up a radical reshaping of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), proposing to add two new members to the independent federal watchdog and boot one member. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Trump administration nominated a combined four people to the board. The nominees include new faces and existing board […]

It will take Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California about a week to fix broken windows on a glove-box at the lab’s Plutonium Facility, once the work starts. The four windows broke Dec. 19, after a seal connecting the glove-box furnace failed and caused the interior of the system to negatively pressurize, according to a Department […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday announced four leadership changes and other churn among its seven subcommittees for the 116th Congress, but only one gavel hand-off among the Republicans who remain in the majority. Notably for nuclear weapons programs managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) became the ranking member of […]

The White House this week renominated William Bookless to be principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): the No. 2 post at the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon steward. Bookless was one of more than 150 nominees for senior executive branch jobs sent to the Senate on Wednesday. Many had been nominated […]

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) will be ranking member for the House Appropriations defense subcommittee for the 116th Congress, his office said this week. Calvert has served in the House since 1993. He was previously a member of the HAC-D subcommittee, serving as vice chairman in the 115th Congress. In a statement Tuesday, Calvert said the […]

A federal judge had not ruled by early Friday afternoon whether the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) can ship a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site. Judge Miranda Du of the U.S. District Court for Nevada in Reno on Thursday heard arguments from attorneys representing the state of Nevada and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Thursday released performance evaluations for the major site operations contractors across the U.S. nuclear security enterprise, and all earned the vast majority of the available fees. The NNSA contractors covered under the performance evaluations published manage seven sites across the country.  Notably, there was a changing of the […]

Congress is back for the 116th time, and the two parties this week officially elected leaders for several committees important to those who watch the Department of Energy’s nuclear portfolio. Republicans still control the Senate, while Democrats have taken over in the House following the November midterm elections. Following is a list of newly selected leaders […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week presented Defense Programs Awards of Excellence to several hundred employees across five active sites in the nuclear security enterprise. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency every year recognizes personnel in its Stockpile Stewardship program who achieve “significant achievement by providing increased quality, productivity, cost savings, or enhanced […]

The Department of Energy’s this week inked a new contract with S&K Logistics to continue providing technical support services for the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The deal is is worth up to $21.7 million, which includes about $9 million for the base year and an additional $12 million if an option is exercised […]

Even if Nevada succeeds in blocking a shipment of 1 metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to a former nuclear explosive test site within its borders, the material could still leave South Carolina by a court-ordered deadline, the Silver State argued in federal court this week. The filing represents Nevada’s attempt to muscle South Carolina out […]

The now-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has signaled his support for a $750 billion topline for the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request, one of the highest estimates to emerge in recent reports. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), who chaired the committee from 2014 until the Democrats took back the House earlier this […]

The former management contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico received a slap on the wrist from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) over a 2017 incident in which personnel entered a low-oxygen environment in violation of federal workplace safety laws. No one was hurt in the Sept. 13, 2017, incident, in […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]