Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Centrus Energy, the former government-owned U.S. Enrichment Corp., got a lifeline this week from the Department of Energy to build a new 16-machine enrichment centrifuge cascade in Ohio, potentially strengthening the company’s ability to help the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) produce tritium for nuclear weapons in about 20 years. Under a contract awarded Monday […]

Michael Dunning retired as the acting head of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate on Wednesday, capping a 30 year career at the nation’s second-oldest weapons laboratory. “Michael Dunning has retired after a long and impactful career at LLNL,” a spokesperson for the California facility said by email Thursday. “It was […]

A federal judge last week denied South Carolina’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit demanding that the Department of Energy continue building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site. Judge J. Michelle Childs, of U.S. District Court for South Carolina, wrote in her Dec. 28 order that she will not […]

William Bookless, the Donald Trump administration’s choice for second-in-command at the National Nuclear Security Administration, was not confirmed before the 115th Congress adjourned Thursday. The Senate’s lack of action sends Bookless’ nomination back to the White House, which is free to nominate him again in the 116th Congress that convened Thursday, or not. The White […]

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan’s past as a senior Boeing executive has some Senate Armed Services Committee members concerned over potential ethics issues, while others feel his defense industry experience is a plus. Shanahan, who was sworn in as deputy defense secretary in July 2017 and became acting defense secretary Jan 1. after President Trump removed […]

In the National Nuclear Security Administration’s world of warheads and bombs, the big question of 2019 is: will the newly divided Congress quash the newly funded W76-2 low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead? The GOP-controlled government last year funded the weapon to the tune of $65 million for fiscal 2019, over the loud protests of congressional […]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who brandished her arms-control and anti-nuclear bonafides throughout 2018, announced Monday she might run for president in 2020. Warren said she has formed an exploratory committee for a presidential bid, fulfilling long-circulating rumors that she would seek the Democratic Party’s nomination in the […]

The management and operations contractor for the Savannah River Site has finalized a plan to assume responsibility for crucial components of the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF): the controversial plutonium disposal plant that was, until October, to be built at the site. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has less than a year to remove 1 metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium from South Carolina, and the agency will not rule out moving it before the end of January, according to a court filing the state of Nevada dropped just before the new year. The Silver State shared […]

A federal appeals court’s October order to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2020, took effect this week, depriving the Department of Energy of some legal wiggle room to contest the directive. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., gave notice Tuesday that its October ruling was, […]

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gabe Anseeuw this month became military assistant and executive staff director to Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Anseeuw replaced Cmdr. Christopher Osborn, who was Gordon-Hagerty’s interim right-hand for about six months. Osborn filled in after Capt. Owen Travis retired […]

The nominee for a high-level nuclear security jobs at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation process for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that William Bookless — principal deputy administrator-designate for the National Nuclear Security Administration — might […]

Congress would have to affirmatively, rather than tacitly, approve any agreement to allow exports of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, under bills introduced in both chambers Tuesday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act in the Senate, while […]

The federal government’s nuclear health-and-safety watchdog has raised concerns about whether an exhaust tunnel at the Savannah River Site’s nuclear materials processing facility can withstand the impact of an earthquake. The concern is related to two ongoing issues at the facility that have not yet been remedied, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said […]

WASHINGTON — The White House has someone in mind to fill a vacancy on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the acting head of the independent nuclear-health-and-safety watchdog said in a public meeting here Thursday. Acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton would not identify the potential nominee. The DNFSB has been without a fifth board member since […]

Nuclear security made some news on Capitol Hill in 2018, but the biggest news in the enterprise concerned another hill in New Mexico, where the Department of Energy formally ended the abortive experiment of running the Los Alamos National Laboratory for profit. On Nov. 1, the nonprofit Triad National Security took over as the National […]

Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not be published on Dec. 28 in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Please look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.

As employees at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project continue to receive termination notices, local stakeholders in the Aiken, S.C., area are optimistic that more jobs are on the way and that the local economy will remain stable. That is because other contractors have been making necessary hires for various missions at the 310-square-mile Department of Energy […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who this year secured full construction funding for a crucial defense uranium plant in his state, announced this week he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which capacity he is the gatekeeper for upper chamber funding of the Department of Energy and […]

The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats. The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 7 it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate […]

Fluor Federal Services will build a nuclear weapons storage and maintenance facility at the Frances E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., under a three-and-a-quarter-year U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract announced this week and worth $145 million. The 90,000-square-foot facility will include a fueling station, a generator building, and a fire pump building, […]

A pair of nuclear doves in the Senate demanded this week that Energy Secretary Rick Perry brief them about his negotiations to bring U.S. nuclear-power technology to Saudi Arabia. In a Tuesday letter to Perry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also told Perry the United States should indefinitely suspend […]

Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland Air Force […]

Vivienne Machi Defense Daily The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will include Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Doug Jones (D-Ala.) when it convenes for the 116th Congress in January. Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)’s office released the list of new committee assignments for his party Dec. 12. Republican assignments and all subcommittee […]

The United States could shave about $13 billion off the federal deficit over 20 years by slashing some 500 warheads from the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the nonpartisan federal Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The suggestion was only one of many money-saving ideas in the biennial Options for Reducing the Deficit report, which this year covers […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) confirmed their bosses’ intentions this week. Alexander has held the post since 2015, taking over from Feinstein […]