Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Fresh out of a classified briefing Tuesday on Operation Epic Fury, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, posted on X saying the war goals “DO NOT” involve destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “This is, uh…surprising…since Trump says over and over this is a key goal,” Murphy continued in his […]

Fresh out of a classified briefing Tuesday on Operation Epic Fury, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, posted on X saying the war goals “DO NOT” involve destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “This is, uh…surprising…since Trump says over and over this is a key goal,” Murphy continued in his […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is restarting HB-Line operations in order to recycle surplus plutonium and produce uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for advanced reactors. DOE announced the restart in a Friday March 6 press release. It did not reveal a specific date for the restart driven by President Donald […]

PHOENIX — Installation of two major infrastructure projects at Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plan in New Mexico ended up costing about $770 million due to the pandemic, replacement of a major subcontractor and other factors, officials said here Wednesday. The cost of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS), renamed the Underground Ventilation […]

PHOENIX – The land-constrained Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco, Calif. must demolish decaying old buildings covering a third of its footprint over the next 16 years, Livermore manager Mark Costella said here Tuesday. Livermore’s main Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) campus takes up only one square mile, Costella said. As […]

PHOENIX— A Genesis consortium of public, private partnerships has already identified more than two dozen national science challenges, Kristen Ellis, a longtime DOE supervisor who is currently the associate principal deputy undersecretary for science, said here Tuesday. The Genesis Mission is designed to be a joint effort by industry and the Department of Energy’s national […]

The Donald Trump administration is considering deploying troops on the ground in Iran to secure the country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), news reports say. “People are going to have to go and get it,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a Congressional briefing Tuesday about securing Tehran’s stockpile of uranium.  Other news […]

The ranking member of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projected Forces subcommittee in a Tuesday letter further pushed the Defense Department to award an overdue multi-year contract covering up to 11 Block VI Virginia-class attack submarines. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) has been pushing DoD to award the contract that was authorized in the fiscal […]

The annual outage at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico should end in the coming week, following significant replacement work and upgrades to infrastructure that a watchdog deemed “substandard or inadequate.”  “The annual winter maintenance outage began on Jan. 5 this year and is scheduled to end in mid-March, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) greenlighted the start of full construction, or Critical Decision 2/3, for the High-Fidelity Training and Operations Center (HFTOC) at Savannah River Site. The HFTOC will function as a training facility, or a mock facility, for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility’s Main Processing Building, according to a Monday press […]

The president of General Dynamics Electric Boat division on Wednesday said a multi-year contract to procure 15 nuclear-powered submarines is still months away while also providing an update on lowering shipyard attrition rates and the utility of outsourcing. The Navy has been negotiating the deal with General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on awards […]

The commander of Naval Submarine Forces last week argued it is “critically important” the government continues supporting the SSN(X) next generation nuclear-powered attack submarine program to maintain its advantage over China. “The Virginia-class submarine is highly capable, it is by far the most capable nuclear attack submarine that’s ever existed in the world,” Vice Admiral […]

Centrus Energy has announced multiple partnerships this week aiming to increase its fuel capacities and activities at its uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio. Centrus and Oklo agreed on Monday to seek a joint venture focused on deconversion services for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and advancing fuel-cycle technologies in Ohio. The company then agreed to […]

The Air Force broke ground Feb. 13 on a prototype silo for the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future intercontinental ballistic missile at the company’s Promontory, Utah, site, officials said at the Air & Space Forces Association’s warfare symposium. The prototype is to allow engineers to test and refine modern construction techniques, validating the new silo […]

President Donald Trump announced early Saturday Feb. 28 the U.S. military and Israel began joint “major combat operations” in Iran with the objective of “eliminating imminent threats” from the regime. The following day the Pentagon reported Iran’s supreme leader had been killed. “They [Iran] rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Friday Feb. 27 released the highly anticipated request for proposals (RFP) for management and operations (M&O) of the Savannah River Site. The RFP is for a standalone performance-based contract, according to NNSA’s press release on the RFP. The base contract period would be five years, […]

The U.S. and Israel’s joint strikes on Iran, in reaction to what President Donald Trump said was fear of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, has led to a variety of mixed responses from hawks and doves alike. Early Saturday morning, Trump said in a filmed speech on social media that the U.S. military, gathered on […]

Cumulative cost and schedule overruns have increased since 2023 for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) portfolio of major projects in the execution phase, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As of June 2025, the NNSA’s portfolio’s cumulative cost overrun has increased from $2.1 billion in 2023 to $4.8 billion, the […]

Nicole Nelson-Jean, formerly the associate administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Infrastructure, is now the principal associate administrator of NNSA’s Office of Environment, Safety and Health, according to her LinkedIn profile. A source told the Exchange Monitor Nelson-Jean will be deputy to Ahmad Al-Daouk, the associate administrator for the office.  Nelson-Jean’s […]

President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to “immediately cease” working with technology from artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has designated the company a “supply chain risk.” The Pentagon last July awarded Anthropic along with Google, OpenAI and xAI deals each worth up to $200 million to leverage their generative […]

Navy Vice Admiral Richard Seif relieved Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher as commander of Submarine Forces and Submarine Force Atlantic during a change of command ceremony Feb. 20 as the latter gets ready to become a new submarine leader. In January, the Senate confirmed Gaucher to become the first direct reporting portfolio manager for submarines, overseeing […]

The latest Air Force Minuteman III test on Tuesday featured multiple unarmed re-entry vehicles,according to the Air Force Global Strike Command said Wednesday. Air Force Global Strike Command’s (AFGSC) launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., of the Glory Trip 255 test at 11:01 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday included “two test re-entry vehicles,” AFGSC […]

Texas, home to commercial and government nuclear facilities, must wait until May to learn what Republican will square off against upstart Democrat James Talarico in November’s U.S. Senate election. Longtime GOP incumbent Sen. John Cornyn appears to have edged out state Attorney General Ken Paxton and finished far ahead of Rep. Wesley Hunt in Tuesday’s […]

Senate Armed Services Committee leadership on Tuesday criticized the Trump administration’s new National Defense Strategy, including for its absence of stance on nuclear weapons, and pressed Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, to explain the document’s priorities. “Previous National Defense Strategies, authored by both Republican and Democratic administrations, have been sober, analytical assessments of […]

David Beck, deputy administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), sent a memo Feb. 11 outlining “transformation objectives” for nuclear weapons at the agency. The memo was sent to the DOE’s semi-autonomous agency’s laboratories, contractors and senior officials. It lists objectives considered “achievable” by the end of calendar year 2028, and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Feb. 12 opened the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation (CAMINO) with Kansas City National Security Campus and Sandia National Laboratories, according to a press release by Sandia. The CAMINO facility is located at Science and Technology Park outside Kirtland Air Force Base. The facility is meant to […]

After the State Department publicly revealed China secretly conducted an explosive nuclear test in 2020, despite a self-imposed ban from 1996, intelligence agencies are saying China’s purpose is to completely transform the country’s nuclear arsenal, according to CNN. The Feb. 21 article said sources familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments said the nuclear test could mean […]

Earnings rose, though government operations fell, at BWX Technologies (BWXT), Lynchburg, Va., in the fourth quarter, which the company attributed to naval propulsion and commercial nuclear power awards. Net earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 were $93 million, or $1.01 a share, up from $71 million, or $0.92 a share, in the year-ago […]