Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are discussing how to keep the government open after the current continuing resolution (CR) runs out Dec. 8, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Oct. 31. “We are in a four-cornered, bipartisan negotiation over how to fund the government, including the Trump […]

Three workers and two rooms were radioactively contaminated after a botched maintenance job on a glove box at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, the Department of Energy and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said. It was the latest in a series of safety snafus at Los Alamos to come to light during […]

Centrus Energy said Monday it has signed a $16 million contract to continue for another year its research and development of advanced gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. However, the company’s time in at least one Oak Ridge facility is nearing its end as […]

Water leaked into a plutonium pit-storage area at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, after an August thunderstorm, the Department of Energy disclosed this month. On Aug. 13 and 14, thunderstorms dumped about 2 inches of rain on the north Texas city, according to data compiled by the National Weather Service. During the storm, “rain […]

It will cost about $1.2 trillion in current dollars to modernize and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 30 years, including $261 billion in Department of Energy spending, the Congressional Budget Office said this week. Even fairly major changes to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) part of that portfolio would shave only about $10 […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced two promotions at its Newport News Shipbuilding division. Dave Bolcar was promoted from director of the Columbia-class submarine program to vice president of submarine construction. Bill Smith was promoted from program director for aircraft carrier fleet support to vice president, fleet support programs. Smith will be responsible for submarine and carrier fleet […]

Robert Card, who served as undersecretary of energy from 2001 to 2004 and later became president and CEO of the Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, has joined the Strategic Advisory Board for Energy Department contractor Longenecker & Associates. “Bob is one of the most brilliant strategic minds in our industry and I am honored that he […]

Pentagon nuclear arsenal modernization prime Northrop Grumman exceeded expectations with its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, while fellow nuke prime Lockheed Martin underperformed the Wall Street consensus. Northrop posted a 10-percent earnings increase over the year-ago quarter on a 6-percent rise in quarterly revenue. Earnings per share of $3.68 beat the Wall Street consensus of $2.90, as […]

During the next 12 months, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of the Inspector General plans to review the most serious potential vulnerabilities facing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board as part of the office’s ongoing duty to examine management and performance of the Energy Department watchdog. In documents released last week, the NRC IG said […]

Lawmakers cloistered on Capitol Hill are set to settle a policy dispute over a new office building for more than 1,000 defense nuclear workers in New Mexico as part of final negotiations over the 2018 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA). House and Senate lawmakers formally kicked off conference negotiations Wednesday on the NDAA, initiating a process […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily Leaders of a House-Senate conference committee expressed hope Oct. 25 that they will quickly wrap up negotiations on a final version of the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), said that he is confident lawmakers can finish the compromise […]

A private entity is set to take deed of an old nuclear-weapons support facility in Kansas City, Mo., for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semiautonomous Department of Energy stockpile steward said. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) approved transfer of the Bannister Federal Complex, where the NNSA once manufactured non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons, […]

The Department of Energy this week released its final request for proposals for a 10-year contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory: the storied nuclear weapons research site in New Mexico that will become the nation’s primary plutonium-pit-production facility under the next prime contractor’s watch. The final solicitation is for a cost-plus-fixed-fee […]

When engineering company and Energy Department contractor CH2M was looking for potential merger partners this past spring, eventual buyer Jacobs Engineering wasn’t the only party showing interest, CH2M noted in a mammoth filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On Aug. 2, the two companies announced they had entered into an agreement for […]

With the House of Representatives already planning to look at the issue, the Senate on Oct. 19 approved a measure that could result in more predictable Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) for communities surrounding federal facilities, including many across the Energy Department complex. The amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget package won approval […]

Honeywell International reported Friday that it took in $10.1 billion in sales and earnings per share of $1.75 during the third quarter of 2017, which both mark a significant increase from the same period in 2016. The sales figure was up 3 percent from $9.8 billion a year ago. Earnings per share spiked by 16 […]

After a bombshell report that the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants Congress to dissolve the independent Department of Energy watchdog, several seasoned watchers of the weapons complex — running the gamut from former Department of Energy employees to hardcore anti-nuclear activists — said lawmakers should not eliminate the board. “The Board […]

Anti-nuke groups suing to halt construction of a crucial defense uranium facility in Tennessee told a federal judge their lawsuit against the Department of Energy should be heard in Washington, D.C., and not in Tennessee, as the agency wishes. In a court filing last week, the plaintiffs said they opposed the DOE motion to move […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week announced back-to-back milestones on warhead refurbishments intended to preserve the potency of U.S. nuclear submarine and cruise missiles. On Tuesday, the NNSA said it modified the first W80-1 air-launched cruise-missile warhead under a program launched in 2012 to help keep the weapon suitable for service into the […]

The House and Senate will soon hash out their differences on a fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would sustain a major nonproliferation construction project in South Carolina and call for development of a new intermediate-range missile. The House and Senate each passed differing versions of the bill this summer, and the Senate […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld the Department of Energy’s decision to oust the incumbent security services contractor at the Nevada National Security Site after it was underbid by a competitor. The GAO handed down the ruling on Sept. 21, but only posted a redacted copy of its decision Thursday. In May, DOE awarded SOC LLC […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is working with New York City and the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative on a new program intended to prevent terrorists from acquiring material for “a radiological dispersal device,” or dirty bomb. The partnership helps academic and medical institutions in the city replace devices that use radiological materials with X-ray technology, […]

About 200 workers were recently laid off from the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, construction prime CB&I AREVA MOX Services said this week. Gentry Brann, a spokeswoman for contractor parent CB&I, said the project employed about 2,200 workers at SRS before the recent layoffs. She did not say when the layoffs […]

President Donald Trump called it “fake” news and arms control wonks called it impossible: a radical increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal the commander in chief demanded during a private meeting at the Pentagon in July, according to an NBC News report Wednesday. During the meeting with Cabinet officials and military brass, Trump reportedly said he […]

A Texas congressman gave Energy Secretary Rick Perry an opportunity to come clean Thursday about his use of charter aircraft for official government business — something Perry maintained, in line with previous reports, that he has done only once. Rep. Joe Barton (R), in a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee, told […]

Iran committed multiple violations of a 2015 nuclear nonproliferation agreement intended to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon, President Donald Trump said Friday. Breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) included Iran twice exceeding the amount of heavy water it is allowed to possess under the deal, according to Trump. Heavy […]