Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command airmen from the service’s bases in Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska on Wednesday launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, the Air Force announced. The operational test involved an unarmed ICBM with a single test re-entry vehicle containing a telemetry package, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. […]

Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily A pension tailwind, lower tax rate, and higher operating income led Northrop Grumman on Wednesday to post strong earnings in its first quarter as sales grew modestly. Net income rose 15 percent to $640 million, $3.63 earnings per share (EPS), from $556 million ($3.03 EPS) a year ago, topping analysts’ expectations by 21 […]

Representatives of the nuclear fuel industry are calling on the Department of Energy to downblend U.S. highly enriched uranium to levels above the low-enriched threshold in anticipation of the needs of advanced nuclear reactors, as the department evaluates options for managing its excess inventory of the nuclear material. The Department of Energy manages its excess […]

The Defense Department has formally begun preparing a new Nuclear Posture Review for the Donald Trump administration with the participation of interagency partners, including the State Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration. In a brief statement, the Pentagon on Monday said Defense Secretary James Mattis “directed the commencement of the review, which will be led by […]

Unprecedented shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will begin this spring, now that the 60-day window has closed to appeal a judge’s decision allowing the Energy Department transports. Groups that had sued against the shipments decided against appealing the directive. Judge Tanya Chutkan, of U.S. […]

A federal judge has granted the state of South Carolina and the Energy Department an additional three months to come up with proposed deadlines and schedules for removing 1 ton of plutonium from the state. The removal order is the result of the state’s 2016 lawsuit against DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last year, which […]

The U.S. State Department on Monday marked the 30th anniversary of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), calling it “an outstanding example of multilateral nonproliferation cooperation.” The Group of Seven nations – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan – on April 16, 1987, announced the establishment of the MTCR, intended to restrict […]

Ten members of the House of Representatives from South Carolina and Georgia are urging Energy Secretary Rick Perry to sustain construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The Obama administration tried to cancel the decade-old project, through which Washington would meet its commitment to a nonproliferation […]

Department of Energy contractor Honeywell said Friday its first-quarter 2017 sales were almost equal to revenue from the same period one year ago, but both earnings per share and free cash flow spiked. The industrial company brought in $9.49 billion in sales in its latest reporting period, down very slightly from $9.52 billion in the […]

A Democratic congressman from Illinois said Thursday he is serving notice to his colleagues against cutting the U.S. contribution to the United Nations agency that is taking an increasing leadership role in global efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons. The United States annually provides nearly $200 million in support of the International Atomic […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday it is seeking providers for the transport of radioactive irradiated tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs). The request for information also said the agency wants to “identify small business concerns with the capability to perform the services” in order to assess a possible set-aside. The acquisition is meant to […]

The Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday issued guidance directing federal agencies to make workforce reductions in accordance with the White House’s budget blueprint and develop a plan to reform departmental activities in an attempt to right-size their hiring practices. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney announced a day earlier that the government hiring freeze in place […]

Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in New Ellenton, S.C., on April 18 to discuss the agency’s latest performance evaluation of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The regulator gave a positive review of 2016 operations at the plant intended to process 34 […]

A committee of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) indicated this week it supports the Energy Department’s anticipated request to restrict airspace above agency facilities – a discussion sparked last summer after drone sightings over key areas of the South Carolina facility. The Strategic and Legacy Management Committee – one of several sub-panels within CAB […]

Foreign ministers representing the Group of Seven (G7) countries this week expressed their support for existing arms control agreements and suggested a gradual approach toward achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world. At the end of their meeting in Lucca, Italy, the diplomats from the G7 – consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is scheduled this spring to release a long-awaited physical security infrastructure plan as it wrestles with outdated alarms, sensors, and other protective measures at its sites, the Government Accountability Office said in a report Tuesday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency charged with sustaining the U.S. deterrent oversees four facilities that hold […]

The contractor for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee should in a matter of months deliver a new cost estimate and other information needed for the Department of Energy to sign off on construction of the complex. The Department of Energy expects by the end of fiscal 2017, Sept. 30, […]

A top U.S. general on Thursday joined military leadership and lawmakers in condemning the continuing resolution that is currently funding the government and is soon to expire, asking Congress to deliver a budget for the Pentagon in the coming weeks – even if it is subject to spending constraints. “This is the ninth year that […]

The new diplomatic push at the United Nations to establish a global prohibition on nuclear weapons could undermine the path laid out under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to one day rid the world of such armaments, a senior U.S. diplomat said this week. “A ban treaty will come at enormous cost to the NPT political […]

The nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia continue to fluctuate as the two countries work to meet the terms of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), according to the latest aggregate data released Monday by the U.S. State Department. The bilateral accord requires each country by next February to cap its […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley have been named as regular attendees on the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, according to a new national security presidential memorandum. The memo, published Wednesday in the Federal Register, notes the addition of those two positions as well as the reinstatement of […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted 22-5 in favor of Heather Wilson’s nomination as secretary of the Air Force, moving the matter on to the full Senate for final consideration. During her confirmation hearing before the committee last week, some lawmakers raised ethics concerns surrounding Wilson’s past consulting work. She was asked in particular […]

New legislation on enhancing nuclear energy research and developing new nuclear reactor technologies has reached the U.S. Senate. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) in January introduced the legislation, called the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act of 2017, which is intended to enhance civilian research and development of nuclear energy technologies. The bill highlights the need to maintain […]

A National Nuclear Security Administration field office has identified need for improvement in several operational areas by the management and operations contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas, according to a newly released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board activity report. The DNFSB document, dated March 13 and […]

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Tuesday he is “reviewing” the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, underscoring the Defense Department’s focus on addressing Russia’s violation of the 1987 accord. U.S. officials in February said Russia has deployed a ground-launched nuclear-capable cruise missile with two battalions in breach of the treaty, which […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to extend its task order with TechSource Inc. for technical support services for the agency’s Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing and Institutional R&D Programs, according to a notice posted last week. The NNSA’s advanced simulation office provides technical guidance to create and manage computational modeling and simulation capabilities […]