Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

BWX Technologies on Monday reported $428.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2017, up by 17 percent from $364.8 million in the same quarter last year, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) operating income of $83.2 million, spiking 95 percent year over year from $42.6 million. Earnings per share were reported at $0.55 in […]

The fiscal 2017 omnibus spending bill approved by both chambers of Congress provides $12.9 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of $142 million from the fiscal 2016 level and $63 million more than former President Barack Obama’s request for the current budget year. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into […]

President Donald Trump is expected today to sign into law an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2017 that largely maintains funding for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina while leaving room to study former President Barack Obama’s proposed alternative method of plutonium disposition. This means questions about the future of […]

Editor’s note: This is the final in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and the U.S. nuclear deterrent during the new administration’s crucial first days. The Donald Trump administration continues to shape its nuclear arms policy even as it very slowly advances its efforts […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has made progress in its governance of the U.S. nuclear security enterprise but will need to take more concrete steps to improve the federal-contractor relationship and reduce bureaucratic burdens, according to a new congressionally mandated report. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the National Academy of Public […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration may be underestimating the costs of its various weapons modernization programs by up to billions of dollars, raising concerns that some life-extension programs might be underfunded or even deferred, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Wednesday. The report said fiscal 2017 budget materials from the semiautonomous Department of Energy […]

BWX Technologies on Monday said it had secured a $76.2 million contract to produce more Common Missile Compartment (CMC) tube assemblies for next-generation U.S. and U.K. ballistic missile submarines. This is the third contract the BWXT Nuclear Operations Group has received from Columbia-class vessel prime General Dynamics Electric Boat for the assemblies – the vertical […]

After nearly 20 years, the U.S. Senate must undertake a new review of the potential nonproliferation benefits provided by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, CTBT Organization (CTBTO) Preparatory Commission Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov wrote in a new commentary in The Diplomat. The 1996 accord is intended to promote nonproliferation […]

Jill Hruby had no intention of leaving her job as director of the Sandia National Laboratories, but those plans were interrupted by an imminent change in management. Now, for the first time in more than three decades, she is pondering a future that doesn’t include the multi-state Department of Energy research complex. Just days before […]

The State Department has shed more light on the circumstances surrounding Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, highlighting in a new report its outreach to Moscow on the matter. The INF Treaty prohibits the fielding of ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles with flight ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. U.S. officials have been […]

Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday announced net sales of $11.1 billion and net earnings from continuing operations of $763 million for the first quarter of 2017. Net sales increased from $10.4 billion in the same three-month period of 2016, while year-over-year net earnings fell from $806 million. Lockheed subsidiary Sandia Corp., with only a few […]

A company hired to provide specialty steel bars for construction of the MOX facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has agreed to pay $4.6 million in damages after being accused of supplying “defective steel reinforcing bar,” the Department of Justice said this week. Energy & Process Corp., a Georgia-based supplier […]

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, […]