Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission lauded CB&I AREVA MOX Services, which is building the embattled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, for its construction program and oversight in an assessment of the contractor’s construction activities and safety performance during 2016. The regulatory body said in a March 2 letter to CB&I AREVA MOX Services that the […]

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Wednesday introduced legislation that would limit funding for the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile, a controversial weapon intended to replace the aging air-launched cruise missile. Democrats in Congress say the missile, expected to cost roughly $20 billion to $30 billion over 20 years for approximately 1,000 missiles, would increase […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency is finalizing its nuclear security plan for the next four years, Director General Yukiya Amano said Monday at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting being held all week in Vienna, Austria. The Board of Governors, one of the agency’s policy-making bodies, meets five times per year to develop recommendations on […]

The House of Representatives approved Wednesday a $577.9 defense appropriations billion for fiscal 2017 by a vote of 233-185, with three Republicans against the legislation and five Democrats in favor. The House Appropriations Committee last week introduced the bill, which funds the Defense Department at a level $5.2 billion higher than the fiscal 2016 enacted […]

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. We’ll check in with one long, big-picture update every 25 days, with a regular flow of updates in between to keep you up on news affecting the U.S. nuclear deterrent during […]

The contractor building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility received less than 9 percent of its possible award fee in its latest performance evaluation, along with a stinging rebuke from the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA on Feb. 21 released to Savannah River Site Watch its fiscal 2016 performance evaluation report and […]

The absence of senior leadership at the Trump administration’s Cabinet agencies threatens to leave contractors without clear policy direction on matters including the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons and cleanup complexes, executives said Tuesday. There is no imminent end in sight to this dilemma, they acknowledged. Panelists at the ExchangeMonitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit spoke two […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The U.S. Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat may soon wrap up negotiations on the detail design contract for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, an industry official said March 1. “We expect to continue [the negotiations] for the next month or so and get to the point where we reach an agreement,” said […]

The Senate on Thursday confirmed James Richard “Rick” Perry as U.S. secretary of energy, installing the former Texas governor to the government’s top nuclear weapons, waste, and energy post after an uncontroversial 62-37 vote. Every Senate Republican and 10 Democrats voted for Perry. All 37 “no” votes were from Democratic senators, plus Vermont independent Sen. […]

One of two men accused of stealing more than $4 million from the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site’s MOX program could face up to five years in prison after entering into a plea agreement on Friday. Meanwhile, the other suspect has waived his right to a speedy trial and wants the […]

Thom Mason will leave his post as director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee on July 1 to join Battelle as a senior executive, the Department of Energy site announced last Friday. Mason, a physicist who has served for a decade as ORNL director, is set to become senior vice president for laboratory […]

Linton Brooks, a career naval officer and former head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, on Wednesday received the Johnny Foster Lifetime Achievement Award at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2017 Nuclear Deterrence Summit. The award, named in honor of the longtime Energy and Defense departments hand who directed the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the 1960s, recognizes […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Tuesday approved Critical Decision (CD)-4 for the High Explosives Pressing Facility (HEPF) at the Pantex Plant, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz said Wednesday at the ExchangeMonitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington, D.C. CD-4 indicates readiness to operate the facility, following the construction phase. The agency in 2011 began building the […]

The second round of bidding for the Nevada National Security Site management and operations contract appears to be in its final stages, executives with one of the competing companies said Tuesday. Leidos resubmitted a proposal after the previous contract award to a newly acquired business segment was rescinded last year, according to Elizabeth Porter, senior vice president […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s work may be hindered by a congressionally mandated cap on federal employees, a former agency official said Wednesday. Madelyn Creedon, who served as the agency’s principal deputy administrator from 2014 to Jan. 20, noted that Congress directed a cap of 1,690 federal employees for the NNSA, excluding the offices of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s cybersecurity program is stable, improving, and has not faced any major incidents in recent years, the agency’s chief information officer told NS&D Monitor this week. The cyber program is “very strong,” both at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at each of its sites around the country, Wayne Jones, […]

President Donald Trump’s apparent preference for U.S. nuclear might over stockpile reductions does not necessarily preclude the United States and Russia from reaching a deal to extend the New START accord – or even sealing an all-new arms control plan, experts said. During his campaign and in the early weeks of his presidency, Trump has […]

Global information technology provider Leidos this week reported higher earnings in the fourth quarter of 2016 and the full fiscal year, in part due to its acquisition last year of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) business segment. The company reported revenue of $2.58 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, up from […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the export of up to 144 kilograms of nuclear weapon-grade uranium to Belgium. The fuel elements, enriched to 93.2 percent, would be used to power Belgian Reactor No. 2 at the Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie-Centre d’Etude de l’Energie Nucléaire (SCK-CEN). The regulator, though, ruled that the license issued to Washington, […]

Sandia National Laboratories Director Jill Hruby nearly topped Business Insider’s list this week of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 in the U.S. technology sector. Hruby came in at No. 2, behind only Peggy Johnson, executive vice president for business development at Microsoft. Barbara Rusinko, a president at major Department of Energy contractor […]

The United Nations conference to negotiate a legally binding nuclear weapons prohibition will begin its session next month in New York. The conference held its first organizational meeting last week, where it adopted a draft provisional agenda and elected Elayne Whyte Gomez of Costa Rica as conference president. The U.N. General Assembly First Committee voted […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week authorized the beginning of the W88 Alteration 370 program’s production engineering phase, part of the agency’s work in ensuring the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. The W88 thermonuclear warhead is deployed on the Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile carried on Ohio-class submarines. The warhead, in […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should enhance its oversight of source material export licensees, the agency’s Inspector General’s Office said in an audit report released Wednesday. The report noted that from 2011 to 2015, the NRC issued 14 export licenses for source material, defined primarily as uranium or thorium or a combination of the two radioactive elements. […]

Another group has announced its opposition to the anticipated shipments of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a Canadian laboratory to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The Iroquois Caucus, a Canada-based coalition of seven First Nation communities, said in a prepared statement Wednesday it is “unanimously condemning a plan to truck 23,000 liters of highly […]

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of quarterly news summaries and analyses about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. We’ll check in with one long, big-picture update every 25 days, with a regular flow of updates in between to keep you up on news affecting the U.S. nuclear deterrent during […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday reported modest revenue and operating income increases for both fourth-quarter and full-year 2016. Specifically, the shipbuilder reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.9 billion, a 0.9 percent increase from the same year-ending period of 2015. Meanwhile, it brought in $7.1 billion in revenue over the full year, up by 0.7 percent from […]

Republicans in both houses of Congress on Thursday introduced legislation intended to press Russia to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, following reports that the nation has deployed a new cruise missile in contravention of the accord. The Intermediate-Range Forces Treaty Preservation Act, from Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), […]