Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has received the implementation plan for extending the service lives of two decades-old enriched uranium processing buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, an agency spokesman said this week. The Extended Life Program implementation plan for the nuclear-weapon site’s Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E is considered a controlled […]

President Barack Obama this week nominated nuclear energy industry veteran Bruce Hamilton to serve a full term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Hamilton joined the board in August 2015, replacing the late Ken Mossman. If approved by the Senate, he would serve a full term of five years. Hamilton was president of nuclear fuel […]

A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary Ernest […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) next week hosts its International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions. The event will be held in cooperation with a number of international organizations including Interpol, the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, and the nongovernmental Nuclear Threat Initiative. NS&D Monitor will be reporting on conference proceedings throughout […]

U.S. lawmakers, Obama administration officials, and international organization leaders made the case this week that the United States would reap benefits for its national security if it ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The National Nuclear Security Administration and the State Department hosted an event on Capitol Hill on scientific innovation in nuclear […]

The nearly comprehensive global moratoria on nuclear explosive testing will remain fragile in the absence of a legally binding prohibition on such activities, Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), warned this week during a trip to Washington, D.C. “If there is no entry into […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will within the next 13 days release a request for proposals for protective force services at the Nevada National Security Site, according to a special notice posted Wednesday. The sources sought solicitation said the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency is seeking a contractor for work to be performed at the […]

Pat Host Defense Daily House and Senate conferees working on the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill have not reached a deal to move forward while Republican lawmakers decided to pursue a continuing resolution (CR) instead of passing a spending bill during the lame duck session. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Ranking Member Adam Smith […]

Federal agencies including the Energy Department will remain funded at fiscal 2016 levels through at least the first two months of President-elect Donald Trump’s term, Republican congressional leaders decided this week. “To this end, my Committee will begin working immediately on a Continuing Resolution (CR) at the current rate of funding to extend the operations […]

Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily With efficiencies in mind, Boeing on Tuesday said it will consolidate its defense operations over the next four years and create a new international group to put more emphasis on its growing worldwide military sales. A spokesman for Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security segment told Defense Daily that any cost savings and potential charges associated […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), whose name has been run through the rumor mill this week as a possible candidate for Secretary of Defense under President-elect Donald Trump, on Thursday emphasized the importance of nuclear modernization and the NATO alliance. Since his election, only Trump surrogates have reversed his campaign rhetoric that […]

The 30th session of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty’s Special Verification Commission took place this week in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the U.S. State Department. The meeting, which had not been held since 2003, involved delegations from the United States, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine discussing “questions relating to compliance with the obligations assumed […]

Advocates for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hope President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term will put to rest attempts to shut down the troubled project. The MFFF would be used to honor a 2000 bilateral agreement that requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 […]

NS&D Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Look for the next edition in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 2.

Pat Host Defense Daily The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) wants the Air Force to spend less on its new ICBM effort than the service has proposed. HASC Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Thursday if Congress and the Pentagon have a realistic view of what the United States can accomplish, […]

A group of experts and policy makers on Wednesday urged the incoming Donald Trump administration to make cuts to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and modernization program, along with adopting several nuclear policy changes. All the proposals are outlined in a new Ploughshares Fund report, 10 Big Nuclear Ideas for the Next President. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Smith […]

Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday in the U.S. presidential election stunned political pundits and prompted speculation about a number of policy areas likely to change once President Barack Obama leaves office – not least among them the future of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. During their campaigns the Republican and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton offered two […]

Lassina Zerbo has been appointed to a second four-year term as executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organization. Zerbo assumed his current role in August 2013, having previously served as the director of the organization’s International Data Center. In announcing the news, the Vienna, Austria-based organization highlighted […]

Plutonium metal operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site resumed last month, following a yearlong suspension that started with a safety pause induced in September 2015 by facility management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Plutonium metal operations, in which plutonium is repackaged from its original storage container in K Area to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) assured Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) it is working to boost the security and tracking of radioactive materials, in a Nov. 2 letter made public Wednesday in response to Schumer’s October request that the agency suspend approval of Category 3 radioactive material licenses. Schumer made his request early last month in […]

Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily Leidos last week posted higher earnings and sales in the third quarter driven largely by the acquisition of an information and technology services business from Lockheed Martin in August combined with a lower tax rate and modest organic growth. Net income soared 86 percent to $91 million, 80 cents earnings per […]

After agreeing last month to delay shipments of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site at least until Feb. 17, 2017, the Department of Energy is now asking a federal judge for summary judgment in a lawsuit in which antinuclear organizations are requesting more information on the transfers. The DOE facility, […]

Several projects at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories were among the winners last week of R&D Magazine 2016 R&D 100 Awards. The awards honor 100 innovative technologies from the past year. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California won an award for its GLO Transparent Ceramic Scintillator, which involves the nondestructive imaging of the 3D […]

In a third quarter during which it announced a major acquisition in its commercial nuclear power business, BWX Technologies of Lynchburg, Va., essentially held steady, registering small gains in revenue amid a slight dip in profit. Overall, BWXT on Monday reported quarterly operating income of just over $62 million, down sharply from about $130 million […]

Nuclear deterrence has regularly emerged as a topic of discussion during the 2016 presidential campaign, primarily as a means of illustrating the merits of the candidates’ capacity for leadership. Democrat Hillary Clinton recently highlighted a joint statement by 10 former Air Force nuclear launch officers that said Trump is “easily baited” and unfit to hold […]

After winning the multibillion-dollar management and operations contract for the Nevada National Security Site, only to have the award pulled in a matter of days, Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. (NVS3T) remains in the running in the rebidding process. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration announced on Aug. 31 that it […]