Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

By Marc Selinger Defense Daily NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The U.S. Air Force revealed Sept. 19 that the service’s new B-21 bomber will be named the “Raider” in honor of Jimmy Doolittle’s Raiders. The Air Force picked “Raider” after holding a service-wide contest and reviewing more than 2,100 unique name submissions. Months after the Japanese […]

Pat Host Defense Daily NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–It could take the Air Force more than a year to better refine its Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) cost estimate as service Secretary Deborah James said she wants to use industry input to better inform this effort. In the meantime, James said the Air Force would talk with the […]

The state of South Carolina appears to hope a letter sent out by the Energy Department that addresses the timeline for new nuclear waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will buffer the state’s argument that the federal government should continue building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The U.S. Navy is in the “very early phases” of exploring what the successor to its Trident II D-5 ballistic missile will look like, a service official said Sept. 22. Navy engineers “have begun evaluating the technology areas that need to be examined” to develop the new submarine-launched, nuclear-armed missile, said […]

There is still no projection for the release date of a final environmental assessment (EA) on the Savannah River Site’s possible receipt of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany, according to a Sept. 20 update on Department of Energy EAs and environmental impact statements (EIS). The department projected a July 2016 earlier this year after issuing […]

Congress adjourned for the week without passing a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded at 2016 levels until Dec. 9, leaving lawmakers only another week to put finishing touches on the bill or risk another government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) began the week with hopes that the upper chamber by […]

In a letter Thursday to President Barack Obama, 29 Republican senators argued against enactment of a “no first use” policy for the U.S. nuclear deterrent. “While no American wishes to employ nuclear weapons in conflict, establishing a no first use policy would weaken the nation’s security and make the world less safe by crippling America’s nuclear deterrence posture—a stabilizing […]

Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force. The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of the CTBT at the United Nations in New York, where […]

Even with U.S. use of molybdenum-99 dropping in recent years, the nation faces a possible shortage of the crucial medical radioisotope when Canada’s National Research Universal reactor halts regular production next month, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report also found that global efforts to minimize and ultimately […]

The United States must maintain and modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad, including through deployment of a new air-launched cruise missile, the Air Force general nominated to lead U.S. Strategic Command said on Tuesday. “it’s essential that we always maintain a fully ready nuclear deterrent capability. There should be no doubt that the […]

The Obama administration’s $8.6 million payment to Iran for 32 metric tons of heavy water was conducted absolutely transparently, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday. The deal was reported to Congress and discussed with lawmakers, Moniz said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “There was no mystery about it, […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said this week it anticipates success in its campaign to hire 1,150 new employees in fiscal 2016, which ends on Sept. 30. “More than 800 people have accepted offers in fiscal year 2016 with CNS, and with the remaining offers being extended CNS will meet its hiring goals for this year,” company […]

The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution encouraging entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and urging nations to refrain from any nuclear explosive blasts while they wait for the global prohibition to be enacted. There was no indication that the resolution places any binding commitments on nations. Republicans in […]

A U.S. District Court judge will hear arguments next month on whether to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging Fluor Federal Services and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) overcharged the government by more than $5 million for home office expenses and other “unallowable costs” in operation of the Savannah River Site. The federal […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it would provide more than $10 million in funding to eight projects for advanced combustion systems research. The projects, funded by the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, encompass research in oxy-combustion and chemical looping–based power systems. “By developing efficient and economically viable combustion systems that generate […]

This month, the Energy Department will begin preparing some 6 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Downblending will begin once the quasi-independent DOE agency completes an assessment of a recently completed two-month long […]

Congress’ rush to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown raises questions about National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) funding needs – particularly those for infrastructure and operations – that may or may not be met should the agency’s spending levels be frozen at the currently enacted $12.5 billion, in light of its fiscal […]

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday offered strong support for a new plutonium dilution and disposal method in place of the mixed oxide fuel program that the Obama administration is pushing to cancel, calling the latter an essentially “impossible” effort. The controversy over the MOX program will be one of the next administration’s primary challenges […]

U.S. State Department officials gave their assurances Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council resolution the administration is preparing to strengthen the global moratoria on nuclear explosive testing will be legally nonbinding and is not an attempt to bypass the U.S. Senate, as congressional Republicans have argued. Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control […]

The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council met this week in Washington, D.C., to review progress in the nuclear nonproliferation regime, express their vision for global disarmament, and renew the push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The P5 – the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, and Russia – […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) has settled a discrimination lawsuit filed against the contractor by a former employee who alleged she was denied a better job opportunity because she was Hispanic and the person who got the job was white. However, terms of the settlement were not released. Victoria Brandner sued SRNS, the Savannah River […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not fully implemented its Enhanced Surveillance Program, in part due to decreased funding over the years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released Wednesday. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency’s 2007 Surveillance Transformation Project, an effort to address the growing backlog of required surveillance weapons […]

Sandia Corp., the management and operations contractor for the Sandia National Laboratories, is working to improve its program to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of classified information following a review by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) that revealed some issues. EA evaluated two such incidents of unauthorized disclosure that Sandia Corp. […]

The U.S. Navy and Air Force recently conducted two strategic missile tests to validate the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, U.S. Strategic Command announced Monday. An Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, along with the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs and a crew from the USS Maryland, on Aug. 31 conducted a demonstration and shakedown operation, which is […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the management and operations contractor for the Y-12 National Security Site in Tennessee, said Tuesday it had sealed a five-year labor agreement with the Knoxville Building and Construction Trades Council. The Council is an umbrella organization encompassing 16 local unions, according to a CNS press release. The labor agreement will expire on […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has determined that the Department of Energy’s implementation plan for emergency preparedness and response at the Pantex Plant would properly address safety issues at the Texas site, according to a Sept. 2 letter from DNFSB Chairman Joyce Connery to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. This letter came in response […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is not doing enough to explore alternative approaches to its management and operating (M&O) contracts, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released Thursday. The government spent nearly $19 billion on 22 DOE M&O contracts in fiscal 2015, three-quarters of its total spending, the report said. DOE did […]

The Obama administration, in proposing to export highly enriched uranium (HEU) to Europe, may violate a nonproliferation agreement it made in 2012 to move away from using HEU for European medical isotope production, according to a Sept. 7 letter sent by a group of nuclear experts to the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory […]