Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has issued consent orders to Los Alamos National Security (LANS) and National Security Technologies (NSTec) for the loss of contamination control of highly enriched uranium at the Nevada National Security Site’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center at the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) in June and October of 2014, according to two […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which plays a key role in preventing nuclear smuggling by monitoring cargo arriving at U.S. ports of entry, is understaffed and faces challenges in properly screening incoming high-risk shipments, according to witnesses at a House Homeland Security Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Todd […]

The House of Representatives on Friday morning adopted by voice vote a motion to go to conference on the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation the House passed in May and the Senate a month later. The House and Senate will next name their conferees to the committee, which will then develop a […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said July 7 that the United States needs to be prepared to counter an increasing “diversity” of threats to its national security. The United States has been battling terrorist groups in multiple foreign countries for 15 years, but that threat “has not […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) is seeking a dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing the contractor and one of its parent companies of overcharging the government more than $5 million in “unallowable costs.” In papers filed on May 20, SRNS said the Department of Justice misused the Federal Claims Act in filing its lawsuit, and […]

The downblending of 6 metric tons of plutonium at the Savannah River Site is expected to begin in September, with plans to complete the process over the next several years. The weapon-usable, non-pit plutonium is not part of the 34 metric tons of material that would be processed by the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility […]

Savannah River Site officials still don’t know who is behind the flying drones that have been spotted above the 310-square-mile facility near Aiken, S.C. There have been eight confirmed sightings of drones flying over the Department of Energy facility, with the most recent reported on Tuesday. “We continue to partner with federal, state, and local […]

The Sandia National Laboratories is seeking a commercial partner for the development of a market-ready physical security analysis software package, according to a special notice posted last week. The collaboration, which would be based on Sandia’s security analysis methodologies, would yield commercial software with applications that involve nuclear power plant security, material control and accounting, […]

The Pantex Plant has underreported its maintenance backlog by 69 percent despite properly identifying the condition of its infrastructure, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office (IG) said in a report Tuesday. Pantex reported 4,002 backlogged tasks as of Jan. 19, 2015, it said. However, the IG’s review of the system the plant uses to […]

Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, has been appointed as the next NATO deputy secretary general, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday. Gottemoeller is set to replace Alexander Vershbow, a veteran U.S. ambassador who has served in the NATO position since 2012, the statement said. Gottemoeller will begin her […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that its security inspections at commercial nuclear power reactors and “Category I” fuel cycle facilities in 2015 resulted in 138 findings, most of which were of “low security significance.” The annual report to Congress on the NRC’s security inspection program said the agency conducted 242 inspections at those sites, […]

The conditions for further reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy do not currently exist, according to the former policy director of the Obama administration’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Brad Roberts, now the director of the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said Tuesday at the […]

Despite some obstacles, such as the slow pace of approval of new security clearances, Consolidated Nuclear Security is more than halfway to its goal of hiring 1,150 employees in fiscal 2016. CNS is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s managing contractor at two key nuclear weapons facilities: the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the […]

The Navy, in partnership with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), has completed approximately 70 percent of the production run of the W76-1 re-entry body refurbishment program, Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), said on June 23 at a Peter Huessy breakfast. SSP and NNSA are working to extend […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sent the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine an emergency shipment worth approximately $2.3 million after 29 radiation portal monitors were destroyed in Ukraine in fighting between the government and separatists. NNSA spokeswoman Francie Israeli offered more details by email after a June 17 Government Accountability Office report highlighted the destroyed […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded South Carolina State University (SCSU), a historically black institution in the city of Orangeburg, a two-year contract to evaluate the agency’s University Consortia on Nuclear Security. The contract, awarded by NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22), is worth $173,940, according to an award […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has dedicated a new supercomputing facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. The $9.8 million facility houses supercomputing systems that support the agency’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, a key component of the Stockpile Stewardship Program that certifies the reliability and effectiveness of the U.S. […]

A federal judge on Thursday heard arguments for motions in South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium processing at the Savannah River Site, but gave no indication how or when she might rule on the requests. The federal government is seeking immediate dismissal of the state lawsuit demanding $100 million and […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA), in a June 24 report, identified some design and operational deficiencies with the criticality accident alarm system (CAAS) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Fissile material operations at Y-12 pose the risk of a criticality accident, an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that could expose nearby […]

The fighting between the government of Ukraine and separatists that began in 2014 resulted in the destruction of 29 radiation portal monitors worth $3.9 million that were provided by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency said this week. The NNSA has no plans to replace these monitors, which are among 84 installed […]

The head of the management and operations contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada National Security Site said this week he expects a seamless transition to a new M&O contract – an award for which is soon to be announced. James Holt, president of National Security Technologies (NSTec), the contractor that has run the […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is in its final stages of its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) restart project, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report for the week ending May 20. The report said LANL sent the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Field Office for review and approval a plan […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has authorized irradiation of up to 5,000 tritium rods every 18 months using two Tennessee nuclear reactors, one of seven options it was considering to meet national security requirements. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch said in a record of decision released Wednesday that it would implement its preferred […]

The number of equipment leaks awaiting repair in Building 9212 – the main processing center for bomb-grade uranium at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee – has been reduced from 120 in 2010 to a current level of 47, thanks to a “continuous effort to repair new and previously identified leaks.” That’s according to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has given its approval to Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) to move forward with plans for construction of a new administrative and support facility for the Pantex Plant in Texas, CNS announced last week. The new 343,000-square-foot Pantex Administrative Support complex will provide office space for roughly 1,100 employees of the […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined improvements to the Pantex Plant’s emergency management program it plans to make by next June on staffing, infrastructure, training, and drills, according to a June 16 letter from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chairman Joyce Connery. The implementation plan for emergency […]

The state of South Carolina filed papers on Monday reasserting its request for summary judgment in its multi-million-dollar plutonium disposal lawsuit against the Department of Energy. Also this week, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs rejected DOE’s request to delay a decision on summary judgment until after ruling on the federal agency’s motion to dismiss the […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is inviting national and international businesses to participate in preventive radiological and nuclear detection equipment vendor rodeo and capability demonstration events throughout the year, according to a notice posted this week. Each vendor will give a closed-door briefing of technical capabilities and showcase technologies with law enforcement and […]