Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

House Republicans on Thursday released a policy paper recommending an approach to U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes the nation’s nuclear deterrent, greater efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and a robust U.S.-NATO alliance. The policy agenda offers Congress and the president 67 recommendations developed by the Task Force on National […]

It remained unclear at press time Friday whether the Department of Energy had delivered by its Monday deadline new details about the agency’s cost and schedule estimates for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to the Senate Armed Services Committee. In early May, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) requested more details […]

Interoperability requirements for the core of nuclear warheads under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) “3+2” modernization strategy may lead to trade-offs and complications for the U.S. nuclear stockpile, according to a report by the independent science advisory group JASON. The NNSA publicly released the executive summary of the January 2015 report this week. The […]

Despite President Barack Obama’s efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security policy, the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile reductions and warhead dismantlements have slowed under his administration, according to updated stockpile numbers declassified last week by the Department of Defense. The U.S. stockpile consisted of 4,571 active and reserve nuclear weapons at […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said last week it in May hosted at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) an on-site inspection activity for Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) inspection experts. CTBT experts from over 30 countries visited NNSS for three days to study nuclear explosive test indicators and other field experimental operations at […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is dangerously unequal to the job of commander-in-chief, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. Clinton, who is still battling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for her party’s nomination, focused on Trump during a national security policy speech in San Diego. “I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for president […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operations contractor for the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C., is seeking expressions of interest for operation of its materials management and distribution activities, according to a sources sought notice posted Tuesday. The contract involves shipping, warehousing, inventory accounting, and other logistics work for radiological, nuclear, and […]

Kenneth R. Tarcza, a retired Army officer, has been named manager of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office in Tennessee as of May 3. He will oversee the Integrated Support Center, which provides services to multiple national laboratories and Office of Science sites. The appointment was announced Monday by the DOE’s Office of Science. […]

Incumbent Lockheed Martin on Thursday confirmed its intent to bid to retain the management and operations contract for the Sandia National Laboratories. “We’re proud of our 23-year partnership with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration,” company spokesman Matt Kramer said in an email statement. “Lockheed Martin has helped Sandia maintain a steadfast focus […]

A new report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) suggests the U.S. take a more involved approach to extended nuclear deterrence posture worldwide by broadening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) nuclear mission and developing nuclear-sharing arrangements in other regions. According to the report, U.S. extended deterrence posture in Europe is highly […]

The Senate will consider its version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on June 6, but a provision in both the Senate and House versions of the bill calling for continuation of Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction is expected to pose problems in light of the Obama administration’s proposal to terminate the program. […]

Against a backdrop of controversial amendments, a looming White House veto threat and the impending U.S. Memorial Day holiday, House lawmakers failed Thursday to pass the spending bill that contained the chamber’s proposed 2017 budget for the Energy Department. House members now will leave town for a week-long Memorial Day recess, after which the Republican […]

An Operational Safety Board was convened in mid-April at the Y-12 National Security Complex when a crane maneuvering a nuclear weapons component did not respond as expected. According to an April 15 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the incident occurred at Beta-2E, which houses the assembly and disassembly operations at […]

Negotiations remain ongoing on the highly enriched uranium (HEU) shipment from the United Kingdom to the U.S. that was announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit earlier this year, according to documents published Tuesday from the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Euratom Supply Agency […]

The Energy Department and South Carolina traded barbed court filings this week in the state’s $100-million lawsuit over plutonium disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. DOE still wants the suit, filed in February, thrown out of court. South Carolina still wants Judge J. Michelle Childs to forgo a trial and order […]

Contractors Battelle and Boeing have signed an agreement to bid as a team for the Sandia National Laboratories’ management and operation contract, Battelle announced Tuesday. Team members include the University of New Mexico (UNM), the Texas A&M University System, and the University of Texas System. The partnership is the first to formally announce its bid […]

A problem with a “1960s-vintage” elevator in the Beta-2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex spawned a series of events in late April that created an oily mess and provided yet another example of the challenges resulting from the plant’s aged infrastructure. According to a newly released report by staff of the Defense Nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has appointed Jay Tilden as associate administrator and Dave Bowman as deputy associate administrator for counterterrorism and counterproliferation, the agency announced Monday. Most recently Tilden served as acting associate administrator following Steve Aoki’s departure from the position late last year, the announcement said. He previously also worked as deputy […]

International cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation improved over the last year, largely due to the Iran nuclear deal, according to a May 17 report by the Council on Foreign Relations. The Council of Councils (CoC) Report Card on International Cooperation evaluates multilateral activities on global challenges by surveying its network of 26 foreign policy institutes worldwide. Its […]

The Energy Department will shed more light next week on the role industry is playing in crafting an updated cost and schedule estimate for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction at the agency’s Savannah River Site, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. The Senate Armed Services Committee requested an update on the latest […]

The Senate confirmed Laura Holgate Thursday to be U.S. Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Vienna Office of the United Nations. President Barack Obama nominated Holgate in August, at which time National Security Advisor Susan Rice said Holgate has played a key role in strengthening the global nuclear security architecture. “Laura […]

The Department of Energy will proceed with plans to purchase Iranian heavy water, despite lingering sentiment in some quarters of Capitol Hill that it should not do so, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz assured an audience of journalists and Beltway insiders Wednesday morning. It was a course of action that — despite sometimes strenuous objection in […]

The manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants received the lowest percentage of the available award fee in the agency’s latest performance reviews of its seven site management and operations contractors. Consolidated Nuclear Security’s overall performance score (57 out of 100) and at-risk fee ($11.4 million of a maximum just […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has not yet completed its physical security infrastructure plan, despite a nearly decade-old requirement by Congress for it to do so, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released on May 13. The report said physical security infrastructure, or the protection and accounting of nuclear materials, has […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, the management and operations contractor at the National Security Campus near Kansas City, Mo., an overall rating of “Excellent” for its work in fiscal 2015, according to the performance evaluation report released last Friday. Honeywell FM&T received 94 percent of its award […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), the management and operations contractor for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, 89 percent of its award fee – $20.98 million of the available $23.63 million – for its performance in fiscal 2015. The contractor received an “Excellent” rating on four of […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ (SRNS) safety pause on all nonessential work last fall had “direct financial and schedule impacts on National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) programs,” the agency said last week in its fiscal 2015 performance evaluation report on the contractor. In November, the NNSA reported that it was awarding SRNS, management and operations contractor for […]