Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation Office led a U.S. delegation at the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence’s Nuclear Forensics User Group Annual Plenary, the agency said Dec. 15. NFUG involves scientists of U.S. national laboratories, the Pentagon, the DOE, the State Department and the UK counterparts of each agency. Its goal is […]

A three-bill minibus appropriations bill that includes funds for Energy and Water development, including $25.4 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), passed the House floor 397-28 Thursday. The bill was released by top appropriators in the Senate and House Monday on both sides of the aisle. Congress has until Jan. 30 to either […]

A Bechtel National company has landed a Department of Defense contract modification worth nearly $928 million for naval nuclear propulsion components, the Pentagon said last week. Bechtel Plant Machinery., Monroeville, Pa., was awarded the modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, according to a Dec. 19 summary of contract news from the Pentagon. About two-thirds […]

Here’s the timeline for NNSA contracts at key DOE weapons complex sites The Department of Energy, hires private companies to oversee and manage the facilities in its weapons complex, including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). These prime, or management and operating (M&O) contractors, normally consist of joint ventures between companies, and are not only […]

The fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill is giving the Navy some flexibility in how it buys Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). The compromise bill, signed by President Donald Trump Dec. 18, allows the Navy to procure up to five Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines starting next year.  The explanatory statement released with the bill […]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) wrote a letter Dec. 16 to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright asking DOE to review the need and scope of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) pit production program. Warren and Garamendi are both members of their respective chambers’ Armed Services Committees and of the bicameral […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and other Department of Energy branches said last week they have made big strides toward recovering rare plutonium-244 from old Cold War-era material at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A new radiochemical separation capability successfully recovered valuable isotopes from a Mark-18A target at the Savannah River National […]

As it has for major events in the past, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will make low-altitude helicopter flights over the Las Vegas Strip area leading up to New Year’s Eve celebrations in the desert city. The flights by NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) Aerial Measuring System aircraft will measure […]

In observance of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, Nuclear Security and Deterrence Monitor will not publish again until Friday Jan. 9. Exchange Monitor staffers are off Dec. 25-26 as well as Jan. 1-2. The Monitor wishes you a happy and safe holiday season!

Amid an administration change, government layoffs and a lapse in funding that led to the longest government shutdown in history, here were the top stories in 2025 involving nuclear deterrence and the National Nuclear Security Administration. To kick off the year in January, shortly after the conclusion of now-Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s Senate confirmation hearing […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) hosted an Australian delegation at its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division last week in support of the trilateral AUKUS agreement, the company announced on its website. Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime minister and minister for defence, led the delegation.  “It was fantastic to see the U.S. submarine industrial base on display […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was awarded over $28 million to modernize its technology infrastructure for emergency response, the Technology Modernization Fund said on its investment page. The Technology Modernization Fund, which provided the award, was created in 2017 to provide civilian government agencies with funding for tech modernization projects. The TMF’s authority expired […]

The conferenced fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) turns back a proposal by the Senate to accelerate the U.S. Air Force AGM-181 Long Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile under development by RTX’s Raytheon. The Senate bill recommended $756 million for LRSO – $149 million more than requested by the Air Force – including […]

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, a naval technical agent, was awarded a $453.9 million contract modification to fund engineering support on the Trident D5 missile guidance subsystem, the Pentagon announced last week. The cost-plus-fixed-fee modification applies to a previously announced and awarded Navy contract to continue engineering and support services for the submarine-launched ballistic missile system. […]

Nuclear tech company Oklo has been conducting a multi-day plutonium experiment with DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory this week to validate plutonium as fuel for future fast reactor development and deployment. A press release by Oklo said the company used plutonium materials already in LANL’s inventory to carry out a series of low-power experiments at […]

The Navy accepted delivery of the future Virginia-class USS Idaho (SSN-799) from General Dynamics (GD) Electric Boat this week, marking the second attack submarine delivery of the year. The boat will now undergo a set of tests and trials before being commissioned into active service, expected in the spring of 2026. SSN-799 is the 26th […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 25 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste in November. Through the first 11 months of the calendar year 2025, WIPP has received 408 shipments. That is down from 441 in the same period last year.  The 25 shipments last month is less than […]

During fiscal 2025, the legacy cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico shipped more than 190 cubic meters of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). That’s according to a quarterly update distributed Wednesday by Brad Smith, president and general manager of Newport News Nuclear-BWXT-Los Alamos […]

President Donald Trump Thursday signed the $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law that would allow nearly $26 billion in funding to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That is the highest authorization limit yet for the agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and $100 million more than […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) completed the last production unit of the W88 Alteration 370, a program to modernize the W88 nuclear warhead over several years, NNSA announced Tuesday. The W88 nuclear warhead entered the stockpile in late 1988 and is deployed in the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class Trident II D5 Submarine-Launched […]

The House Wednesday voted 312 to 112 to pass the conferenced $900.6 billion fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would authorize $25.96 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That is the highest authorization limit yet for the agency in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons […]

Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO) is receiving three additional years to manage and operate the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., DOE said early Wednesday. With the three-year extension, Salado will continue to run WIPP from Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2029, DOE said in a news release. […]

Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. recently downgraded Building 9206 from nuclear facility status to radiologically contaminated, local publication The Oak Ridger said Monday. Building 9206 was constructed in 1944 and was used for processes such as uranium recovery and processing, as well as chemical recycling. The Y-12 building was shut down in […]

The Department of Energy is issuing $11 million in awards to five companies to develop and license new transportation packages for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). According to a Monday press release, DOE’s $11 million in awards will assist industry-led efforts to design, modify and license transportation through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The five companies […]

Sandia National Laboratories announced the unveiling of its newest supercomputer, Spectra, on Monday. Sandia teamed up with technology company NextSilicon by using 128 of its specialized chips, with aims to increase performance but reduce power consumption. The chips, called Maverick-2 dual-die accelerators, analyze code to prioritize tasks, a different system than the CPUs and GPUs […]

The protective barrier around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site can no longer confine radioactive waste due to a drone strike in February, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement Dec. 5. An IAEA team completed a safety assessment of the protective cladding, named the New Safe Confinement (NSC), at Ukraine’s Chernobyl site. […]

The Pentagon has completed its review of the trilateral AUKUS security agreement, top department spokesperson Sean Parnell has confirmed.  While the review has yet to be released publicly, Parnell in a statement affirmed the department concluded the security pact between the U.S., Australia and United Kingdom should move “full steam ahead” consistent with President Donald […]