Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded National Security Technologies (NSTec), the management and operations contractor for the Nevada National Security Site, 88 percent of its award fee for fiscal 2015, or $21.84 million of the available $24.72 million. Like other NNSA site M&O contractors, NSTec was rated in six operational areas for the […]

A long-running disagreement between the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Department of Energy resurfaced last week when DNFSB Chairman Joyce Connery forwarded a staff issue report with a transmittal letter warning National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz of unresolved safety problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility.  The issues concern […]

South Carolina and the federal government continue to disagree over what constitutes a mandate and what should be considered a goal, as it pertains to the state lawsuit over a missed plutonium disposition milestone at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). In the latest document filed in U.S. District Court for […]

A federal lawsuit filed last year on behalf of retirees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee is moving forward. In response to a motion filed by Consolidated Nuclear Security – the government’s managing contractor at Y-12 and defendant in the case — U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan refused to dismiss the lawsuit, at […]

In The NNSA: National Security Technologies (NSTec), the contractor that manages and operates the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), purchased two Sandstorm unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for a program at the facility that develops sensor technology for these systems, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada Field Office announced Wednesday. The two small- to medium-sized systems […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday released the request for proposals for the Sandia National Laboratories management and operations contract. The current contract is held by Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sandia Corp. and expires on April 30, 2017. It covers Sandia campuses in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., along with smaller operations in Hawaii, Nevada, […]

Following two days of debate and consideration of scores of amendments, the House of Representatives late Thursday voted 277-147 to approve its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017. However, that vote count would not be sufficient to override a veto threatened by the White House over various measures in the legislation, including funding for […]

The Department of Energy is headed into overtime in preparing a plan to address emergency response vulnerabilities identified in the Pantex Plant’s ability to respond to the release of radioactive material or other crisis. In a letter to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Joyce Connery, dated May 3 and posted later to the board’s […]

After a highly troubling performance evaluation last year, the manager of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico received significantly higher marks for its work in fiscal 2015, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration performance evaluation report released on May 13. Nonetheless, Los Alamos National Security’s (LANS) contract will expire in fiscal 2018, several years before the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration shortly before press time Friday released the latest performance evaluation reports and award fee letters for the managers of its eight nuclear security sites. With one exception, the performance periods cover fiscal 2015, from Oct. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2015. Each contractor was rated in six performance areas, which […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23-3 Thursday to report its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the full chamber following the panel’s closed markup this week. A summary released Thursday notes that the $602 billion bill, which authorizes funding at the level of President Obama’s budget request, includes $543 billion for […]

Two new facilities for secure radiological material storage have been dedicated at a radioactive waste disposal institution in Tajikistan, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced Thursday. The facilities at the State Institution Radioactive Waste Disposal Site are part of a broader U.S. effort to prevent terrorists from acquiring radiological materials, the agency said. Tajikistan […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said this week it has migrated all up-to-date data on buildings at its eight sites to the BUILDER system, which it called a “cutting-edge infrastructure management tool” backed by the National Academy of Sciences. In total, more than 225,000 data points covering inventory and condition of NNSA real property buildings […]

President Barack Obama’s trip to Japan later this month will include a stop in the city of Hiroshima, the White House announced Tuesday. This will make him the first serving U.S. president to visit the site of the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic bomb strike. Obama “will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime […]

Engineering giant AECOM’s fiscal second-quarter revenue dipped by 3 percent, from $4.51 billion in 2015 to $4.38 billion this year, according to earnings numbers released Tuesday. Earnings per share landed at $0.27, with adjusted earnings per share up by half on a year-over-year basis, from $0.58 to $0.87. Net income for the three-month period ending […]

Another issue has come under scrutiny at Stack 110, a significant emissions point in the 9212 uranium-processing complex at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. According to a March 25 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a monitoring team with Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security noted that enriched […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is properly managing its radioactive sealed sources, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General’s Office (IG) said in a report released Thursday. The department uses sealed sources, or radioactive materials enclosed in capsules to prevent leaks, for medical and scientific testing. A 2002 IG report identified deficiencies including […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily Both the ground and air legs of the U.S. nuclear triad are in need of replacement and the Air Force would welcome a dedicated fund to pay for their modernization, according to Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, deputy Commander of U.S. Strategic Command. When the Navy made the case to Congress that […]

The Senate on Thursday at last united to pass a fiscal 2017 spending bill with $31 billion for the Department of Energy, but the House cannot even begin floor votes on its own backlog of spending bills until Monday because Congress still has not agreed on overall spending levels for the next budget year. It […]

Defense Daily With tensions rising between the United States and Russia in Europe and the Middle East, lawmakers responsible for securing the Soviet Union’s nuclear stockpile after its collapse on Monday called for building a bridge between the old enemies at least on the subject of nuclear weapons. Retired Sens. Sam Nun (D-Ga.) and Richard […]

Local officials representing the community interests of towns and counties around the Los Alamos National Laboratory had reason for relief this week as they visited Washington, D.C. Members of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities are reassured that they would have an additional one-year extension to help guide the impending contract transition at the lab. […]

A regional group that supports job creation near the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., was recently given $1 million to help fill future workforce needs at the site. The Department of Energy announced Monday that the grant totals $5 million that will be rationed out over five years. The money falls under the Workforce […]

When lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week, yet another report proclaiming the fundamental unsoundness of the Energy Department’s proposal to store surplus plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. will greet them. Delivered to the Hill on Thursday, the latest report by Greensboro, Ga.-based High Bridge Associates — the consulting firm […]

The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations began its second round of meetings in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The working group serves as a forum for cooperative action, under the U.N. General Assembly, with the purpose to “address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions, and norms that will need to be […]

The Savannah River Site’s two largest contractors reported recently that they are focusing on hiring more personnel as a significant number of their workforces near retirement eligibility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, and Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, both gave presentations in April to the […]

Despite a major makeover in plans for the Uranium Processing Facility, which has been scaled down and supplemented with the use of existing facilities, the National Nuclear Security Administration has determined it doesn’t need to redo the 2011 site-wide environmental impact statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee – which was the information […]

The nuclear safety systems at Department of Energy (DOE) sites that are meant to protect workers, the public, and the environment from hazards created in case of an accident are generally functioning well, the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said in a report released last week. The office reviewed independent safety systems at 11 DOE nuclear facilities between […]

Several U.S. nuclear organizations this week urged the White House to retain the National Security Council’s director of nuclear energy policy position, which is said to be on the chopping block. In a May 3 letter to National Security Adviser Susan Rice, four groups cited “deep concern” over reports that the job might be eliminated […]