Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP) will provide assistance to the international community on the conversion of plutonium to mixed oxide (MOX) fuel despite a recent shift in White House policy away from MOX and toward alternative plutonium disposition methods. The action plan for the Global Partnership, […]

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday she still expects the Department of Energy to pony up $100 million for missing a plutonium disposition milestone at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). South Carolina sued the federal government on Feb. 9 because DOE had failed for more than a month to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has approved Critical Decision-1 for a new emergency operations center at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The CD-1 confirmation was contained in a March 4 weekly activity report by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff assigned to Y-12. CD-1 is approval of the selection of alternatives […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has indicated it plans to name an individual to oversee its lithium operations, an essential part of the work on thermonuclear weapons. In the newly released Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, NNSA said a lithium strategic material manager will be named in 2016. The new position would reportedly be similar […]

The U.S. Department of Labor is reopening and extending the comment period on proposed changes to the government’s nuclear workers compensation program. The comment period has been extended through May 9, apparently as a result of a strong request from U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.). The senators urged Labor Secretary Thomas […]

Richard Abott Defense Daily 4/8/2016 Many participating countries of the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, held in Washington, D.C. last week, agreed to strengthen the cybersecurity practices of their respective nuclear facilities and work together to bolster cyber defenses. After the close of the summit on Friday, President Obama noted during a press conference  that “as part […]

A crucial amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) is only weeks from entering into force, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday. The 2005 amendment would expand the accord’s authority from covering international transport of nuclear material used for peaceful purposes to requiring protection for such material in storage, use, […]

Almost six months after it declared the deal all but done, Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has signed a contract to continue some work on new U.S.-designed uranium enrichment technology at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus’ new centrifuge technology advancement subcontract with Oak Ridge prime contractor UT-Battelle is worth $32.3 million […]

An excavation contractor working on site preparations for the Uranium Processing Facility in late January accidentally demolished a storm drain line on the west side of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee, resulting in some activities at the construction site being put on hold for a month or more, according to a Defense Nuclear […]

Russia is prepared to accept a revised U.S. plan for disposal of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, provided it is assured the process could not be reversed, a Russian expert said Wednesday. The United States and Russia in 2000 agreed to each dispose of 34 metric tons of excess plutonium via conversion into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for nuclear […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plant, is scrambling to get its funding accounts back in order after a series of events created what has been described as an “imbalance.” Even though CNS is reportedly within its budget and meeting production goals for the National Nuclear Security Administration, […]

Rather than making another request for an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the U.S. transports liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is instead asking to remove from consideration the route that would send the uranium through his district. The Energy Department anticipates overseeing up […]

Two letters sent this week to President Obama and national leaders attending the Nuclear Security Summit underscore the importance of concerted efforts to secure nuclear materials and offer technical areas of opportunity for continued progress following the end of the summit process. In a March 28 letter, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ed […]

Members of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said they walked away with more questions than answers Tuesday following a presentation on the downblending method of plutonium disposition. Instead of using the incomplete SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to convert 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium to nuclear fuel, the Obama […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily 4/1/2016 The Navy has named General Dynamics Electric Boat the prime contractor for the Ohio replacement submarine, while Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding will take a secondary role in designing and constructing the new boomers, according to a new strategy released this week. Design and construction work will be split 80-20 between Electric Boat and […]

Global nuclear industry leaders pledged this week to improve nuclear security practices, enhance security culture within the industry, and improve their defenses against cyberattacks to fulfill their role in the global nuclear security architecture. Industry leaders presented Wednesday a joint statement of their commitments to the national leaders participating in the Nuclear Security Summit this […]

Senior U.S. State Department officials said this week that despite Russia’s withdrawal from the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit and political challenges that have prevented the current administration from developing a strategic partnership with the country, a return to negotiations is inevitable and joint nonproliferation work continues. Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, […]

About 60 workers, over the past two months, have been laid off at the incomplete Savannah River Site Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in order to keep construction on track, a spokesperson for plant contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services said Thursday. The layoffs are a result of severe restrictions on MOX project dollars, mainly because […]

U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) sent a letter Thursday to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez urging him to postpone the implementation of more than 70 proposed rule changes to the government’s compensation program for sick nuclear workers. The senators said some of the changes to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation […]

The White House on Thursday released a specific accounting of U.S. highly enriched uranium holdings as of Sept. 30, 2013. This was the first such release in 15 years, according to a fact sheet issued on the first day of the Obama administration’s fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit. The possibility that terrorists might access […]

The White House on Thursday forcefully dismissed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s suggestion that it might be better to have Japan and South Korea develop nuclear weapons than to continue covering them under the U.S. military umbrella. The “entire premise of American foreign policy, as it relates to nuclear weapons for the last 70 years, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the Euratom Supply Agency on Friday jointly announced to swap nuclear material between the United States and Euratom member states. The deal, announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, is based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2014 between the two agencies for highly enriched […]

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz this week to stop shipments of Japanese weapon-usable plutonium, believed to already be en route, from coming to the Savannah River Site. Haley made her demand following news reports that 331 kilograms of plutonium were being loaded onto two British ships in Japan, will travel […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has withdrawn a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on behalf of the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK-CEN) for the export of 134.2 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, contained in 144 kilograms of uranium, according to correspondence shared with NS&D Monitor between the NRC and the […]

Dimitri Kusnezov, chief scientist of the National Nuclear Security Administration, fully subscribes to his agency’s commitment “to maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing,” but he also describes a more nuanced view of the contingent future of nuclear testing in a world that is always changing. “What does it take to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking feedback on draft solicitation documents from potential bidders for the Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) management and operations contract, according to a special notice posted Monday. The NNSA is particularly interested in input from small businesses and small business sub-categories, including woman-owned and veteran-owned firms, that may be […]

The United States is suing the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), and Fluor Federal Services, a parent company to the contractor, for allegedly committing fraud by claiming more than $5 million in “unallowable costs” dating to 2008 when SRNS took over the contract. The U.S. is listed as […]

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the nation’s designated Uranium Center of Excellence and primary home for bomb-grade uranium, has once again loaded too much U-235 into a shipment. The newly revealed incident took place in-house at the Oak Ridge facility and involved a sample taken from an operation in the 9212 uranium-processing complex […]