Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

As the Department of Energy’s motivated cleanup team tries to stabilize some of the worst problems within excess facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, a focal point appears to be the Alpha-4 facility located inside the high-security “Protected Area” of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Besides dealing with a basement loaded full of […]

Retired Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, former commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, is a member of Consolidated Nuclear Security’s three-member Technical Safety Board. The board’s existence came to public light recently when CNS – the government’s managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants – made a reference on its website to […]

The upcoming Nuclear Security Summit would have greater impact if it expanded its focus to include negotiations for a long-stalled fissile material ban treaty, according to a former Canadian diplomat and member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. Speaking Tuesday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Paul Meyer, who once served […]

It would only take a few decades to phase out all non-weapon use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) worldwide, making a ban on the production of HEU for any purpose a feasible policy goal, according to a new report from the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), a group of nonproliferation experts from 18 countries. The report, authored […]

Paraguay last week ratified the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, leaving support from just 10 nations needed before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. “We are now approaching the finishing line,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in a press release. “I hope that after a […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sparred with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Wednesday over the Obama administration’s decision to shutter the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Mirroring a heated exchange with National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Frank Klotz at a Senate hearing late last month, Graham challenged […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily 3/11/2016 The Defense Department might need $18 billion added to its budget to keep it afloat once the bow wave of nuclear modernization programs crashes ashore in 2021 and beyond, according to the Pentagon’s director of cost assessment and program evaluation (CAPE). The Defense Department is planning for a substantial increase […]

Industry officials are split in their perspectives on changes to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) approach to its procurement process, with some criticizing major shifts in the NNSA’s focus of contractor evaluations and others arguing the new model will be more efficient. Several industry sources not authorized to publicly discuss the matter spoke to […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing and operating contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, is gradually revealing more of its vigorous hiring campaign to meet the challenges of additional work on a compressed time schedule. Michelle Reichert, CNS’ deputy enterprise manager, issued a message to employees at both sites on Wednesday, explaining some […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 3/11/2016 Northrop Grumman’s Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) contract is backloaded to the point where the company is incentivized to get through the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase as “soon as practical,” Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Monday. The Air Force is rolling out additional details on the highly […]

The overwhelming number of excess facilities awaiting cleanup at Department of Energy facilities has been identified as one of the agency’s biggest challenges and concerns, and DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is using $28 million – a special fund enabled by a congressional plus-up for fiscal 2016 – to reduce risks and stabilize […]

Nuclear arms life-extension program (LEP) schedule and scope changes drove the largest increase in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) budget estimates from fiscal 2015 to 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released last Friday. In its fiscal 2016 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, the NNSA’s weapons activities budget estimate over 25 years […]

Contractors and stakeholder organizations in New Mexico have complained to state and federal legislators about a procurement program in the Department of Energy that they believe is gradually reducing spending priorities for small, local businesses. Some of them worry that a National Nuclear Security Administration program that organizes very large-scale acquisition projects is siphoning jobs […]

Those who wish to comment on the controversial, possible transfer of 1 million graphite spheres containing highly enriched uranium from German research reactors to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., have two more weeks to do so. The Department of Energy announced Thursday afternoon that it is extending the public comment period deadline to […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) corrective actions in response to Inspector General (IG) audit findings over the years have often been “incomplete, ineffective, or untimely,” the IG said in a report released last week. It said that corrective actions identified in 88 percent of 48 IG reports closed in fiscal 2011-2014 had not been completed […]

A nuclear nonproliferation official appointed by President Barack Obama said the administration seeks to achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) by generating discussions among the public on its merits. In a speech last Friday at the 2016 Deterrence and Assurance Conference held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Adam Scheinman, special representative […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said Tuesday it has signed “several” sales contracts over the last nine months to provide enriched uranium fuel to utility customers that supply electricity worldwide. Fuel will be delivered through 2022 under these new contracts, valued at a total of about $165 million, the supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the government’s managing contractor for the Y-12 and Pantex sites, is engaged in one of the biggest hiring campaigns of the post-Cold War nuclear weapons complex. The contractor plans to hire about 300 workers over the next three months, according to a 90-day plan released by CEO Morgan Smith, who assumed leadership […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) nuclear weapons dismantlement activities may offer benefits – in addition to nonproliferation and arms control – that involve the nuclear enterprise workforce, according to NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The agency’s fiscal 2017 budget request includes $69 million to meet Secretary of State John Kerry’s commitment announced last year that […]

About 20 kilograms of plutonium were transported from Switzerland to the United States during the first two months of the year, according to press releases from the Swiss government and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Neither press release reveals where the material was sent, but an NNSA spokesperson said Thursday the plutonium was […]

The U.S. Air Force is taking steps to strengthen nuclear deterrence education and experience for the younger generation of airmen, according to Gen. Robin Rand, who leads the service’s Global Strike Command. Speaking Wednesday at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on the Pentagon’s nuclear forces budget request for fiscal 2017, Rand said […]

The nuclear industry will continue its nuclear security efforts regardless of the status of multilateral political action, Jack Edlow, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Summit (NIS) 2016 International Board of Advisors, said this week. Edlow spoke to reporters on a conference call about the NIS, an official side event to the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit. […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 3/4/2016 ORLANDO, Fla.–The Air Force since the spring of 2014 has been briefing appropriate congressional members and staffers on its classified Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) acquisition strategy and it will continue explaining itself as it moves forward, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Friday. James’ remarks come in response to […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) corrective action program does not properly address the root causes of problems at the facility to prevent recurrence and fails to close corrective action records at the appropriate time, resolving some before completion and leaving others open long after, according to a Feb. 25 Department of Energy Inspector General […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded contracts to two companies for nonproliferation and arms control work, according to limited sources justification announcements posted this week. The NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization, which focuses on the disposition of surplus plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the security of vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide, and […]

DOE Seeking Small Business Teams for Protective Force Services at Nevada Site The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking a small business or small business-led team, or joint venture sources to perform protective force services at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), the Remote Sensing Laboratory, and the North Las Vegas Complex that includes the […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said this week it has sealed a new collective bargaining agreement with Pantex Plant workers represented by the West Texas Building Trades and Construction Council. The new three-year deal was the result of several weeks of negotiations beginning on Jan. 6, according to the contractor. It went into effect as of Feb. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced on Feb. 26 it had finished dismantling canned subassemblies for the W69 warhead at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The canned subassembly, along with the plutonium pit, is part of the warhead’s nuclear explosive package. During the warhead dismantlement process, plutonium pits are stored […]