Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The United States and the regulatory China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) have commissioned a new nuclear security Center of Excellence (COE) in China, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week. Officials from the DOE, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and Department of Defense worked with the CAEA to open the center, which is […]

Restoring the U.S.-Russian nonproliferation relationship and sustaining U.S. nuclear security spending levels will be key in addressing security vulnerabilities that could open the door to acts of nuclear terrorism, according to a new report from Harvard University. The report from the university’s Project on Managing the Atom said that despite nuclear security improvements in recent […]

Three unarmed Trident II (D5) submarine-launched ballistic missiles were launched last week as part of a Follow-on Commander’s Evaluation Test (FCET), following two intercontinental ballistic missile launches last month and an air-launched cruise missile nuclear weapon system evaluation program test, the U.S. Strategic Command announced Monday. “These six nominal launches, all within the past 30 […]

Federal agents assigned to transport nuclear weapons, material, and components for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Secure Transportation (OST) are not given a time frame for adjudication of their status when temporarily removed from Human Reliability Program (HRP) responsibilities, the Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General’s Office (IG) found in a report […]

Governments and the nuclear industry worldwide should develop better systems to secure radiological sources and replace the use of certain isotopes with less dangerous alternatives, according to a new report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Radiological sources such as cesium-137 and cobalt-60, used in hospitals, industry, and research centers, remain vulnerable and at risk […]

Tennessee is the first state to pass the $2 billion milestone for money and medical care received from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program. According to the latest figures released March 20, Tennessee residents had received $2,097,435,233 in total compensation and medical bills paid. Most of the Tennessee claimants were former workers – […]

A study prepared for the CB&I AREVA MOX Services Board of Governors states that switching from the MOX method of plutonium disposition to a downblending approach could result in a nuclear chain reaction. But the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said a criticality incident cannot result from storing downblended plutonium, and that the study isn’t […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is finalizing a record of decision announcing its intent to prepare 6 metric tons of excess plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for eventual disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, agency chief Frank Klotz said this week. Downblending and shipments of large […]

It’s not clear when, or if, the National Nuclear Security Administration intends to release the fiscal 2015 performance evaluation reports for its contractors. Posting of the reports is already overdue and the NNSA has given mixed signals about its plans. Outside of targeted audits and investigations by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily 03/18/2016 If the Navy is permitted to fund its ballistic missile submarine through a special fund, lawmakers should consider a similar mechanism for modernizing the Air Force’s legs of the nuclear triad, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday. Over the next decade, the Navy and Air Force are slated […]

Enduring problems with hazard analysis and control at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites require better contractor and federal oversight to improve workforce compliance with procedures, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) determined in a new review of work planning and control at six DOE sites. Of those, EA reviewed operations […]

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 […]