Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command airmen from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota launched two Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) over the last two weeks from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Air Force has announced. Each unarmed Minuteman III contained a test re-entry vehicle that traveled about 4,200 miles to […]

Eleven more nations must ratify the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material before the measure enters into force, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. Ivory Coast became the latest ratifying nation on Feb. 10, according to an IAEA press release. “This is the most important area of unfinished business […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has yet to finish a congressionally mandated life-cycle physical security infrastructure management plan for its facilities, according to a senior Government Accountability Office official. There was no immediate word this week on the status of the document lawmakers first requested nearly a decade ago. The fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing new guidance, reporting documents, working groups, and long-term plans in response to the recommendations of the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL), a congressionally mandated group of experts that identified a broken relationship between the federal government and its national labs. In a […]

South Carolina’s senior senator exploded at Energy Department officials on Tuesday, demanding to know why nobody has been fired for the White House’s apparent flip-flop on turning 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear plants. “This is what’s wrong with the government!” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shouted at National Nuclear Security […]

Members of Congress and the chairmen of a congressional advisory panel on governance of the nuclear security enterprise on Wednesday mulled reintegrating the operations of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) fully into the Department of Energy (DOE). Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said at […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily  2/26/2016 Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday he would not authorize funding for the Long Range Strike Bomber as long as the program remains under a cost-plus contracting structure. McCain has not yet been briefed by the Air Force on the contract award to Northrop Grumman […]

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, said the design of the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility should be 90 percent completed by the end of 2017. That 90 percent design has been established as a critical milestone before the National Nuclear Security Administration can begin construction of […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 2/26/2016 Russian sanctions are not impacting the Defense Department’s ability to acquire Russian-developed rocket engines it uses in launch, the Pentagon’s acquisition czar said Tuesday. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Frank Kendall said DoD is waiting for the Treasury Department’s final decision on whether acquiring RD-180s […]

Ineffective hazardous chemical management and chemical safety training processes precipitated a chemical waste drum fire at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) a year after an explosion at the site, according to a Feb. 22 enforcement letter from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments to NNSS managing contractor National Security Technologies (NSTec). […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, management and operations contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., confirmed that a dozen firms have submitted “expressions of interest” in providing architecture/engineering services for a new emergency operations center. “An evaluation of the responders are in progress to determine which of the 12 meet qualifications,” CNS spokeswoman Ellen […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Frank Klotz on Tuesday highlighted the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, staffing incentives, and changes in contractor procedures as factors that will increase the NNSA’s design laboratories’ ability to recruit and retain top talent. Asked at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing how the Sandia and […]

A team of Department of Energy officials under the scope of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is recovering heavy curium and plutonium-244 from irradiated fuel targets stored at the Savannah River Site. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) near Aiken, S.C. is heading up the effort, with collaborative help from the Oak Ridge and […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 2/19/2016 The Air Force is on track for a Milestone A decision this year in its Ground Based Strategic Deterrence (GBSD) program, according to a key officer. Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein said Thursday the Defense Department fiscal year 2017 […]

U.S. and Russian officials on Wednesday renewed claims that their governments had violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and sparred over the consequences of aggressive rhetoric toward one another. Jon Wolfsthal, senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, said at the ExchangeMonitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit that the U.S. seeks a resolution […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 2/19/2016 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Tuesday denied Boeing’s protest of the Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) award to Northrop Grumman. Ralph White, managing associate general counsel for procurement law at GAO, said in a statement that GAO found no basis to sustain or uphold the protest after reviewing Boeing’s […]

Three Republican presidential candidates advocated for construction funding for the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) during campaign stops this week in Aiken, S.C. – a town less than 20 miles from the site. President Barack Obama’s 2017 budget request calls for shuttering the MFFF and the entire MOX project, the nation’s […]