Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI), along with its Department of Nuclear Engineering and a Cyclotron Institute professor, have developed a new method to determine the origins of weapon-usable plutonium, the NSSPI announced last week. The nuclear forensics methodology helps “track the production source of black market nuclear materials, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said it has identified some “other sources” of purified lithium-6 needed for nuclear warhead refurbishment, perhaps easing concerns raised in recent months by the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. In a budget briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis, the NNSA’s […]

The Obama administration is requesting $575 million in fiscal 2017 to continue design work and bolster other activities on the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. The funding request is a significant bump-up from the current appropriation of $430 million. Based on Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz’s budget presentation, the […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning a significantly greater investment in the maintenance and repair of National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facilities, with a fiscal 2017 budget request for the agency’s deferred maintenance that exceeds the currently enacted amount by $17 million. Overall, DOE’s $32.5 billion budget request includes $12.9 billion for the NNSA, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is requesting $1.8 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation (DNN) programs in fiscal 2017. The funding request is down from the $1.9 billion it currently receives due to prior year carryover balances and planned termination of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The NNSA’s DNN program partners with the State, […]

Five years after entry into force of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, it is clear that what was hoped to be the beginning of a new set of major U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaties will instead be the first and last under the Obama administration. President Barack Obama early in his tenure laid out […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) $12.9 billion budget request for fiscal 2017 maintains relatively flat funding levels for the agency’s weapons research, production, and testing sites. The Lawrence Livermore (LLNL) and Sandia National laboratories (SNL) would see the smallest change from the fiscal 2016 appropriation – a 1 percent proposed decrease to $1.2 billion […]

If Congress follow through on President Barack Obama’s plans to terminate the MOX project, employment at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) would likely take a hit near the top of 2017. For now, MFFF construction will continue as the nation’s current pathway to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus […]

Members of Congress on Thursday challenged the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to terminate the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility project in favor of a different plutonium dilution and disposal approach. The facility is being constructed to convert 34 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel under a U.S.-Russian nonproliferation agreement. Rep. […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/9/2016 The future of the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is uncertain again as President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal calls for shutting down the facility in lieu of another method of disposing of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium. After more than a year of speculation, the proposal confirms that Obama and the Department […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/9/2016 The White House’s fiscal 2017 budget request released today increases proposed funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to $12.9 billion. The $4.15 trillion budget boosts NNSA funding from the currently appropriated $12.5 billion and projects a total request of $131.9 billion for fiscal years 2017-2026. The agency’s increased […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 2/9/2016 The Air Force requested 2.4 percent more funding for fiscal year 2017 than the $163.1 billion it was appropriated for last fiscal year. As part of the $166.9 billion it requested for FY ’17, the Air Force wants $12.3 billion in overseas contingency operations (OCO) wartime spending, 22 percent more […]

Dan Leone NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 As part of a policy blitz aimed at paving the way to send some 40 tons of diluted plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the White House’s fiscal 2017 budget request will slash funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in Aiken, S.C., according to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The U.S. State Department last Wednesday hosted a Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) meeting in which midlevel officials from the United States and 70 partner states gathered to discuss collective nonproliferation efforts. More than 100 PSI member states have committed to taking actions to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 As the United Nations’ Conference on Disarmament (CD) begins its 2016 session, one nonproliferation expert doubts the likelihood of significant progress in the body’s long-stalled arms control negotiations. The multilateral forum, which held its first public plenary meeting of the year last week, faces a stalemate of almost two decades […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 No timetable has been set for the Department of Energy to decide if 1 million graphite spheres – each containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany – will be transported to the Savannah River Site for processing and disposal. The department must first go through several courses of action, including […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week finally spelled out some of the details of a 2014 “security event” involving the mishandling of classified information at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Most of the blame went to former site contractor B&W Y-12, but the NNSA waived […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Pit-making operations will resume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory this year, according to the Department of Energy. There are currently no pits being made at Los Alamos, but the job of manufacturing plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons will begin again when operations resume at LANL’s flagship Plutonium Facility, PF-4.  […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has made significant improvements in the process of fully resuming fissile material operations paused in 2013 at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at Technical Area 55 (TA-55), the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found in a review released on Jan 29. The […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Three former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) investigators have sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Damon Martinez asking for a renewed investigation into past corruption at the lab and the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a former LANL official. The Feb. 2 letter from Charles Montaño, Glenn […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 With less than a year until the next president takes office, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday highlighted the Obama administration’s key international nuclear security and nonproliferation achievements, as well as the political challenges that remain in the U.S. nuclear modernization program. During a Wilson Center address on nuclear […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 U.S. Republicans and Democrats both support the call for an updated assessment of potential threats before shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium from Canada cross international borders and travel to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. But the Department of Energy has not budged from its stance that existing studies show […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Significant cuts to the U.S. nuclear modernization program, including the cancellation of the B61 gravity bomb consolidation and new cruise missile programs, could save the U.S. $120 billion over the next 30 years, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress. The report noted that the […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Casting operations with highly enriched uranium were temporarily “paused” last month because of a perceived “deficiency” in nuclear criticality safety in a part of Building 9212 at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee. The issue was reported in an area associated with Stack 110, which is the primary ventilation […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization in civilian research reactors is more difficult and progressing more slowly than previously expected, according to a study released last week by a National Academy of Sciences committee. The study said the timeline for global elimination of HEU use in civilian reactors and reactor conversions to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking a small business or small business-led team for the design and installation of radiation detection and communications systems in support of the Office of Global Material Security’s Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) Program, according to a presolicitation posted this week. This […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday said that program management and integrated schedule systems might improve implementation of the B61-12 life-extension program (LEP) and called for an increase in the number of federal staff to better oversee progress. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Department of Defense […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016 Morgan Smith took the reins Monday as president and chief executive officer at Consolidated Nuclear Security, the government’s managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, and he promised the nearly 8,000 employees that he would be an advocate for their interests and would support them in every […]