Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

NS&D Monitor 2/5/2016  IN THE INDUSTRY National Security Technologies (NSTec), the managing contractor for the Nevada National Security Site, said this week that acting President James Holt would take the position on a permanent basis. Holt has been acting president since November 2015 and previously served in various positions within the company, including as vice […]

NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 IN THE INDUSTRY   Chris Gentile, president of the Honeywell subsidiary that manages and operates the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Security Campus at Kansas City, Mo., will retire on March 18, the site announced this week. As part of his 26-year career at the company, Gentile served as head of Honeywell […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Emergency Operations revamped the agency’s mobile Emergency Communications Network (ECN) systems last year. The size of the ECN systems was cut by about 88 percent and the cost was cut by 60 percent, while communications pathways were increased by 300 percent, the […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The private sector should do more to promote nuclear security by developing voluntary consensus standards to reduce the risk of terrorism and cyberattacks against nuclear power plant facilities, according to a report released Thursday by the Stimson Center. The report said existing international oversight mechanisms cannot adequately protect nuclear facilities […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 Members of an advisory board to the Savannah River Site this week shared their concerns on the site possibly receiving 1 million graphite spheres containing highly enriched uranium from German research reactors. The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) received an update Tuesday on the potential transfer of the material that […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is preparing to take legal action against the Department of Energy for unkept multimillion-dollar promises made to the state for disposal of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium now stored at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Under a 2003 agreement with the state, DOE was supposed to […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for a violation involving the improper export of uranium to Jamaica as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation program. According to the notice of violation, the shipment of low-enriched uranium to Jamaica last […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The United States’ nuclear posture should be updated to reflect the increased danger posed by Russian nuclear weapons threats and modernization, according to a panel of experts that testified Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Keith Payne, president and co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The United Nations’ Conference on Disarmament held its first public plenary of the 2016 session this week in Geneva, Switzerland. Kim Won-soo, acting U.N. high representative for disarmament affairs, read a declaration emphasizing the urgency of reducing nuclear stockpiles from the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the year’s opening […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ symbolic Doomsday Clock remains set at three minutes to midnight, representing a lack of progress in preventing global annihilation, the publication’s Science and Security Board announced Tuesday. The clock envisions an apocalyptic scenario as midnight, and since 1947 its minute hand has been adjusted […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily 01/29/2016 The head of U.S. Strategic Command last Friday tried to strike a balance between advocacy for the modernization of the United States’ nuclear triad and downplaying the nation’s diminished relationship with Russia. Foreign nations, such as Russia, China and North Korea, are putting a high priority on developing advanced nuclear […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The National Nuclear Security Administration said it is working to address Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board questions and concerns about the Electrorefining Project that is supposed to replace some existing uranium recovery processes at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. However, the Jan. 7 response from NNSA Administrator Frank G. Klotz […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The Sandia National Laboratories increased its year-over-year total spending in fiscal 2015 by about $21 million and its spending on New Mexico businesses by over $19 million, according to an economic impact report released last week. The Department of Energy facility spent approximately $983 million in total on goods and […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 A draft environmental assessment (EA) from the Department of Energy finds minimal risk in a possible, heatedly contested plan for the Savannah River Site to receive and process highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany. The Department of Energy reported Friday that completion of the draft EA does not constitute a decision […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/22/2016 Congressional advocates of the nation’s MOX program this week denounced one of the alternatives to the project because it includes the use of a facility that has been shut down since 2014 due to safety incidents. On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Joe Wilson (R–S.C.) and Rick Allen (R–Ga.) toured the Mixed […]