Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

As is our annual practice, NS&D Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox on Dec. 4. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 Funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is expected to be included in the final fiscal 2016 appropriations bill after President Barack Obama’s official funding request clattered its way through scrupulous Energy Department-commissioned reviews, contentious congressional negotiations, and reported private meetings between DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration brass […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 The relationship between the federal government and national laboratories should be modified to ease the burden of federal regulations while promoting transparency and trust between the two entities, according to the co-chairs of the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL) and a laboratory director.  CRENEL, established […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily 11/20/2015 The Air Force’s current plan to buy anywhere from 80 to 100 Long Range Strike Bombers (LRSB) will not be sufficient to meet operational requirements, and double that number could be needed for a large scale conflict in which conventional and nuclear bombers are needed, a study by the Mitchell […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 Some welding on the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) may be redone following a violation detected during an inspection last month. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that design documents for work at the MFFF included inadequate welding measurements based on standards established by the American Welding […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) in a report Thursday added infrastructure modernization to its fiscal 2016 list of management challenges facing the department. The new addition signals a need for DOE to focus on the issue, along with existing challenges in contract management, cybersecurity, safeguards […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 In perhaps a last-ditch effort to save the Piketon, Ohio, piece of the American Centrifuge Project, Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Cliff Rosenberger and state Rep. Terry Johnson (R) are calling for the Ohio legislature to officially reiterate to Congress that moving all of Centrus’ American Centrifuge Project (ACP) operations […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 The United States is considering “economic and military responses” to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a senior State Department official said last week.  Frank Rose, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, said Russia committed a “serious violation” against “one of the core […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 A program that promotes innovative ideas for nuclear disarmament is calling on the gaming community to develop digital game ideas to educate the public on the risk of nuclear weapons. N Square, a $2.4 million pilot program, has partnered with Games for Change, an organization that promotes the development of […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 15 projects from National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) labs, some of which feature nuclear deterrence applications, were chosen last week as winners of R&D Magazine’s annual R&D 100 Awards recognizing “the top technology products of the year,” according to the magazine. One of the winners in the software and services […]

NS&D Monitor 11/20/2015 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) held yesterday a pre-proposal conference for the Nevada National Security Site’s (NNSS) management and operating contract competition. The conference for prospective contract bidders took place at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., and followed the NNSA’s Nov. 6 request for […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 Partnerships between universities and national laboratories that support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation are developing new detection, verification, and network analysis technologies for nonproliferation while promoting a student-to-lab pipeline meant to recruit a new generation of technical experts into the nuclear security enterprise. A […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The strength of the United States’ global partnerships on civil nuclear cooperation lie in the quality and reliability of American nuclear components and the reputational advantages they offer to foreign nations, according to a Department of State official. Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a new version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2016, sending it to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign the bill. The new bill that authorizes $607 billion in defense spending was passed in the House last week following […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The state of South Carolina is mulling legal options in responding to a key plutonium disposal milestone the Department of Energy will miss at the Savannah River Site’s controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The state’s decision could include the attempted levying of millions of dollars in fines over […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/13/2015 The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank could help U.S. nuclear energy companies compete in a global civil market that has been characterized partly by Russian and Chinese subsidies given to countries that buy their reactor technology, State Department officials said this week. “We do not have […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 A report released this week by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) calls on governments to address lax protection of military nuclear materials globally by bolstering physical security at nuclear facilities, sharing information on inventories and security procedures with international partners, and offering public commitments at next year’s Nuclear Security Summit on securing […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 11/13/2015 The Air Force classifying most of the new Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) program could lead to hurdles on Capitol Hill as lawmakers won’t know whether there is work in their districts to protect, according to an analyst. Teal Group Vice President of Analysis Richard Aboulafia said Tuesday though there are […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 Though no initiatives appear to have been started, Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) hopes lawmakers will work to free up some $1.6 billion locked up in an essentially inactive account created 25 years ago to support activities of the then-newly initiated United States Enrichment Corporation, after the senator highlighted the account […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 Analysts and specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) this week in Washington, D.C., highlighted research projects that offer nuclear nonproliferation applications. Speaking at the American Nuclear Society’s annual winter meeting, IAEA analyst Regine Schuler said that to provide credible assurance “that […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The Electrorefining (ER) Project at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant is still in its infancy, but the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has already identified some safety-related concerns in conceptual design and planning documents. In an Oct. 29 letter to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank G. Klotz, DNFSB Chairwoman […]

Activists Press Alexander for Details on UPF An activist group has initiated a letter-writing campaign aimed at prodding Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, to release more information about plans for the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The group hopes the campaign, timed […]

The ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums is accepting nominations for the Johnny Foster Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented at the Eighth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, scheduled for Feb. 16-19, 2016, in Arlington, Va. The award is named for former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Johnny Foster, who was the inaugural honoree in 2013. It […]

NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY GE Healthcare and SHINE Medical Technologies said this week they have advanced a process for producing technetium-99, a medical isotope employed in over 40 million imaging procedures annually. Pharmacies and hospitals produce the isotope using a separate isotope – molybdenum-99, which is in increasingly short supply due to outages […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/19/2015 Industry is proposing to use some 750 stored detached ballistic missile solid rocket motors for commercial launch, but a 17-year-old law precludes the government assets from being used for such purposes. Currently, Hill AFB in Utah and Navajo Army Depot in Arizona house 426 Minuteman 2 motors, 154 Minuteman 3 […]

Chris Schneidmiller NS&D Monitor 11/6/2015 A National Nuclear Security Administration program to identify potential nuclear proliferation threats in future years has multiple limitations that could undermine its effectiveness, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued on Oct. 30. The “Over the Horizon” (OTH) program under the NNSA Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) […]

Chris Schneidmiller NS&D Monitor 11/6/2015 The Sandia National Laboratories this year lost a device that contained radioactive polonium 210, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said last week. The New Mexico facility in 2014 leased two static-eliminating inline alpha ionizers that each contained 10 millicuries of the substance, Steven Simonson, director of […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 11/6/2015 The House of Representatives on Thursday passed its new version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2016 with a vote of 370-58 following an agreement between Congress and the White House that cuts $5 billion in previously authorized funding from the Department of Defense budget. The new […]