Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/25/2015 The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has awarded Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security a one-year cost-plus-award fee “bridge” contract with a maximum value of $309.8 million and two six-month options for legacy cleanup activities at the New Mexico facility. Oversight of LANL legacy waste cleanup […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) should use alternative storage locations at its Plutonium Facility (PF-4) to facilitate nuclear material-at-risk (MAR) minimization and protection from hazards associated with earthquakes or fires, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) letter sent to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/25/2015 Former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson this week said he plans to ask political leaders from Idaho and Washington state to join him in pushing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The MOX plant is to be used to process 34 metric […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 Negotiations have resumed between Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the managing contractor of the Pantex Plant in Texas, and the Metal Trades Council, the union representing some of its employees, as a strike by a third of the plant’s workforce enters its 29th day. Approximately 1,100 unionized employees went on strike […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged that a July shipment of an excess amount of special nuclear material from the Y-12 site to a commercial facility was uranium, but a spokesman refused to specify the enrichment level or other details of the substance. “We can confirm it was uranium,” […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/18/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security has implemented or is in the process of implementing six of seven self-identified recommendations, a process that has been observed by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s site reps after the company’s Y-12 site manager in May recognized potential operational problems at the nuclear weapons site, according to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The first of 30 operational B-52H bombers has been converted “from a nuclear to a conventional only capability aircraft” at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Air Force Global Strike Command announced yesterday. The conversion process, which “preserves the full conventional capabilities of the B-52,” is intended to ensure U.S. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/18/2015 The Air Force on Sept. 11 issued its second request for information for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, sending the acquisition effort closer to liftoff. The RFI notes the Air Force is seeking a “modular systems architecture, within the constraints of nuclear surety and cybersecurity.” Pentagon acquisition brass are pursuing integration […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The managers of the Navy’s Trident 2 D5 program and the Air Force’s soon-to-start acquisition of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will by Oct. 17 brief key Defense Department brass on a 2 1/2-month-old study examining commonalities that can be implemented across the two weapon systems. Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 09/18/2015   Y-12 Labor Agreement Extended Again Amid a flurry of labor-related activities in Oak Ridge, Consolidated Nuclear Security has reached an agreement with the Atomic Trades and Labor Council to extend their existing collective bargaining agreement at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant for another 11 weeks. The extension, which again […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) is questioning millions of dollars in “unresolved costs” at Sandia Corp. in fiscal 2013 and several years prior, according to a DOE Inspector General’s Office (IG) report released this week. Sandia Corp., a Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMC) subsidiary that has managed and operated Sandia National […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 A federal mediation agency on Wednesday announced it will intervene in the ongoing strike by Pantex Plant workers represented by the Metal Trades Council, which reached its 22nd day today. Neither site contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security nor MTC requested the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to step in, and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Centerra Group started working its protective forces subcontract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Wednesday, ending SOC’s 23-year run heading security at the Department of Energy facility. A LANL spokesman said by email that the contract’s base period expires Sept. 30, 2018, but it contains an option for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Department of Energy will no longer provide funding for Centrus’ American Centrifuge project operations at its Piketon, Ohio facility, the company confirmed late last week. The announcement also noted a one-year extension funding for the American Centrifuge project’s research and development contract with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking feedback on its contract evaluation criteria from potential bidders for management and operation of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), according to a special notice released this week. The announcement requests feedback from “prospective Offerors” by Sept. 21 on several draft documents […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 Air Force Global Strike Command remains on track to by Oct. 1 take in an additional 9,500 personnel and 63 aircraft through absorbing the 377th Air Base Wing, along with the long-range strike bomber and B-1 programs, AFGSC Vice Commander Maj. Gen. Michael Fortney said during a speech in Washington […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is taking steps to address materials-at-risk (MAR) concerns to resume transuranic (TRU) waste receipts at its Area G nuclear waste disposal site, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released last week. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management officials […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 Internal controls for financial management of the State Department’s Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF), which operates within the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), were “designed and implemented effectively,” according to a newly released third-party audit. However, the review, released on Monday, also found several control areas that need […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has awarded Parsons Government Services International a $16,937,062 task order for nuclear security work in Kiev, Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced last Friday. The task order for “Global Nuclear Security, Ukraine Nuclear Security and Readiness Program” falls under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating […]

09/18/2015 NS&D Monitor IN THE NAVY Navy Adm. John Richardson will at 1 p.m. today assume his position as Chief of Naval Operations at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and current CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert will retire. Before the change of command, Richardson served as Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

Chris Schneidmiller NS&D Monitor 9/11/2015 SUMMERLIN, Nev. – Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday expressed optimism that the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) can be completed by the target date of 2025. The UPF is part of broader plans for the modernization of the Y-12, and is intended to replace the existing […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yesterday defended ongoing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, and countered 14 nonproliferation experts who in a Tuesday letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said plutonium downblending would be better for national security and the federal budget than construction of the MOX Plant at […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 Today, about 1,100 unionized Pantex workers entered the 14th day of a labor strike in which contract negotiations between the Metal Trades Council and plant management contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security have remained deadlocked and shown no signs of progress, CNS and MTC said yesterday. “At this point, we have no […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 In the past year, the Energy Department’s Office of Science and Stanford University have completed the research phases of two contrasting pilot programs aimed at revamping the national laboratory contracting structure, and two sites will soon conduct real-life tests of the final concepts, DOE officials said this week. SLAC National […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/11/2015 The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), longtime critic and watchdog on activities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons site, said it appears almost certain that the government’s current plans for the Uranium Processing Facility will cost at least $10 billion and possibly much more. That analysis, according to OREPA coordinator […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/11/2015 The role of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) should expand to include sensor-shooter aircraft functions, according to a former Air Force general. “It’s now possible to incorporate sensors, processing and avionics in a single aircraft at a fraction of what it used to cost us to do the same […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 09/11/2015 The Air Force plans to release a draft Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent around Oct. 15, service spokesman Eric Elliott confirmed Wednesday. NS&D Monitor reported last week that the Air Force plans to distribute copies to defense contractors in October or November. The CONOPS is still […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/11/2015 Department of Energy (DOE) cybersecurity was breached 159 times out of a total of 1,131 cyberattack attempts from 2010 to 2014, USA TODAY reported yesterday upon obtaining incident reports from the agency through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). According to the report, attackers were able to access “administrative privileges […]