Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s cybersecurity controls contain weaknesses that create vulnerabilities for the agency’s information systems, according to an audit report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. The audit found that federal requirements were not followed and “the system’s cybersecurity controls had not […]

Workers at Bldg. 9731 Experience Respiratory Issues NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 At least five employees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant have experienced respiratory problems in recent months at Building 9731 – also known as the Pilot Plant because it was the original uranium-enrichment test facility during the wartime Manhattan Project. There are reports that the […]

NS&D Monitor 6/12/2015 IN THE DNFSB Zachery Beauvais has been appointed as the new Site Representative for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at the Pantex Plant, the DNFSB announced this week. Beauvais, a DNFSB staff member since 2010 who previously conducted safety reviews at both Pantex and Sandia National Laboratories, will take on this […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 8/29/2014 A month-long Navy investigation has resulted in the expulsion of 34 sailors and a criminal investigation into 10 of the most serious cases in connection with a cheating ring reported in February. Completed in March, the investigation found that a “Pencil File” containing past Engineering Watch Supervisor (EWS) exams and […]

Y-12 Working to Address Conduct-of-Operations Issues NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 An unusual number of conduct-of-operations problems in a relatively short time has reportedly caused consternation at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and accelerated effort to address the common causes. According to an April 17 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board assigned to […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Sandia National Laboratories committed six violations of the Department of Energy’s classified information security requirements and is facing a proposed penalty of more than half a million dollars, according to a Preliminary Notice of Violation the DOE Office of Enforcement released this week. The security concern, discovered at SNL’s New […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 The Air Force preliminarily estimates the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will cost $62.3 billion from Fiscal Year 2015 to FY 2044 for development, procurement and military construction (MILCON), a service spokesperson told NS&D Monitor this week. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s (AFNWC’s) ICBM System Program Office (SPO) completed this draft […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Questioning recent studies finding that downblending and disposal of surplus plutonium would be significantly less expensive than completing the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said this week those analyses are “rather incomplete.” A 2014 Department of Energy analysis of plutonium […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s appointment to lead Centrus Energy should not impact funding support from Congress for the American Centrifuge technology, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) said late this week.  Poneman, who left DOE last fall, was appointed as CEO of Centrus Energy in March in a move that […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Members of the House Appropriations Committee are “confused” about why the Navy “prematurely down-selected” to a “single material system” in 2014 to develop sonar bow domes for the Ohio-class Replacement (OR), according to the report accompanying the committee’s version of the defense spending bill for Fiscal Year 2016. The panel […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 The White House has come out in opposition to sections of the Senate version of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would impose restrictions on retirements of nuclear-capable bombers and increase the funding cap for Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) programs at the Energy Department’s national laboratories. With […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory is facing a proposed fine of $247,500 and must take corrective action to address “three violations of DOE classified information security requirements” and an incident of “high safety significance” that resulted in chlorine exposure for five workers, according to two separate Preliminary Notices of Violation released […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 The United States should maintain a nuclear triad, a former Defense Department official said this week, emphasizing that the U.S. fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable bombers hedge the sea-based deterrent. “The rationale for a triad remains as strong today as it always has been, and it will remain, […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Former Y-12 managing contractor B&W Technical Services Y-12 is facing a proposed fine of $150,000 from the Department of Energy due to six violations in two incidents that involved worker exposure to lithium hydride and the “unintentional discharge of a firearm inside a hardened patrol vehicle,” according to a Preliminary […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 Oak Ridge National Laboratory managing contractor UT-Battelle has reached an agreement with the Department of Energy to pay $112,500 and complete a set of corrective actions following an investigation of radiation exposure among seven workers at a lab facility last August. The DOE Office of Enforcement announced this week that […]

NS&D Monitor 6/5/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The failure of the 2015 Review Conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to result in any consensus final document does not indicate “any lessening of support” for the treaty and does not affect countries’ legal obligations under the treaty, Amb. Adam Scheinman, Special Representative of the President for […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 In light of schedule delays, cost overruns and “other forms of mismanagement” associated with certain National Nuclear Security Administration programs, a Senate panel has cleared a bill that would require the Government Accountability Office to prepare a new report examining, among other things, NNSA program management procedures and performance of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee is concerned that recent changes within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), including last year’s elimination of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs position, may lead to a decreased policy focus on nuclear deterrence. In the recently released committee report […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Senate authorizers are looking to require the Department of Energy to complete emergency preparedness assessments as part of award fee evaluations for the Department’s set of M&O contractors. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently reported out of committee, would require DOE […]

NNSA Says Issue Does Not Pose Risks to Workers or Public Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration released new details this week as to what led the agency to declare a “Code Blue” at the Pantex Plant. “A new hazard scenario was identified associated with use of the containers used to […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 With numerous studies pointing to downblending as a significantly cheaper option for surplus plutonium disposition than the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, Senate authorizers are asking for more answers on downblending and alternate uses for the MOX facility. A 2014 Department of Energy analysis of plutonium disposition options and a […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Air Force last week released its Strategic Master Plan, which outlines the nuclear mission as “the clear priority” for the service. The document largely reiterates some sentiments expressed in last year’s “America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future” strategy document, calling for stockpile and hardware investments when necessary. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee is proposing to increase the funding cap for Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) programs at the Energy Department’s national laboratories. Currently, the maximum percentage of lab funding that can be apportioned for special projects is 6 percent. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Government Accountability Office is recommending that the Defense and Energy departments address new budgetary obligations and an expanded portfolio of planned weapons projects by requiring officials to attend support meetings more consistently and by revising the 18-year-old document guiding the Nuclear Weapons Council. In a report released last week, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 In a capstone to the successful ‘Megatons to Megawatts’ program, President Barack Obama this week terminated an executive order that had been intended to ensure payments to Russia under the program would not be impacted by lawsuits. Under the “Megatons to Megawatts” program, 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 As developments over the past year seem to have strengthened NATO’s desire to keep U.S. tactical nukes in Europe, the “burden” for those weapons should be shared, a top nuclear policy analyst said during a speech in Washington late last week. “[T]here’s absolutely no reason the United States of America […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy and its contractors should improve the management of spare parts at sites across the complex, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report released this week. Spare parts inventories are needed to maintain DOE facilities, but the IG encountered issues at the three sites covered […]

Spallation Neutron Source Now Operating ‘Reasonably Well’ NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 While the Spallation Neutron Source has had some rocky times over the past year, including a period last fall in which two target vessels failed prematurely back to back, in a more reason status report, operations chief Kevin Jones – who directs the accelerator division […]