Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The forthcoming contract award for the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRSB) could impact the losing team’s different business divisions, and handicap that team’s influence on Capitol Hill, according to industry experts. For Boeing, a loss could even precipitate an exit from the defense aircraft market, one official said. “They’ve lost so […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The Defense Department can’t afford to build the Ohio-class Replacement (OR), the long range strike-bomber, the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the long-range standoff weapon, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer said this week. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics said the nuclear triad modernization will cost about […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The collective bargaining agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory and its protective force workers expires next week, and with negotiations deadlocked, the lab is readying a contingency force that would take over security at the lab once the current deal expires. The agreement between International Guards Union of American Local […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 House appropriators are looking to give the National Nuclear Security Administration $50 million in reprogramming authority above a base level of funding in Fiscal Year 2016 to support a program sustaining the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. The House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee cleared this week its version of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 With a significant focus in the National Nuclear Security Administration on modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week urged the agency to maintain a balance between production activities and maintaining scientific capabilities. Speaking at an April 15 budget hearing, Sen. Deb […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 Union-represented workers at the Pantex Plant are eyeing a possible strike over medical, sick leave and other benefits, but union officials remain in negotiations with contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security. Clarence Rashada, president of the Metal Trades Council, said the council, a 10-union coalition that represents roughly 1,200 Pantex workers, held […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 Strategic Systems Programs SSP announced on April 14 it intends to contract with Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training to support the Trident 2’s Navigation Subsystem. The contractor will provide support of U.S. and U.K. fleets, trainer systems and trainer SSP Shipboard System Integration (SSI) Development Activities. After award, Lockheed’s […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The New York Times Editorial Board published editorial April 16 criticizing Russian President Vladimir’s recent actions, including nuclear saber-rattling which is part of Putin’s “alarming behavior.” “Even for Mr. Putin, the recent nuclear threats have set a new benchmark for hostility in the conflict he has ignited with the West,” […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week kicked off a special investigation of an unplanned chemical reaction earlier this month at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, Tenn. According to the NRC, a two-liter bottle containing cleaning materials, nitric acid and a small amount of uranium underwent an unplanned chemical […]

Hall Named Head of DOE Oak Ridge Office NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 Kevin Hall, who came to Oak Ridge in 2013 following a series of management positions at the Savannah River Site Office, has been named manager of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office. In addition to overseeing management of DOE’s 33,500-acre Oak Ridge reservation, […]

No Settlement in Age Discrimination Lawsuit NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 There could be a third trial in the long-running age discrimination case involving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after two mediation sessions ended inconclusively last week. LLNL officials and lawyers for 130 workers laid off from the lab met twice with mediator David Rotman last week but […]

NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 IN THE DNFSB The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would be funded at $29.9 million next year under the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of subcommittee this week. The bill would provide approximately $1.4 million more than the Board’s current funding level, and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 President Barack Obama made it official this week, announcing that he intends to nominate White House nuclear energy official Joyce Connery and nuclear industry veteran Bruce Hamilton to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. NS&D Monitor first reported last week that the two were the top candidates to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 If the Navy does not receive additional funding for the Ohio-class Replacement (OR), the next-generation ballistic missile submarine would consume about half of the shipbuilding budget during procurement, the shipbuilding base will be “severely degraded,” and the full battle force inventory will fall short of the amount required by the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 The Defense Department plans to compete individual upgrades for the long-range strike bomber (LRSB), Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall said during a Pentagon press briefing April 9. “I think we will have opportunity to compete technologies that can go into the bomber to a […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 The Obama Administration should increase spending on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation work to help the program prepare to address evolving threats, a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force said in a recent report. Funding for the NNSA’s nonproliferation account has dipped in recent years, dropping from $2.2 […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs intends to award a sole-source contract to Alexandria, Va.-based Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc., (SPA) to provide systems engineering and technical assessment of the Trident 2 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) Program, according to an April 8 announcement by the Defense Department. The contract will also entail […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 The Department of Energy made this week the third and final award under a supercomputer collaboration, awarding a $200 million contract for a supercomputer to be built at Argonne National Laboratory. The supercomputer, dubbed “Aurora,” will be built by Intel and Cray, and is expected to reach peak speeds of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, joined Madelyn Creedon, Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, April 9 for the first part of a two-day trip to Vatican City and Italy to discuss arms control and nonproliferation issues, including the Nuclear […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 The International Atomic Energy Agency and National Nuclear Security Administration will support the Jamaican government in converting the Caribbean’s only research reactor from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel later this year, according to an IAEA press release. Housed at the University of West Indies (UWI) […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 A Russian delegate told the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) on April 7 that the United States deployment of a global missile defense system destroys disarmament prospects. The words from the delegate, Olga Kuznetsova, come during a time when diplomats and nonproliferation advocates have decried the slow progress on nuclear […]

DNFSB Reveals More Details on SRS Puncture Incident Investigation NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 A puncture incident earlier this year at the Savannah River Site’s Tritium Facilities occurred because the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, lacked a tool control/sharps program, didn’t completely analyze hazards, and was noncompliant in operations, including “weaknesses with procedure compliance, pre-job […]

Livermore Age Discrimination Lawsuit Mediation Ongoing This Week NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory officials and lawyers for 130 workers laid off from the lab in 2008 ended an initial mediation session this week without a settlement in the long-running case. A third trial involving a new subset of the employees—10 scientists and engineers […]

Several Companies Interested in Supplying Y-12 With Depleted Uranium NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 Consolidated Nuclear Security, the government’s managing contractor at Y-12, said this week that it has received “several” responses to a notice issued in mid-January seeking up to 6,800 tons of high-purity depleted uranium for production purposes. Contractor spokeswoman Ellen Boatner said those responses […]

NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 IN CONGRESS Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has been named the vice chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, giving the Tennessee Republican more clout on the powerful panel. Fleischmann’s district includes the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other Oak Ridge Department of Energy facilities, and he’s been […]

Five-Year Contract Extension for ORNL Finalized NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 UT-Battelle, which has managed Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000, has signed a new five-year contract with the Department of Energy. ORNL Director Thom Mason confirmed March 30 that the extension had been signed. The existing contract was due to expire April 1. DOE announced in late 2013 its […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Two members of the House Armed Services Committee, including South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, are voicing concerns about the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decision to use The Aerospace Corporation to conduct a study on alternatives to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. In a March 25 letter to Energy Secretary […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Richard Reback, the acting general counsel of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, was placed on administrative leave last month after the Department of Energy revoked his security clearance, NS&D Monitor has learned. DOE’s decision to revoke Reback’s clearance was sparked by an investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector […]