Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 Operating income for B&W’s Technical Services Group took a significant dip in the fourth quarter of 2014, dropping to $345,000—$10 million less than during the fourth quarter of 2013—as B&W dealt with the loss of its Y-12 and Pantex management and operating contracts and lower fee from weapons complex sites […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is prepared to boost spending on its Newport News, Va., shipyard to support Ohio-class Replacement (ORP) development as the parallel procurement timelines of that program and Virginia-class submarine are expected to require greater capital expenditures, HII CEO Mike Petters said last week. “As the submarine industrial […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) raised concerns during a Feb. 25 hearing of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee about the proposed expansion of the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC) overlying parts of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The Air Force on Jan. 16 approved nearly quadrupling the complex, which is used […]

NS&D Monitor 2/27/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY CH2M Hill shareholders late last week approved a proposal that would allow the company to seek minority investment from outside investors. The proposal, as outlined in a proxy statement issued last month, involves the elimination of the “prohibition on the issuance of common stock, directly or indirectly, to persons […]

NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration has raised the ceiling on its Design, Integration, Construction, Communication, and Engineering (DICCE) services multiple-award contract from $700 million to $790 million, allowing existing work for the NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence to continue. In separate sole source justifications for the […]

Y-12 to Replace Plant Shift Superintendent Office NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 There are multiple infrastructure improvements under way or planned at the Y-12 National Security Complex, in some cases replacing World War II-era structures. Some projects are moving forward, while others spin their wheels. It appears now that one of several proposed projects to upgrade the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Industry officials appear to be concerned about potential impacts that government inspection requirements could have on the delivery schedule for Reentry Field Support Equipment (RFSE) that supports work on the Minuteman 3 re-entry systems prior to attaching the system to the missile, according to a set of questions-and-answers for the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) wants a New Mexico-based consortium to run at least one of the nuclear weapons laboratories in his state, and he urged the state legislature, Gov. Susana Martinez (R), New Mexico universities and local industry this week to consider making a run for one of the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Sequestration cuts would have a “devastating” and wide-ranging impact on the work of the National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz said this week. Speaking Feb. 18 at the Seventh Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington, Klotz referred to the across-the-board sequestration cuts that would go into effect in […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 After keeping its plans quiet for weeks, Babcock & Wilcox said today that it is bidding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City National Security Campus management-and-operating contract. B&W led teams that ran the NNSA’s Y-12 and Pantex plants up until last year, but after its defeat to Bechtel-led […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Despite growing tensions between the United States and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said this week the Obama Administration won’t be swayed from continuing to pursue its arms control agenda with Moscow. “The situation in Ukraine is […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 As the nuclear weapons complex moves from a period of sustainment to modernization, Congressional backing of the funding and strategy of the nuclear enterprise is higher than it has been in previous years, staffers from the House and Senate Armed Services committees said this week at the Seventh Annual Nuclear […]

NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Longtime weapons complex official Troy Wade was awarded this week with the third annual Johnny Foster Award by ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums. The award was presented to Wade at the Seventh Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, held in Washington. Wade served more than 50 years in the nation’s nuclear weapons programs in a […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Plans for a newly scaled-back Uranium Processing Facility received largely positive reviews from officials this week at the Seventh Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, held in Washington, as officials expressed optimism that the project could stay within its $6.5 billion cost cap. The UPF, which has yet to begin construction, has […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 The final update of the Trident 2 D5 architecture before the debut of the Ohio-Class nuclear submarine replacement program is on track to be completed by 2024, Navy Strategic Systems Programs Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict said this week. Construction on the Ohio-Class Replacement is expected to run from 2021 […]

Sandia Field Office Manager Geoff Beausoleil Named Replacement Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Steve Erhart, who helped stand up the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office three years ago, is shifting to head up the agency’s new Office of Policy and he will be replaced by Sandia Field Office Manager Geoff Beausoleil. Office of Secure […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 In an unexpected turn of events this week, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board did not approve a draft memorandum endorsing a call to better integrate the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy. SEAB members gathered for a teleconference Feb. 17 to approve the memorandum—and voice support for the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 The Air Force is striving to increase its force end strength by 6,600 personnel, a boost intended, in part, to “bolster” nuclear forces, Secretary Deborah Lee James said last week. Speaking at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando Feb. 13, James spoke about the service’s planned investments in the nuclear […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the new chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, which controls much of the Department of Energy’s funding, said last week that he expects to rely on Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for advice on the Uranium Processing Facility and other topics associated with nuclear […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board needs to do more to further improve internal procedures and controls, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released late this week. Before 2013, the Board had few written policies and procedures for its five members and its technical staff, according to the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/20/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration is evaluating the causes of several incidents of misclassified material at Los Alamos National Laboratory in response to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that revealed that “sensitive, national security information” had been inadvertently disclosed by a LANL classification officer. The IG report, released last week, […]

Labor Union Preparing for Contract Negotiations With CNS Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Union leaders at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant are closely watching the bargaining-unit negotiations taking place at their sister plant, Pantex, and preparing for the beginning of negotiations in Oak Ridge later this spring. The Metal Trades Department contract at Pantex expires […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising a number of seismic safety issues at two Y-12 production facilities—Beta-2E and Building 9215—that have become integral to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s revised strategy for scaling back the scope of the Uranium Processing Facility and getting out of the decrepit 9212 […]

The following interview with House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) was conducted last week by Weapons Complex Monitor Editor Kenneth Fletcher.  NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 I’d like to talk a bit about the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request and what some of your priorities will be going forward in […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Senators whose states house facilities that play a major role in the U.S. nuclear enterprise mostly praised the Senate’s 93-5 vote yesterday to confirm Ashton Carter to replace Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary. “I look forward to working with Dr. Ashton Carter to protect American security interests both domestic and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 In a four-team think tank exercise simulating defense budget planning in a tight fiscal environment, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) maintained the nuclear triad even as the prospect of a tight fiscal environment has surfaced, a CSBA budget analyst told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) on […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 Bob Work, the Deputy Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group, highlighted strong airman morale while echoing officials’ concerns about aging facilities during his visit to Minot AFB this week, according to a Defense Department release. "Some of the stuff they’re doing is just amazing," Work […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/13/2015 As different nations are modernizing or striving to develop their strategic capabilities, the United States must invest in upgrading its nuclear deterrent, Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said during a speech at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington Feb. 6. Haney pointed to Russia, which has engaged […]