Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 G4S Government Solutions, the G4S subsidiary formerly known as the security contractor Wackenhut, will be sold to private equity firm Alvarez & Marsal Capital Security Holdings, LLC, NS&D Monitor has learned. The firm is an affiliate of Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services company. G4S, the massive international security […]

Member Sullivan Voted Against Emergency Preparedness Recommendation Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Over the past two years, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board members have clashed on a number of issues, from a recent recommendation on emergency preparedness to the scope of the Board’s jurisdiction and access to Board information, according to notational […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel-led team that took over management of Y-12 and Pantex in July, has awarded a no fee subcontract to its parent company Bechtel National, Inc. to build the Uranium Processing Facility, UPF Project Director Brian Reilly said in a message to employees this week. The approach […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Project Enhancement Corporation, the contractor protesting a Department of Energy technical and security support services contract for what was formally known as the Office of Health, Safety and Security, added several new complaints to its protest late last week, challenging DOE’s decision to quickly award the contract to Link Technologies […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 In a management change at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project this week, CB&I AREVA MOX Services has named David Del Vecchio as the next president and project manager while current project head Kelly Trice will be the new senior vice president for CB&I’s power division. Trice will remain […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy should take more steps to strengthen its cybersecurity program, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. Cybersecurity has been a growing area of concern for the Department, especially after a 2013 breach of personal information of over 104,000 individuals. The IG […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 ATK senior managers are reviewing the planned merger of the company’s aerospace and defense divisions with Orbital Sciences after Orbital’s Antares rocket exploded during liftoff on Oct. 28 at Wallops Island, Va. ATK CEO Mark DeYoung delivered the information during the company’s Oct. 30 Q2 FY15 investor earnings conference call. […]

NRC Finds No MOX Violations in Third Quarter NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found no violations or deviations for the period from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2014, the agency told contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services in an Oct. 16 letter. The NRC releases quarterly reports on the project based on the findings […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 The United States should participate in the upcoming Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, scheduled to be held in Vienna in early December, more than two dozen arms control advocates, nuclear policy experts, former U.S. government officials and leaders of peace and security organizations said in a letter sent […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 The United States unsuccessfully opposed a draft resolution calling for steps to reduce the high-alert status of nuclear weapon systems during a meeting of the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. The United States also voted against a resolution welcoming U.N. Secretary-General consideration of a range of views on […]

Lab Completes Flight, Drop Tests on W88 Nuclear Warhead NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Sandia National Laboratories has successfully completed flight and drop tests for a new variation of the W88 nuclear warhead, the lab said this week. The flight and drop tests for the W88 ALT 370 were conducted to validate designs, improve computer modeling and […]

DOE IG Raises Concerns With Pantex Corrective Actions Systems NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 New Pantex Plant contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security should strengthen its corrective actions systems, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said in an audit report released late last week. The IG found previous plant contractor B&W Pantex generally implemented corrective actions programs, including the […]

Spallation Neutron Source Runs Into More Problems NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Problems keep mounting at the Spallation Neutron Source, with yet another target-vessel failure and lost research time at one of the Department of Energy’s top research facilities. On Oct. 27, just a week after the SNS was restarted following a couple of other significant problems, […]

NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The Russian Navy this week successfully test-launched a newly developed unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile, according to Associated Press reports. The Yuri Dolguruky SSBN test-fired the Bulava missile under the surface of the Barents Sea, and warheads hit a predetermined target range in the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. […]

NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 Gov’t Responds in Appeal by Convicted Y-12 Protesters Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Theodore, who prosecuted the trio of elderly peace activists that broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012, is countering their appeal and arguing that their actions were indeed worthy of the sabotage charges brought against them. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has completed half of its refurbishment work on the W76-1 nuclear warhead and is on track to complete the life extension program by the end of Fiscal Year 2019, the agency said this week. The NNSA has not released the number of W76 warheads that […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its contracting approaches, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to continue the approach pursued in Bechtel’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 The Department of Energy has stopped work on a recent support services contract award to Link Technologies after a team led by Project Enhancement Corporation filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office late last week. The protest represents the latest turn of events in a battle over the three-year, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President Carol Johnson said here this week that severing tritium work from the contractor’s Savannah River management and operating contract would be “very detrimental” to the work at the site. When the NNSA consolidated management of the Y-12 and Pantex plants July 1, it […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 The United States could save $70 billion by cutting five planned nuclear modernization programs, an arms control group said in a report released Oct. 20. Authored by Tom Collina, director of policy for the Ploughshares Fund, and Arms Control Association (ACA) research staff, “The Unaffordable Arsenal: Reducing the Costs of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 Citing a high level of complexity, Naval Reactors chief Adm. John Richardson cast doubt on the future of the $100 billion Ohio-class nuclear submarine replacement project this week, suggesting the program has “ingredients for failure,” according to published reports. During an Oct. 22 presentation at the Naval Submarine League’s annual […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has easily absorbed recent Congressionally mandated changes to its statute, but outgoing Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he feared that more drastic proposals for the Board would be damaging to the Board’s mission. Led by House Republicans, Congress last […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 Modernizing the United Kingdom’s nuclear-capable submarines in the near future can be ensured only through the election of a Conservative government to replace the current parliamentary coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, Lord Des Browne, former UK Secretary of State for Defence and current vice chair of the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 The British government is set to renew the UK-U.S. Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA), which would authorize the bilateral exchange of nuclear materials, technology and information for another 10 years if approved by both countries, according to an Oct. 20 document submitted from UK’s International Affairs and Defence Section to the […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AECOM late last week wrapped up its acquisition of URS following approval of the deal by URS shareholders and approval of a stock issuance proposal by AECOM shareholders. “Today is an exciting and historic day–for our industry, for AECOM and URS, and for our nearly 100,000 people around the world […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 In a continued effort to drum up support for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller this week urged attendees of several different events at colleges in Utah and Massachusetts to spread word of the agreement’s merits and the benefits of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 Efforts to move action on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty into international humanitarian law circles could divert attention from implementing the 2010 NPT Action Plan, and the United States would not endorse any new proposal for a nuclear disarmament outside its own plans, Amb. Robert Wood, alternate representative of the Delegation […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 With six months remaining until the scheduled 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, advocates of the treaty this week called on the five main nuclear-weapon states (P5) to implement the 64-point 2010 NPT Review Conference Action Plan more quickly, as P5 states have moved sluggishly to implement key parts of […]

NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright has been named the President and CEO of Malibu, Calif.-based HRL Laboratories, a research and development laboratory owned by Boeing and General Motors. Albright stepped down as Livermore’s director a year ago, and had served as a senior advisor in the […]