Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 A $171.1 million contract awarded to DRS Laurel Technologies for the production and installation of support hardware for U.S. submarines’ combat control and sonar systems will also entail research and development for the hardware’s implementation on Ohio replacement SSBNs, according to NAVSEA spokesperson Matt Leonard. Awarded in late September by […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has beefed up federal oversight of the Uranium Processing Facility project in the wake of a space/fit issue that added $540 million to the projected cost of the now-scaled-back facility, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released late last week. The project was […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to continue to increase the use of firm fixed-price contracting for non-major capital projects as one of the strategies to improve its project management, the agency said in a report to Congress last month obtained by NS&D Monitor. The Congressionally mandated report notes that […]

Delays to LRSO Warhead Mean Pantex Could Face Production Lull After B61 Work Wraps Up Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 The Obama Administration’s decision to delay work on a new long-range standoff (LRSO) weapon for up to three years and defer work on a first interoperable warhead has created a potential production gap at the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is on the verge of qualifying a 3-D-printed part for use in a nuclear weapon for the first time, marking a major milestone in the meteoric rise of the new production technology. Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, is already being used to produce tooling used […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Plans for a new pit storage facility to replace an aging storage bunker at the Pantex Plant are again moving forward. The NNSA Production Office last month requested Critical Decision-0 approval for a new Material Staging Facility at the plant, according to a recently released memo from the Defense Nuclear […]

More than 90 percent of the Department of Energy’s $26 billion budget is contracted out to a host of firms, large and small. DOE has been working hard over the past several years to improve how it reports, records and tracks contractor performance—a laudable goal, considering how much money is on the line. But there’s […]

Board to Undergo Safety Culture Assessment of Itself Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Employee dissatisfaction at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has hit a four-year low, according to the results of the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which the DNFSB posted on its website this week. The survey found a drop in positive responses […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Stockpiled nuclear material around the world continues to be a nuclear security threat, and the international community should not wait on the U.S. and Russia to strengthen nuclear material verification measures, Corey Hinderstein of the Nuclear Threat Initiative told attendees of a State Department-hosted briefing at U.N. headquarters this week. […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/17/14 Infrastructure modernization and deferred maintenance are a “special concern” in the Department of Energy Inspector General’s latest annual report on DOE management challenges, released late last week. Infrastructure modernization was not listed as a management challenge, but instead on a lower level watch list. However, the topic is a “special […]

N.M. Nuke Activist Group Hires Fired LANL Nonproliferation Expert NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Jim Doyle, the Los Alamos National Laboratory nonproliferation expert who has alleged he was fired based on an the publication of an article supporting nuclear abolition, has signed on to work with Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a nuclear activist group based in Santa Fe, […]

Sandia Names New VP for Science and Technology, Chief Technology Officer NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Rob Leland has been named Sandia National Laboratories’ new Vice President of Science and Technology and the lab’s Chief Technology Officer, the lab said late last week. Leland, a 24-year employee of the lab, replaces Duane Dimos and Julia Phillips, who […]

At Livermore DOE IG Criticizes Size of Lab’s Vehicle Fleet NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could have done more to reduce the size of its vehicle fleet, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report released this week that suggests the lab didn’t adequately look into replacing some of its 770 vehicles […]

NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 In DoD Air Force Brig. Gen. John Cherrey has been promoted to take Maj. Gen. Michael A. Keltz’s former position of director of intelligence, operations and nuclear integration at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio in Randolph, Texas, according to an Oct. 9 Defense Department press release. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 The top manager at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Site Office improperly utilized her position to force employees to perform work on personal matters and created a “negative work environment” before being terminated, DOE’s Inspector General said in a report released late last week. The publicly released version of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 Air Force Global Strike Command earlier this month started the ICBM Parts Centralized Funding Program, shifting responsibility for missile support system purchases away from the 20th Air Force and aligning it with the overarching command, according to an Oct. 3 release. Previously, heads of the 20th Air Force’s 90th, 341st […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/10/14 The Department of Energy is still spending more than necessary on software maintenance licenses, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week that follows up on a previous investigation finding issues with the acquisition and management of desktop software. “Although the Department had made progress in addressing our […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur announced to staff late this week that he will not seek re-nomination as the agency’s top official. Winokur said in an Oct. 9 meeting with staffers that he planned to serve until Daniel Santos (nominated to replace Joseph Bader) is confirmed as […]