Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 While negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty have been deadlocked in the U.N. Conference on Disarmament (CD) since 2011, nuclear expert and Princeton professor Zia Mian said this week that U.S. Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty could initiate a path forward for a future agreement. “It would […]

Nelson-Jean Appointed Manager of Livermore Field Office NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 Nicole Nelson-Jean has been appointed as the manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Livermore Field Office, the agency said this week. Nelson-Jean has served as the acting head of the field office since January, when Kim Davis-Lebak left to serve as the manager of […]

Sandia Not Penalized for 2011 Explosion at Plasma Materials Test Facility NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 Sandia National Laboratories will not face a fine for a 2011 explosion in a building at its Plasma Materials Test Facility, according to a Preliminary Notice of Violation recently issued by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Workers in the facility narrowly […]

NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration has begun searching for a new Associate Administrator for Management and Budget to replace Cindy Lersten, according to an announcement posted on USAjobs.gov this week. Lersten headed up the agency’s Office of Management and Budget since 2012, but NNSA budget director Robert Nassif is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 Officials within the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Secure Transportation did not report or properly assess a “deliberate example of unauthorized access to nuclear weapons,” the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said this week. DOE’s IG released only a summary of its Sept. 24 inspection report Sept. 29, raising […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 The U.S. nuclear enterprise requires a fiscal “plus-up,” but military officials are still wrestling with where the necessary funding will come from, U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski said last week. “We did a fair amount of investment in organizational changes and in focus of our nuclear […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 Despite a plan earlier this year to potentially put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into “cold standby” at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015, construction will continue for the time being at the current rate, the National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed. Citing rising costs for the project, the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech this week at the United Nations marked the second time in two weeks that senior Obama Administration officials have advocated for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s entry into force while citing the need for Congressional educational outreach efforts, it remains unclear when the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 Babcock & Wilcox confirmed this week that its Board of Directors is considering splitting its Government and Nuclear Operations business segment and its commercially focused Power Generation unit into two publicly traded companies, with B&W President and CEO Jim Ferland suggesting Oct. 1 that the move could enhance the value […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 Recent actions by Russia to ramp up its nuclear modernization program could serve as a major threat to the United States’ nuclear posture, Hudson Institute fellow William Schneider said this week. Speaking at an Oct. 1 event, Schneider said Moscow’s modernization plans stand in contrast to U.S. modernization efforts, which […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is planning to fine Nevada National Security Site contractor National Security Technologies $110,000 for four violations stemming from the unauthorized disclosure of classified information in 2010. The NNSA issued a Preliminary Notice of Violation to NSTec Sept. 26, describing the security breach publicly for the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 The size of U.S. and Russian stockpiles of deployed nuclear weapons grew significantly over the last six months, according to the latest New START Treaty data released by the State Department this week. The Oct. 1 declaration reveals that the U.S. had 1,642 deployed warheads under the treaty’s counting rules […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration needs to be integrated with the rest of the Department of Energy not only because of its important national security work with the nuclear weapons stockpile but also because of its nonproliferation and emergency response work, outgoing Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman said during remarks […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 As USEC became Centrus Energy Corp. this week after completing Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, in its first major action longtime President and Chief Executive Officer John Welch announced his plans to step down. Welch, who has served as head of the uranium enrichment firm since October 2005, plans to leave […]

NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 UPF Procurement Chief Staying at Y-12 After All After conflicting reports over the past month, it looks like Rich Brown will be staying in Oak Ridge after all and oversee the procurement activities for the Uranium Processing Facility and/or its follow-on projects. Just a few days after UPF Project Director Brian Reilly sent […]

NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 IN DoD Two B-52H Stratofortresses operated by 8th Air Force bomber crews were flown in a Sept. 22 simulated combat mission from Barksdale AFB to the Utah Test and Training Range, where one jet launched an unarmed AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a Sept. 26 statement. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 After Russian President Vladimir Putin made remarks earlier this month boasting of Moscow’s nuclear capabilities, a Sept. 22 article published by Russian state-owned RIA Novosti reports that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced this week that Russia will renew its strategic nuclear forces by 100 percent, up from the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 The Nuclear Weapons Council quietly selected the W80 warhead last month for use in the new long-range standoff weapon (LRSO), a National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman confirmed to NS&D Monitor this week. The W80 is the warhead currently used on the Air Force’s air-launched cruise missile, and it was picked […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Congressional appropriators should act quickly to fund the Ohio Class replacement submarine, as recapitalization for the SSBNs is in the midst of a 20-year delay, Rear Adm. Joe Tofalo, the Navy’s director of Undersea Warfare, said in remarks delivered in Washington at a Sept. 18 Minot Air Force Base Task […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski  confirmed late this week that a new “hybrid” mobile-option intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would allow nuclear forces to respond to potential nuclear attacks with a greater degree of certainty than the 40-year-old Minuteman 3 ICBM is expected to debut in […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Numerous operations and security issues at Savannah River’s tritium facilities have led the Department of Energy and the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, to step up oversight of operations at the plant. In July, the facilities experienced 10 events involving conduct of operations, quality control or security deficiencies, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has directed Los Alamos National Laboratory to begin developing preliminary planning documents for the third phase of its plutonium strategy, the construction of modules that will complement the lab’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4). In a Sept. 16 memo to Los Alamos Field Office Manager Kim Lebak […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Though the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility was slated to go into “cold standby” at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015 next week, the immediate path forward for the project remains unclear and the National Nuclear Security Administration has not provided word on the future of the project. Contractor CB&I […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/26/2014 As the Department of Energy moves to shift responsibility for cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory to the DOE Office of Environmental Management, four LANL cleanup managers late this week were relieved of their duties in a major management change following issues with the site’s transuranic waste program. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could be subject to penalties from its federal overseers for charging unallowable insurance costs to the government, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General assessment report released this week. The Aug. 13 report, released publicly Sept. 23, notes that from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia, 53 kilograms of highly enriched uranium were returned from Poland to an undisclosed facility in Russia last week in a joint operation coordinated by the National Nuclear Security Administration, and work remains on track to complete the HEU cleanout of Poland by 2016, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 As negotiations continue on an extension of the U.S. civil nuclear agreement with South Korea, the Council on Foreign Relations is recommending that the current agreement be extended until 2021 so that a study underway on proliferation risks can be taken into account. Congress earlier this year passed a two-year […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis is taking over as the top military official in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, replacing Brig. Gen. James Dawkins as the agency’s Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, the NNSA said late last week. Davis most recently served as the Assistant […]