Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Marine Corps veteran Jeffrey Johnson has been named as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Chief of Defense Nuclear Security (CDNS) and Associate Administrator for Defense Nuclear Security, the agency said this week. Johnson previously served as the head of U.S. Marine Corps Civilian Law Enforcement and, according to the NNSA, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Navy Strategic Systems Programs late last week awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. two contract modifications for work related to Trident II (D5) missiles. One of the contracts allocates $34.2 million toward meeting New START Treaty requirements, according to a Sept. 19 Defense Department announcement and Strategic Systems Programs spokesperson […]

Lab Won’t Be Penalized by DOE for Technetium-99 Contamination Incident NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Sandia National Laboratories will not be penalized for a contamination incident earlier this year at its Tomography and Radionuclide Transport Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement said this week. In a Sept. 22 letter to Sandia Director Paul Hommert, Office […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Global Strike Command this week successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III missile, which flew from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in a span of approximately 30 minutes, according to command spokesperson Carla Pampe. The missile was launched at 7:45 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, and […]

URS Exec Conway Joins LANL Nuclear and High Hazard Ops Directorate NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014   URS executive Chuck Conway is joining Los Alamos National Laboratory as the operations manager in the lab’s Nuclear and High Hazard Operations Directorate, Associate Director for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations Cheryl Cabbil said in a message to lab employees […]

Deinventory of Y-12 Area 5 Underway NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged that activities underway to reduce the inventory of highly enriched uranium inside production facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex are part of the response to the Red Team report released earlier this year. “The de-inventory of Area 5 […]

NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration recently completed an important test of the new joint Air Force and Navy radar in the W88 ALT 370, the agency said this week. The W88 ALT 370 will replace the arming, fuzing and firing assembly on the W88-0/Mk 5 warhead, and the Critical […]