Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 A federal judge has schedule a hearing for next week on a request by the uranium conversion services company ConverDyn for a temporary injunction to block the Department of Energy’s planned transfers of excess uranium. With DOE currently scheduled to conduct its next transfer at the end of this month, […]

Sen. Graham, Gov. Haley also Expected to Join Tour of Site Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will make a trip to the Savannah River Site on Monday, touring the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility among other projects at the site. Moniz and Klotz […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 The Department of Energy’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management has selected three teams to provide project management support services, including teams led by two incumbent contractors. NS&D Monitor has learned that teams led by incumbents TechSource and Longenecker & Associates as well as relative newcomer MOCA Systems, a Newton, […]

Department to Extend Credit Monitoring Service for Another Year Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 Approximately a year after a significant cyber security breach at the Department of Energy put the personal information of thousands of people at risk, there have been no signs of misuse of data, according to the Department. The breach, which occurred […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has signed off on a new nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam, but the addition of several policy provisions added by Senate Democrats are unlikely to find support in the House. The Senate committee this week approved the pact in legislation that is largely based on […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s three nuclear weapons laboratories garnered nine 2013 R&D 100 Awards handed out by R&D Magazine, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which was selected for four awards. Known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” the awards have been given out since 1963 for the best technological […]

Security Guards Reach Settlement With Former Site Security Contractor NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 More than 350 Oak Ridge security guards will receive back pay for overtime as a result of a settlement in their 2012 federal lawsuit against G4S Government Solutions, the government’s former security contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and Oak Ridge National […]

NS&D Monitor 7/25/2014 Y-12’s Procurement Operations were recently recognized by the NNSA for achieving the highest savings rate across the weapons complex in 2013. Y-12 was able to achieve a 6.51 percent savings rate on its total strategic spending, according to the NNSA’s Supply Chain Management Center. The NNSA also said that Y-12 was embarking […]

Klotz Completes Lab Visit, Touring Additive Manufacturing, High Explosives Application Facility NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz continued his tour of the weapons complex, visiting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory this week. Klotz’s two-day visit included updates on various programs such as national security, high energy density physics, cyber security, and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Babcock & Wilcox has entered the fray in ConverDyn’s lawsuit against the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, arguing that stopping transfers scheduled to occur this month would cause significant harm to its downblending business as well as U.S. national security and nonproliferation goals. B&W subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services is the […]

Temporary Fencing at Y-12 Entrance Still Drawing Questions NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Fifteen months after a “temporary” security fence was erected to block an area near the entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex, the temporary structure is still in place and apparently will remain so for the foreseeable future. The fence was constructed along the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Bechtel said this week that it is establishing a program aimed at developing cyber security experts in conjunction with the two nuclear weapons laboratories it runs. Early-career professionals will rotate through Bechtel headquarters and Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories during the three-year program, which is designed to provide […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Reforms that have helped cut costs and streamline operations at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant may not be widely applicable elsewhere across the weapons complex, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week that summarizes previous studies of the Kansas City Plant model. The model, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Figuring out what is wrong with the National Nuclear Security Administration may have been the easy part for the Congressional advisory panel on governance of the nuclear enterprise, but coming up with recommendations on how to fix the agency is proving to be a little more difficult. The 12-member advisory […]

Experts Urge U.S. Not to Withdraw From Treaty Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Frustrated with delays by the Obama Administration in taking action on potential Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, two key Republicans this week urged the Administration to confront Moscow about the issue. In a July 17 letter to Secretary of […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 In a move that could have a significant impact for the Department of Energy marketplace, AECOM Technology Corp. is looking to purchase URS in a deal worth approximately $6 billion. The purchase, announced early this week, would involve AECOM acquiring all outstanding URS shares for $4 billion and assuming about […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear criticality safety program is improving but remains “inadequate,” according to a Department of Energy report submitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board late last week. Operations at the lab’s Plutonium Facility have been paused since June of last year because of criticality safety concerns—the […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, who headed the Red Team that reviewed the uranium operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex and recommended an alternative strategy to the Uranium Processing Facility, had a positive response to the NNSA’s creation of a uranium program manager. NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has closed a 2004 recommendation that called on the Department of Energy to strengthen active confinement ventilation systems at National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management sites. When it first drafted the recommendation, the Board was concerned that DOE was relying on […]

NS&D Monitor 7/18/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate confirmed career foreign service officer Robert Wood by voice vote July 15 as the United States’ Representative to the Conference on Disarmament. Wood’s confirmation came nearly seven months after he was first nominated to the position. Wood has been serving as the top U.S. official at the CD […]

Includes $8.2B for NNSA Weapons Program Martin Schneider NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The House approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, providing $8.2 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, a cut of $111 million from the Obama Administration’s budget request. The House bill also provides […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The White House announced this week plans to nominate Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall from the National Security Council to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. Randall currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. If […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 Pushing back against an effort by ConverDyn to stop the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, DOE this week told a court that suspending the transfers would force it to halt the highly enriched uranium downblend program and cleanup work at Portsmouth. Last month uranium conversion company ConverDyn filed in federal […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 As a new controversial civilian nuclear deal with Vietnam sits before Congress, some members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week voiced opposition to the agreement. The Obama Administration sent the Vietnam deal to Congress in May, where it must sit for 90 consecutive legislative days before entering into […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 Obama Administration officials emphasized the importance of innovations and new technologies in stockpile stewardship and nonproliferation at a State Department conference held in Washington this week. National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz stressed that the national laboratories play a key role in developing those technologies, speaking at the fifth […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a network of activist, advocacy and watchdog organizations at sites around the nuclear weapons complex, is calling on the National Nuclear Security Administration to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and do another site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex. The […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration has entered into a contract arrangement with Cray to develop a new supercomputer to aid the NNSA’s stockpile stewardship activities. ‘Trinity,’ as the new supercomputer will be called, is scheduled for delivery beginning mid-2015 and will have “at least eight times greater applications performance” than […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 7/11/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration created a new position of Uranium Program Manager this week to oversee all efforts to maintain the agency’s uranium manufacturing capabilities. Tim Driscoll from NNSA’s Office of Defense Programs has been named to fill the new position, which “will be responsible for overseeing all program […]