Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy is proposing a new regulation that would allow it to withhold payments if a contractor’s business systems have “significant deficiencies.” That includes the accounting, estimating, purchasing, earned value management and property management systems. “DOE proposes to implement compliance enforcement mechanisms in the form of a business […]

WORK ON NMSSUP FORMALLY COMPLETED JUST UNDER CAP NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 Work on a troubled project to upgrade security at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area-55 was formally wrapped up this week as the National Nuclear Security Administration signed off on the project’s completion, which came in just under the project’s $244.2 million cost cap. […]

UPF PROJECT TEAM SCALING BACK WORKFORCE NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 As the Uranium Processing Facility project team scales down work in some design areas pending results of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s review of UPF alternatives, a spokeswoman confirmed that more than 100 members of the project team have been released over the past month. Ellen […]

NRC GIVES MOX CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH IN 2013 NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not identify any areas needing improvement in Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction in 2013, contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services announced last week. The annual review conducted by NRC’s resident inspectors aims to identify potential construction and procedure […]

NS&D Monitor 4/04/2014 IN THE NNSA A University of Michigan-led consortium has been awarded a $25 million grant by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development for research and development in nuclear arms control verification technologies. The grant is expected to provide the consortium $5 million per year over […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Major changes are in the works for B&W’s Technical Services Group, with President George Dudich leaving the company, NS&D Monitor has learned. B&W is also moving to combine its Technical Services Group with the company’s Nuclear Operations Group to create a new Government Operations division that will be headed by […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Congressionally appointed panel on National Nuclear Security Administration governance hasn’t come up with any recommendations yet, but the co-chairmen of the committee made it clear this week at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing that the current governance structure for the agency is not working. The panel’s […]

NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 James Schlesinger, who served as the first Secretary of Energy, passed away this week at the age of 85. According to reports, Schlesinger died due to complications of pneumonia. Schlesinger was named in 1971 to chair the Atomic Energy Commission, and was tapped by President Jimmy Carter to serve as the first […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy has begun discussions with the companies that run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories about reducing the fee they can receive, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held confirmed this week. Speaking on the sidelines of a March 26 Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Thirty-five nations at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Netherlands this week agreed to an initiative that would strengthen the international nuclear security architecture, highlighting the third gathering of international leaders to deal with strengthening nuclear security around the world. In all, leaders from 58 countries assembled in The Hague, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Plans to send a significant amount of plutonium and highly enriched uranium from Japan to the United States are raising questions for officials near the material’s likely home at the Savannah River Site. Citing concerns over plutonium already in the state, South Carolina this month filed suit against the Obama […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has turned to a familiar face in its search for a new leader, tapping longtime lab official Bill Goldstein this week as the lab’s 12th director. Goldstein, 57, a 29-year lab veteran who rose through the institution’s ranks after starting as a theoretical physicist during the […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Not surprisingly, the most frequently asked questions being asked these days at Y-12 and Pantex have to do with jobs and benefits, as the two plants in Tennessee and Texas are transitioning to a new contractor. However, the new contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, isn’t ready to make job offers—there […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Budgetary pressure and technical considerations are likely to doom the Obama Administration’s “3+2” strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright said this week. Speaking at George Washington University, Albright said he supported the strategy, which would modernize and consolidate the nation’s nuclear […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Nine Air Force leaders have been removed from command and the commander of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base has resigned as a result of an investigation into widespread cheating among the ICBM force at Malmstrom. Air Force leaders unveiled the results of an Office of Special […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Frustrated with the Obama Administration’s reaction to possible Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, House and Senate Republicans introduced legislation this week designed to hold Moscow accountable for the potential cheating. GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced companion resolutions that would declare that Russia “violated and […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Planned shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium from Canada to the Savannah River Site for processing have been delayed again, and now appear to be slated for September 2015. Officials said in late 2012 that the processing of the material could start in 2013 and end in 2016, but officials […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy has dropped from its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request a laser-based protective force training system it had planned on providing to Russia due to concerns about the U.S. relationship with Moscow. The March 26 announcement from DOE Press Secretary Bill Gibbons came two days after 18 […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 A set of self-assessments of safety conscious work environment (SCWE) performed by Department of Energy sites and contractors suffered from several weaknesses that may reduce their overall usefulness, according to a report released last week. The DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security performed an evaluation of the self-assessments and […]

TEST FACILITIES REVITALIZATION PROJECT WRAPPED UP NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 A $48.7 million project to revitalize Sandia National Laboratories’ testing facilities was completed earlier this month, $4 million under its original budget. The Test Capabilities Revitalization Phase 2 project upgraded the lab’s 10,000-foot sled track as well as its mechanical shock, centrifuge, aerosciences, and vibro-acoustic and […]

STUDY GROUP FORMALLY DROPS CMRR-NF LAWSUIT NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 The Los Alamos Study Group, which sued the National Nuclear Security Administration in 2010 and 2011 to halt work on the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, has officially dropped its lawsuit now that the NNSA has dropped its plans for the multi-billion-dollar facility. In its […]

REGALBUTO ADDED TO Y-12 UPF RED TEAM NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 Monica Regalbuto may have a long wait to be confirmed by the Senate as the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, but she’s filling part of the time on the Red Team examining alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 […]

STILL NO WORD ON MOX COLD STANDBY NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 More than three weeks after the Obama Administration announced plans to immediately place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in a ‘cold standby’ mode, the project’s contractor is still continuing work as normal without any direction on how to proceed. Construction contractor Shaw AREVA MOX […]

NS&D Monitor 3/28/2014 IN CONGRESS A Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing scheduled for this week was postponed and is likely to be rescheduled for early April. Acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held was scheduled to testify at the hearing March 26 alongside NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs Don Cook, Naval […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 After three protests and more than 14 months, Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners (NP2) is giving up its fight for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex contract, the company said this week. NP2 three times protested the NNSA’s selection of Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for the $22.8 billion contract, […]

Martin Schneider CEO ExchangeMonitor Publications 3/21/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week announced plans to extend the management contract for Sandia National Laboratories for another two years, with an option for a third year. Makes sense, right? After just finishing the seven-year odyssey that became the Y-12/Pantex contract competition, a two-year extension will give […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration at long last is moving to compete the Sandia National Laboratories management and operating contract, announcing this week that it is extending Lockheed Martin’s contract to run the lab for two years (with an option for a third) while it prepares to open up the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/21/2014 Funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program is projected to continue to grow over the next five years, reaching nearly $10 billion by Fiscal Year 2019, according to the Obama Administration’s detailed budget justification for the agency that was released over the weekend. The Administration requested $8.3 billion […]