Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson and Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 With transition underway to new Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, CNS President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Haynes said the company has already completed five key deliverables for the National Nuclear Security Administration. Bechtel-led CNS, which also includes Lockheed Martin, ATK, SOC and subcontractor Booz Allen Hamilton, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 A National Nuclear Security Administration official last week outlined a host of concerns with the way NNSA and Department of Energy small business contracting is impacting industry, including in the list reverse auctions, restrictive size standards, acquisition strategies and underutilization of contract vehicles. One big concern is the consequence of […]

Jeremy Dillon NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 A Dutch medical isotope company will not meet its goal of shifting to the use of low enriched uranium for the production of molybdenum-99 by the 2015 target date, according to a meeting held this week with White House officials. Mallinckrodt confirmed to White House officials that it would not […]

PAUL HENRY TO SERVE AS ACTING DEPUTY LAB DIRECTOR NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 Paul Henry, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Principal Associate Director for Capital Projects, will serve as the lab’s acting Deputy Director with the sudden departure of Beth Sellers, NS&D Monitor has learned. Sellers, a Bechtel executive, abruptly resigned late last week in the wake […]

WARHEAD PART DROPPED AT Y-12 FACILITY NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration called its “unique” event, but the dropping of a nuclear warhead part during an evaluation procedure in January appeared to be a recurrence of problems that surfaced a few years ago at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. According […]

NS&D Monitor 3/14/2014 IN THE NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration late last week opened a procurement for facilities maintenance services at the Office of Secure Transportation and the agency’s Albuquerque Complex, issuing a draft Request for Proposals. The agency is seeking a small business to perform the work, which will take place in three […]

Resignation Prompted by IG Report of Conflict of Interest Involving Lab Consulting Contract With Her Husband Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Beth Sellers is resigning as Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Deputy Director in the wake of a scandal involving the award of a laboratory consulting contract to her husband, NS&D Monitor has learned. According to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Nearly 14 months since the National Nuclear Security Administration first selected Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for its Y-12/Pantex consolidated management and operating contract, transition to the new contractor has resumed. However, Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners—which three times protested the NNSA’s selection—declined comment this week on its plans, leaving […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Senate lawmakers have begun fighting back against the Obama Administration’s decision to place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility project on cold standby. In a March 6 letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, seven Senators—including both members of South Carolina’s Senate delegation and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the new head […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 The Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request includes $8.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, and plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent are beginning to win over one of the staunchest critics of nuclear funding lapses. Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 On top of the $11.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2015 President Obama is requesting for the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Administration wants another $600 million for weapons and nonproliferation spending, though the additional request received a chilly response on Capitol Hill this week. The additional funds are part of […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 USEC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week after reaching an agreement with the majority of bondholders and investors on its financial restructuring plan. The moves comes after the company announced in December it planned to file for bankruptcy due to a market downturn, but it would need to convince […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration may have options to meet the nation’s plutonium pit needs short of large-scale new construction, according to a new report from Congressional Research Service analyst Jonathan Medalia. Such options “have the potential to produce 80 (pits per year) and permit other plutonium activities at relatively […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 It took nearly two years, but Rose Gottemoeller was finally confirmed as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security by the Senate this week—but not without a fight. Gottemoeller was confirmed March 6 in a 58-42 vote despite concerns raised by a handful of GOP Senators over […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Timed just before the Obama Administration released its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request this week, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) reintroduced legislation late last week that would cut $100 billion in nuclear weapons spending over the next decade. Markey first introduced the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 A National Nuclear Security Administration pilot project to strengthen physical security at radiological facilities in Mexico City and Peru is being criticized by the Government Accountability Office for not involving several key agencies that could have helped the project. In a report released this week, the GAO said the “radiological […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 The number of nuclear engineers emerging from U.S. colleges and universities continues to rise, according to a new report by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. According to the report, there’s a significant increase at all levels, bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. Overall, 655 students received […]

RAD MATERIALS FOUND DURING UPF HAUL ROAD CONSTRUCTION NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 Work on a haul road for the Uranium Processing Facility was temporarily stalled last week after radioactive materials were discovered during some of the earth-moving work at the site on the west end of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. According to a spokesman for […]

NRC PANEL RULES IN FAVOR OF MOX CONSTRUCTION LICENSE NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel late last week ruled in favor of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility contractor in a longstanding challenge to the facility’s license application over security concerns. The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board released an initial decision […]

NS&D Monitor 3/07/2014 IN CONGRESS A House Armed Services Committee hearing with Strategic Command and Pacific Command was postponed this week because of snow in Washington, D.C. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney is likely to appear before the committee in early April, though a date has not been formally set. The Senate Armed Services […]

Increase Comes At Expense of Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/04/2014   Forced to prioritize between National Nuclear Security Administration programs in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, the Obama Administration sent a clear signal that it would support the agency’s weapons program today, drawing criticism from nonproliferation advocates. The Administration requested $8.31 […]

NNSA to Issue Partial Stop Work Order to Contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 3/04/2014 The Obama Administration is moving to formally shut down the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, with the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request submitted to Congress today providing money to place the project into “cold-standby,” and the Administration […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners is weighing its options after the Government Accountability Office late this week rejected its latest protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex contract award. The GAO upheld NNSA’s selection of Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for the new contract, whittling down the potential moves […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 After recent steps pointing toward the potential termination of the project, more clarity on the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is expected to come with the release of the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request next week. Bruce Held, acting head of the National Nuclear Security […]

Report Describes Apparent Tensions Between Technical Director, Staff Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014   There appear to be significant tensions between the technical staff at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Board’s Office of the Technical Director, according to a report NS&D Monitor obtained this week. The report provides the full, unredacted version […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Expanding on previous comments about a “public interest” model for managing the nation’s national laboratories, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held said this week that the agency need to move toward a “more agile” governance relationship between the labs and its federal overseers. Speaking at the Energy Communities […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Faced with a barrage of questions from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee about modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent, new Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney this week signaled that investing in the nation’s nuclear deterrent should remain a priority for the Obama Administration. Haney appeared before the committee […]