Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 The nuclear triad will survive the proposed Pentagon spending cuts in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said this week. Offering a preview of the President’s budget request to reporters at the Pentagon Feb. 24, Hagel outlined a series of spending cuts across the Department […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 An Obama Administration official said this week that the Senate was informed of a possible issue involving Russian compliance with an arms control treaty in the fall of 2010, several months before the Senate cleared the New START Treaty. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 25, Brian McKeon, […]

Senate Could Vote on State Department Arms Control Nominee, Rose Gottemoeller, Next Week Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 An attempt to get two top Department of Energy nominees confirmed hit a roadblock this week when an anonymous hold was placed on the pair. Senate Republicans attempted to “hotline” the nominations of Frank Klotz, the Administration’s pick […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 An interim report from the Congressionally established panel examining governance options for the National Nuclear Security Administration is expected to be completed in late March when members of the panel are set to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on their initial findings, study co-chairman Norm Augustine told NS&D […]

Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Labor union officials are so far taking a wait-and-see stance toward the Department of Energy’s recently announced plans for reorganizing its health, safety and security functions, though the anticipated role going forward of DOE’s current Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer, Glenn Podonsky, is giving organized labor […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 A senior Department of Energy official late this week confirmed DOE has been examining the possible creation of a new organization that would be responsible for major line-item construction projects, but stressed that the idea was one among many under consideration to help improve how DOE manages projects. “There are […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Babcock & Wilcox recorded an increase in profits of $126.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2013 but offered a muted forecast for 2014 as it released its latest earnings report. While the company said it made a profit of $165.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2013, up from […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 In a another step in a proposal to construct a new laser enrichment plant at the Paducah site, Global Laser Enrichment intends to submit a license application by September to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company told the NRC last week. “GLE expects to submit the license application for the […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 The Department of Energy has made “significant progress” on commitments for improving work planning and control in response to concerns from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DOE told the DNFSB this month. In August 201,2 the DNFSB sent a letter to DOE detailing issues with the implementation of work […]

The following interview with retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Donald Alston was conducted by Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Editor Todd Jacobson. NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 In 2007, you were tasked with repairing the Air Force’s nuclear mission after a series of miscues, including the unauthorized transport of nuclear weapons on the wing of a bomber, […]

LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR NIF FUNDING NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 A group of 17 lawmakers—all but one from California—late last week urged President Obama to provide “strong and sustained” funding for the National Ignition Facility and inertial confinement fusion activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In a letter to President Obama Feb. 21, the lawmakers, led by […]

NNSA LOOKING TO ACCELERATE RLWTF UPGRADE NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking at options to potentially accelerate the schedule for a project to upgrade Los Alamos National Laboratory’s aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. NNSA and the lab plan to replace the current facility with two new ones—one that would address […]

UPF PROJECT DIRECTOR CONFIRMS DESIGN SLOW DOWN NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director John Eschenberg confirmed this week that work is being scaled back in some areas at the project while potential alternatives are being explored. Eschenberg, in a sideline interview following his Feb. 27 talk at the University of Tennessee’s Institute […]

NS&D Monitor 2/28/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) announced late this week that he will not seek re-election this November. Pastor is a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, among other Congressional roles. “After 23 years in Congress serving the people of Arizona, I have decided that I will not seek […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Large fees for contractors managing the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons laboratories may be a thing of the past, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held said this week at the Sixth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. In response to questions at the sixth annual summit, Held called the “creeping privatization” of […]

NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch, the former commander of Strategic Air Command and former Air Force Chief of Staff, was awarded this week with the second annual Johnny Foster Award by ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums. Welch retired from the Air Force 24 years ago, but has been a fixture in the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Recent surveillance work on the W78 and W88 warheads has revealed that the warheads can be sustained until 2030, allowing the National Nuclear Security Administration to delay work on an interoperable warhead, NNSA weapons program chief Don Cook said this week on the sidelines of the Sixth Annual Nuclear Deterrence […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 As the Air Force considers extending the life of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, it should strongly look at keeping the ICBM in service past 2030 through incremental upgrades, according to a recently released study authored by the RAND Corp. The study, titled “The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The Air Force is launching a new effort, dubbed the “force improvement program,” in the wake of a cheating scandal involving officers that work with the nation’s ICBMs. The new effort comes as two reviews are underway that were launched by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month in response to […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The Department of Energy is dissolving its Office of Health, Safety and Security in a new reorganization officially announced this week that DOE says is intended to better enhance its safety and security functions. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing first reported, the reorganization will entail the creation of a new […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 While Congress approved a reprogramming request to move $59.2 million to construction activities at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility late last year, those funds have yet to reach the project, NS&D Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration originally submitted the reprogramming request to Congress in early August […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Bill Lingard abruptly resigned from his position as URS President and Chief Operating Officer this week. URS announced Lingard’s resignation along with the release of the company’s preliminary Fiscal Year 2013 financial results, which came in below expectations. The company said its expected 2013 earnings would be $3.20-$3.30 per share, […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The ‘Red Team’ that’s looking for affordable alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility is expected to have their recommendations to the National Nuclear Security Administration by mid-April, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, who’s heading the team. Mason said those are his “marching orders” from NNSA Acting […]

Acting NNSA Administrator Says Security Did Its Job Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Bruce Held, the acting administrator of the NNSA, this week confirmed new details of the mid-January incident involving the mishandling of uranium at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Responding to questions following his keynote address at the Sixth Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 President Obama this week signed into law a two-year extension to the United States’ current civil nuclear agree-ment with South Korea, which now will not expire until March 19, 2016. The extension was needed because the Administration and South Korea require more time to work out sensitive issues, including potential […]

NRC FINDS NO VIOLATIONS IN LATEST INSPECTION PERIOD NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found no violations in its latest round of construction inspections at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The NRC conducts quarterly inspections of the project’s construction by contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services. “The inspections examined activities conducted under your construction […]

REVIEW FINDS WIDESPREAD CRITICALITY SAFETY ISSUES NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 A review of criticality safety issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory has revealed widespread problems that led to the ongoing shutdown of its Plutonium Facility last summer, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report released last week. The report describes Los Alamos’ Criticality Safety […]

NIF REACHES MILESTONE NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 Scientists at Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility have reached a major milestone in the quest for ignition, achieving a fuel gain greater than 1 for the first time. The achievement was detailed in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Nature, explaining that the yield performance during a recent […]

NS&D Monitor 2/14/2014 IN CONGRESS The nation’s nuclear forces will be the subject of a pair of Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in several weeks. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will appear before the full committee at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 27 alongside Cyber Command chief Gen. Keith Alexander, while the panel’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]