Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held met with Y-12 National Security Complex officials this week and held an all-hands meeting at the plant to address a material accountability incident involving uranium oxide. NNSA spokeswoman Keri Fulton confirmed that an incident involving a small amount of U3O8, triuranium octoxide, […]

In Wake of Latest Incident, Hagel Pushes to Strengthen ‘Morale Character and Morale Courage’ Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Navy officials are now dealing with their own nuclear cheating scandal weeks after it was revealed that dozens of Air Force officers cheated on a nuclear proficiency exam. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and Adm. […]

NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 A Government Accountability Office hearing on a Babcock & Wilcox-led protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex award stretched into three days this week, NW&M Monitor has learned. The hearing began Feb. 3 after being postponed from last week and wrapped up Feb. 5, and the length of the inquiry surprised […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration took the first tentative steps toward competing its Kansas City Plant contract this week, issuing a Request for Information June 18 that seeks input from companies interested in the contract to run the agency’s main non-nuclear production facility. Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies has been the […]

The following interview with Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, who announced this week plans to leave DOE in the fall, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 To start things off, I think one of the things you’ll be remembered for during your time at DOE is the Department’s efforts to […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 House appropriators are once again expressing concern over how the Department of Energy manages major projects in the Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration. While DOE has made some improvement in its ability to “deliver small projects on schedule and within budget,” the Department “continues to […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 Both House and Senate appropriators are looking to boost funds for Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction funding above the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 request and aim to prevent use of the funds to put the project into “cold standby.” Citing rising costs for the project, the Department of […]

This is an idea whose time has come at last: The Department of Energy needs to break out cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and other National Nuclear Security Administration sites under separate contracts managed by the Office of Environmental Management. The Department’s national transuranic waste program has been brought to its knees in […]

Bill Hits Snag Over Carbon Emissions Amendment Controversy, Full Committee Markup Postponed Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, zeroing out funding for work on a refurbished nuclear cruise missile warhead and drawing quick criticism […]

Full House Committee Clears FY 2015 E&W Approps Bill, Providing $8.2B to NNSA Weapons Program Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 The House Appropriations Committee cleared its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, endorsing the National Nuclear Security Administration’s shift to what it called a “more realistic” strategy to […]

Senior Navy Admiral Says Refreshing High Explosive in Warhead Under Consideration Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 The Nuclear Weapons Council is currently examining expanding the scope of the W88 Alt 370, debating replacing the conventional high explosive as part of an effort to replace the arming, fusing and firing mechanism on the warhead, Navy Strategic […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 After five years, Daniel Poneman is stepping down as Deputy Energy Secretary this fall. Poneman’s departure plans were announced in a message Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz sent to employees late this week. “It has been my pleasure to work with Dan in many settings over a couple of decades—from […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 With the nation’s nuclear deterrent facing budgetary pressures, the Air Force and Navy in recent years have ramped up cooperation, and one of the Air Force’s top nuclear officials said this week that the cooperation is already reaping dividends. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club, Air Force Assistant Chief of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 With lawmakers raising questions about the Obama Administration’s ‘3+2’ strategy for modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney this week continued to advocate for the full suite of modernization efforts proposed by the Administration. Authorizers and appropriators in both the House and Senate have raised questions […]

70 Incumbent Employees Turn Down Job Offers from CNS Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 With less than two weeks to go before the official transition of contractors at Y-12 and Pantex, Consolidated Nuclear Security is going through a series of final readiness reviews in conjunction with the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office and taking […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 IN DOE Only one team is believed to have submitted a proposal for the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory contract this week. Incumbent Brookhaven Science Associates—a partnership of Battelle and Stony Brook University—is believed to have been the only team to submit a proposal for the contract after interest from groups […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 UPF Procurement Chief on Temporary Assignment in UK With the Uranium Processing Facility project in a lull while the National Nuclear Security Administration and its contractors put together a new strategy for how to proceed, the UPF procurement manager has temporarily left the project. Bechtel veteran Rich Brown, who’s headed the UPF […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 Wind Farm Project Completed Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Energy, Siemens Government Technologies Inc. and Pantex Plant M&O contractor B&W Pantex this week officially launched the Pantex Renewable Energy Project (PREP), a wind farm that is expected to generate roughly  60 percent of the plant’s yearly energy […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 Klotz to Make First Visit to Plant on July 8 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will continue his tour of the weapons complex when he visits the Kansas City Plant July 8. Klotz’s visit will be timed with the completion of an 18-month move from the plant’s former home, the […]

NS&D Monitor 6/20/2014 LANSCE Refurbishment Meeting Targets, But Risks Remain Los Alamos National Laboratory is generally meeting its management milestones in the $253 million effort to refurbish its aging Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), according to an analysis the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General released earlier this month. But fluctuating budgets and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Republicans and Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee, who previously have sparred over legislative language about the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, both expressed concern this week about increasing tension and flagging employee morale at the Board that was revealed by NW&M Monitor last week. NW&M Monitor also revealed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Three senior House Republicans late this week urged President Obama to take action against Russia for violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The New York Times reported Jan. 30 that acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller had met with NATO allies in January […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Timothy Hallman, the Associate Director for Nuclear Physics in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, will serve as the Source Selection Official for the Department’s Brookhaven National Laboratory procurement, DOE officials said at an informational meeting last week. DOE released documents from the industry day this week, revealing the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 A pair of key State Department arms control nominees were cleared by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. Rose Gottemoeller, the President’s nominee to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Frank Rose, Obama’s pick to be Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 In separate venues this week, a pair of senior American diplomats called for movement in the Conference on Disarmament on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, but the Geneva negotiating body appears to be as stymied as ever in its push to begin the talks. In a speech this week, Israel’s […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 President Obama has nominated a pair of Administration officials to fill key vacancies in the Pentagon’s policy shop. On Jan. 31, Obama nominated Christine Wormuth to be the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Brian McKeon to serve as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Wormuth […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories recently com-pleted the first full-system mechanical environment test ona refurbished B61 nuclear bomb, marking a key milestone in the life extension program for the weapons system, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. The test is the first in a series of environmental […]

IG: LAB MISUSED DOE RESOURCES ON DOCUMENTARY NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory inappropriately used Department of Energy facilities and resources when it participated in a 2011 National Geographic documentary on the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week. The lab spent $81,746 in Licensing and […]