Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

POWERS TO HEAD UP ORNL’S RESEARCH REACTORS DIVISION NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 Tim Powers has been named director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Research Reactors Division, effective immediately, and will be in charge of operations at the lab’s High Flux Isotope Reactor. His appointment is part of a leadership reorganization in key areas following Kelly Beierschmitt’s […]

NS&D Monitor 2/07/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Marking the first time a nonfamily member has been selected to lead Bechtel, Bill Dudley has been named the company’s new President and CEO, effective immediately. Dudley, who previously held the position of president and chief operating officer, replaces Riley Bechtel, who is “stepping down for health reasons from […]

NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is looking to mark up its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 energy spending bill next week. The panel has scheduled a hearing June 17 beginning at 10 a.m. to consider the measure. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to take up […]

NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 DOE IG Criticizes ORNL Personnel Security Program An inspection report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said it could not confirm an allegation that a former senior official at Oak Ridge National Laboratory retained access to sensitive information after becoming a “casual” employee at ORNL. However, the IG […]

NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lab Names Permanent Director for NIF Jeff Wisoff, who replaced Ed Moses in the fall as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Principal Associate Director for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, is officially taking over the position in a permanent role, LLNL Director Bill Goldstein said this week. “I have every confidence […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 The security of high-risk industrial radiological sources is lacking despite often times meeting Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released this week, drawing concern from the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In a June 12 audit report, the […]

Staff reports NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said last week that he’s pleased with the way the transition of contractors is proceeding at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants. “What we’re pleased with is the positive collaboration between the incoming and outgoing contractors, which is our expectation,” Klotz […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 The Department of Defense has underestimated the amount of money it will cost to modernize its nuclear forces over the next 10 years, according to a new Government Accountability Office report that echoes similar findings about the NNSA. In December, the GAO highlighted shortcomings with NNSA budget estimates, noting that […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014    Work underway to set up the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessment (IEA) is slowing down ongoing DOE enforcement investigations, IEA Director Glenn Podonsky said late this week. The new office, which was created as part of a reorganization of DOE’s safety and security functions, contains the […]

Kenny Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 House appropriators are looking to rescind more than a billion dollars associated with the privatization of USEC still remaining. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of subcommittee this week, would rescind the roughly $1.6 billion in the United States Enrichment Corporation […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz will visit the Pantex Plant June 17 as his tour across the weapons complex continues. Klotz last week visited the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in May he toured the Nevada National Security Site and Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. Confirmed in […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee this week adopted an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Appropriations Act that would require the Department of Defense to provide a report to Congress on the nuclear contributions of U.S. NATO allies. The amendment was added to the bill as part of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Calling Russia’s actions to test a land-based cruise missile a “material breach” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee pressed President Obama this week to take action against Russia. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club June 11, Rep. Mike Rogers […]

Bill Would Trim $111 Million From Weapons Account, Boost Funding For MOX Facility Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 Lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, including a slight $111 million cut to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, though the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/13/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration head Frank Klotz said this week that he “categorically rejects” the interim findings of a Congressionally mandated panel on governance of the nuclear enterprise that concluded the creation of the semi-autonomous agency was a “failed experiment.” Speaking June 10 at an Energy Facilities Contractors Group […]

Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Tensions are running high at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board amidst personnel changes in a set of key management positions and a sharp drop in employee satisfaction over the last year, as well as a more recent Inspector General’s investigation in response to a complaint about […]

NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 In a stern warning to Congress against additional Iran sanctions, President Obama drew on the Administration’s arms control and nuclear security record to bolster the case for American diplomacy with Iran in his State of the Union address this week. “American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week released the detailed Fiscal Year 2013 Performance Evaluation Reports for its eight sites, shedding light on what its contractors did well—and not so well—during FY 2013 (links to the reports for each site can be found on the NNSA’s web site). B&W Y-12, […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 As the number of Air Force officers implicated in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana grew to 92 this week, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James suggested the service was suffering from “systemic” problems. Air Force officials previously said 34 airmen had been involved in cheating […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 With negotiations ongoing on a number of civil nuclear agreements, lawmakers pressed Obama Administration officials this week on the need for more Congressional oversight of such deals. While the agreements, known as ‘123 agreements,’ currently must only sit before Congress for 90 legislative days before entering into force, a bill […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 A Government Accountability Office hearing on a protest of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex award by Babcock & Wilcox-led Nuclear Production Partners (NP2) has been pushed back until next week. The hearing was supposed to take place Jan. 29, but Ralph White, the GAO’s managing associate general counsel, confirmed […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Russia has begun testing a new cruise missile that violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to a news report this week. 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 earlier […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 USEC and the Department of Energy this week launched a nearly three-month extension of a cost-share program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge technology during which additional tests will be performed. The extension, running from Jan. 29 until April 15, will use about $5.9 million of USEC funds and $23.05 million in […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 A stunning event that took place on July 28, 2012 took another stunning turn this week when the sentencing hearing for the three Y-12 protesters was postponed as it neared its conclusion because of surprising snowfall that forced the closure of the Federal Courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn. William Quigley, a […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Pantex Guards Union said this week it will seek to reinstate 11 security officers who were fired by contractor B&W Pantex after the company claimed they engaged in a “sick-out” and failed to report for work on Jan. 21. B&W filed a charge the 11 security officers assigned to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The United States has finally secured an agreement with Japan for Tokyo to transfer 730 pounds of plutonium to the U.S., according to Japanese news reports. An announcement of the agreement is expected to come during the Nuclear Security Summit scheduled for March in the Netherlands, and Obama Administration officials […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week closed a 2009 recommendation on policies and standards related to quantitative risk assessment methodologies in the Department of Energy complex. In December, the Department told the DNFSB numerous steps it had taken to resolve issues in the recommendation “Risk Assessment Methodologies at […]

WIND FARM ON SCHEDULE FOR JULY START NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Pantex Plant officials anticipate the plant’s new wind farm, the federal government’s largest, will be operational in July and will generate enough power to provide more than 65 percent of the nuclear weapons plant’s annual electricity needs. On Jan. 23, representatives from Siemens USA, Texas […]

HONEYWELL LOOKING TO TRIM WORKFORCE BY 84 EMPLOYEES NS&D Monitor 1/31/2014 Kansas City Plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies is planning to trim its workforce by 84 employees, a spokesperson said this week. Honeywell spokeswoman Shaunda Parks said the plant’s move out of the Bannister Federal Complex and into a new home “necessitated” the […]