Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Committees Expected to Move Quickly on Already Cleared Noms, but Senate Floor Action Unclear Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 The Obama Administration this week returned dozens of nominations to the Senate, including a handful of Department of Energy selections, and Senate committees began acting quickly to report out the nominations, with the Senate Armed Services Committee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Congressional appropriators have largely wrapped up work on the Energy and Water portion of a planned omnibus spending bill for the remainder of the fiscal year, but there is growing sentiment among Capitol Hill aides that a short-term Continuing Resolution will be necessary to give lawmakers time to iron out […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Contractor Assurance System (CAS) did not adequately alert lab or National Nuclear Security Administration management to problems on a botched nuclear security upgrade project at the lab’s Technical Area 55, according to a report released this week by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General that suggested […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Countries around the world are making progress in securing nuclear material within their borders, according to a report released this week by the Nuclear Threat Initiative that continued to push for a global system governing all nuclear materials. The report, released in advance of the third Nuclear Security Summit in […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 President Obama sent a new civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Taiwan was to Congress this week. The agreement between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Culture Representative Office is the result of a renegotiation of a previous agreement with Taiwan, and will enter into force after […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 The Department of Energy appears to be making progress on closing still-pending recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, with the DNFSB recently agreeing to close one recommendation and the Department seeking to have another one also closed. Last month, the DNFSB closed a recommendation from 2000 called “Prioritization […]

LAB WINS AGE DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 An Alameda County (Calif.) jury has ruled against five former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees that accused the lab of age discrimination in connection with a massive layoff in 2008. The five employees won a $2.7 wrongful termination verdict earlier last year, but in a separate trial […]

HIGH PRESSURE FIRE LOOP PROJECT COMPLETED NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Work on a new High Pressure Fire Loop at the Pantex Plant was completed last month on schedule and more than $5 million under budget, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. Approximately 16,000 linear feet of high density polyethylene piping was installed around the […]

Y-12 PROTESTERS APPEALING FOR LIGHTER SENTENCES NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 As their Jan. 28 sentencing date approaches in U.S. District Court, the Transform Now Plowshares protesters and their attorneys are maneuvering to get the lightest sentence possible for their unprecedented break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012. In a memo filed Jan. 4 […]

SRNS EARNS 84 PERCENT OF FY’13 AWARD FEE NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, earned 84 percent of its total available award fee in Fiscal Year 2013, earning about $47 million out of $56 million, according to information the Department of Energy released this week. The […]

NS&D Monitor 1/10/2014 IN THE DNFSB Kenneth Mossman, the newest member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, passed away this week. In November, he was confirmed by the Senate to join the Board. Mossman previously served as a professor of health physics at Arizona State University and an Administrative Judge for the Nuclear Regulatory […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—The National Nuclear Security Administration is moving forward with a plan to scale back the Uranium Processing Facility, heeding the advice of a Red Team headed up by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. The Red Team recommended that the agency—facing a ballooning price tag for the facility […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 With a 2019 exit date for the aged Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory creeping up, the Senate Armed Services Committee is directing the National Nuclear Security Administration to streamline efforts to increase the use of the existing radiological laboratory utility office building and repurpose space […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 Michael Lempke, the senior National Nuclear Security Administration official who served as the Source Selection Authority for the agency’s first Y-12/Pantex contract decision, is leaving the agency for a position as vice president at Systems Planning & Analysis. Lempke most recently served as the NNSA’s Associate Principal Deputy Administrator and […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The Department of Energy would be required to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility until it completes an assessment of alternatives under the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, details of which were released this week. DOE currently plans […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—Characterizing the benefits changes and workforce reductions facing workers at Y-12 and Pantex as a "fair deal," Jim Haynes, the president of new Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, said this week that the changes coming at the sites would benefit workers in the long-term. "We’ve been very honest with […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 Kansas City Plant officials are expecting to wrap up the long move to a new facility about a month earlier than expected, and the highly-scripted move that began in January 2013 is expected to cost about $10 million less than projections, the plant’s top federal official said this week. Kansas […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The Air Force is aiming to strengthen its nuclear mission, and announced plans last week to elevate several nuclear-related commands. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James is proposing to increase leadership of Global Strike Command from a three-star general to a four-star general, and would also increase the Air Force […]

Jessie Roberson to be Renominated as Vice-Chair of Defense Board Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The Obama Administration has tapped an official at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to fill an open vacancy on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The Administration announced late this week its intent to nominate Daniel Santos to the Board as […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is seeking more information about a National Nuclear Security Administration analysis of the effects of trips and falls on special tooling used in nuclear explosive operations at the Pantex Plant. In a June 2 letter to NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur […]

Vendor Sues MOX Services for $17.4 Million The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility contractor is being sued for $17.4 million for breach of contract by a vendor tasked with building gloveboxes for the plant. Washington Government Environmental Services Company, LLC, a subsidiary of URS Energy and Construction, filed the complaint this week against Shaw AREVA […]

Y-12 Power Tool Licensed by Chattanooga Company A power tool developed at the Y-12 National Security Complex may soon become a fixture in large-scale demolition projects. B&W Y-12 announced that the Omni Jaw 5, an invention by the plant’s technology chief, Lee Bzorgi, has been licensed to a start-up company in Chattanooga that plans to […]

10 Guards Return to Work After Resolution to ‘Sick-Out’ Complaint Ten out of 11 Pantex security guards who were initially fired after investigators determined they committed "sick leave abuse" by skipping a January drill at the Texas nuclear weapons plant are now back at work. B&W Pantex suspended the guards Jan. 23, alleging they called […]

NS&D Monitor 6/6/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is planning to award a sole-source contract to Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services for the downblending of up to 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium. Documents released late last week on fedconnect.net don’t reveal the value of the contract, but the deal would be […]