Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The following interview with Glenn Podonsky, Director of the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments; and Matthew Moury, acting Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 To start things off, what was the thinking behind the creation of this […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 An unnamed vendor provided nonconforming parts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant for nearly 30 years, according to a new Department of Energy Inspector General report that gives plant contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies’ quality assurance program a clean bill of health despite the issues. According […]

NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Guard Fired in Y-12 Break-in Seeking Job Back Kirk Garland, the security guard fired after three elderly protesters broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July of 2012, is continuing to try to get his old job back and is seeking reimbursement for lost wages. Garland, who was the first security […]

Project Also Moves to Again Cut Size of UPF Project Team Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 The Uranium Processing Facility project planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex is undergoing a major management shakeup with about a month left before Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security takes over management of the site. CNS said late this week […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Language in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee last week would require the National Nuclear Security Administration to come up with cost estimates for life extension programs and major construction projects when projects are in the concept definition phase of development. […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project has been "largely unsuccessful" in controlling project cost and schedule, according to a DOE Inspector General’s Office report released this week that includes several recommendations for a path forward. Rising costs prompted DOE earlier this year to announce plans to put the project […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Ten Republican Senators are asking the State Department’s Inspector General to investigate how much Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller was aware of possible Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty during the ratification process of the New START Treaty. In a May […]

Board Hears from Experts on How To Assess and Address Culture Issues Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board begins gearing up to take a new look at whether workers across the Department of Energy complex feel safe to raise concerns, one Board member warned this week that there is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation last week that signs off on the Obama Administration’s controversial nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam but includes a provision that would put an expiration date on the agreement, and some future nuclear cooperation deals. The language in […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 A series of mishaps involving the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Roof Asset Management Project (RAMP) has drawn concern from the Office of Enforcement within the Department of Energy’s Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments, but DOE took a pass on fining the contractors involved. Despite noting that five incidents over the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 Nonproliferation groups have harshly criticized the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 request for nonproliferation work, and two groups are now directly appealing to the White House to increase the funding. The Council for a Livable World and the Fissile Material Working Group have initiated an online petition calling for the […]

NS&D Monitor 5/30/2014 New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz is scheduled to visit the Y-12 National Security Complex next week as part of an effort to visit all of the weapons complex sites during the first few months of his tenure. Klotz is set to visit Y-12 on Wednesday June 4, where he […]

CNS Community Commitment Plan Coming June 30 NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Consolidated Nuclear Security, the incoming contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, plans to release its Community Commitment Plant on June 30—the day before CNS officially takes full responsibility for managing the two sites. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan said so far, so […]

DNFSB Raps Lab for Conduct of Operations, Maintenance NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Calling Sandia National Laboratories’ failure to comply with Department of Energy requirements at its Technical Area V nuclear facilities “troubling,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week called on lab officials and their federal overseers to strengthen conduct of operations and maintenance programs […]

Staff reports NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason said he’d received positive feedback on the work of the Red Team that recommended major changes in the strategy to secure the future of uranium missions at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Mason headed up the effort and initially briefing […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Bechtel’s Systems and Infrastructure unit, responsible for the company’s government businesses, is undergoing a reorganization to consolidate “five regionally focused business lines to three global business lines”—Nuclear Security & Operations (NS&O), Environmental (ENV), and Defense & Security (D&S), according to a message sent to employees last week. The reorganization, set […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Efficiencies outlined in a key National Nuclear Security Administration report to Congress don’t adequately assess opportunities for cost savings, according to a Government Accountability Office report released late this week. The GAO analysis criticizes the November 2013 NNSA report, which outlines seven opportunities for efficiencies, for being vague and questions […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 The legislation that created the National Nuclear Security Administration as a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy has been “counter-productive” as it has been implemented, the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise said in an interim report just made public this week. The panel’s […]

NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY George Dials has joined the staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory as a senior executive advisor, NS&D Monitor has learned. Dials previously headed up B&W Conversion Services, LLC, which manages the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, from late 2010 until he left Babcock & Wilcox […]

Todd Jacobson and Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 With the House Armed Services Committee rebuffing an attempt to boost authorized funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) hasn’t offered any hints yet as to whether he’ll fight to reinstate the funding […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 U.S. strategic forces conducted a massive nuclear response drill this week dubbed “Global Lightning 14,” but officials say it’s not in response to Russia’s nuclear exercises last week. According to a statement from U.S. Strategic Command, the five-day exercise that was slated to wrap up May 16 included 10 B-52 […]

Waste Shipments Halted Past Two Weeks as DOE Examines Potential Reactions In LANL Drums Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 With shipments suspended for the past two weeks, it could soon be impossible for the Department of Energy to meet a high-profile June 30 commitment to New Mexico to remove aboveground transuranic waste from Los Alamos […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 In a move that could foreshadow its strategy for a new Sandia National Laboratories contract, the National Nuclear Security Administration is upping the fixed fee lab manager Lockheed Martin is guaranteed under the contract in a two-year extension  that took effect May 1. Details of the contract were released for […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 With the Department of Energy looking at plutonium disposition alternatives to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the State Department’s top arms control official said late last week that she didn’t expect Russia to object to any changes to U.S. plans. Lawmakers that have opposed the Obama Administration’s decision to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/16/2014 Fresh off its defeat at Y-12 and Pantex, Babcock & Wilcox is planning to make a push for an increased role at the Savannah River Site, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ferland said on a conference call with investors this week. B&W is “working hard on positioning for Savannah […]

Roger Snodgrass For NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—New National Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said a recent suggestion by a Uranium Processing Facility Red Team that the agency scale back its plans to modernize its uranium processing activities at the Y-12 National Security Complex is “an approach we ought to consider,” but he was less […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 In a surprising move that raises questions about competition for the new Brookhaven National Laboratory management and operating contract, Southeastern Universities Research Association said late this week that it was taking a pass on bidding for management of the Long Island laboratory. Days after it appeared that SURA was preparing […]

NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 IN THE DNFSB The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is closing a decade-old recommendation on oversight of complex, high-hazard nuclear operations, but it says it will continue to keep tabs on the Department’s progress in strengthening federal safety assurance. The recommendation, originally issued May 21, 2004, helped revitalize the implementation of Integrated […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 A provision in the House Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would have boosted authorized construction funding for the wobbling Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility was stripped from the bill late in the evening of May 7 with opponents of the project […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 Republicans this week turned away an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would’ve authorized an increase in nuclear weapons dismantlement work. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) during a markup hearing on the bill, would have […]