Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

GOP Fends Off Major Cut to NNSA Weapons Program Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Wrapping up its work on the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act this week, the Republican-led House turned away an attempt to strip $100 million in authorized funding from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program and adopted language that […]

House Approves Version This Week With No Funding Increase for Project Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014  The beleaguered Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project would see a significant boost in authorized funding for Fiscal Year 2015 under the Senate version of the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act, reported out of the Senate Armed Services Committee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Senate appropriators will have a little more breathing room to dole out money for the National Nuclear Security Administration in Fiscal Year 2015, according to the subcommittee allocations the Senate Appropriations Committee approved this week. The panel’s Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee will have $34.208 billion to divide up among […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Former Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon and former Deputy Energy Secretary T.J. Glauthier will chair a nine-member Congressionally mandated Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said this week as he announced the members of the panel. Moniz selected the members of the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants Los Alamos National Laboratory to take more time to restart operations at its Plutonium Facility, which has been shut down since last summer due to criticality safety concerns. In a May 16 letter to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz, DNFSB Chairman […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 A new report by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability calls for a massive change to U.S. nuclear modernization plans, again recommending a “curatorship” approach that would halt current life extension efforts. “Rather than introduce uncertainty into the stockpile through unnecessary Life Extension Programs, NNSA should maintain the currently reliable US […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 Despite White House opposition, the House approved a measure late this week that would significantly lower the maximum number of employees at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would cut the maximum number of employees the DNFSB has […]

Decision on M&O Contract Expected this Year NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy expects to make a decision by the end of this year on whether or not to exercise additional options in Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ contract to manage the Savannah River Site, DOE Savannah River Operations Office Manager Dave Moody said this […]

106 Employees Approved for Y-12 Voluntary Layoffs NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 B&W Y-12 President Dave Richardson announced internally this week  that 106 employees have been approved for the site’s Voluntary Separation Program, which was designed to meet the staffing needs identified by incoming Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security. CNS will replace B&W on July 1. The […]

NS&D Monitor 5/23/2014 In the NNSA The National Nuclear Security Administration has added a new satellite to the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System with the launch of an Air Force rocket late last week. The Delta IV rocket launched from Cape Canaveral May 16 carried a GPS IIF navigation satellite and a 300-pound Global […]

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 […]