Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

DOE Puts out RFP for Extreme Scale Supercomputing R&D The Department of Energy’s Office of Science and National Nuclear Security Administration are offering up another funding opportunity for research into extreme scale supercomputer technology. The agencies issued a joint Request for Proposals this week for contracts that could total approximately $100 million. Proposals under the […]

From staff reports NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 Bruce Held, the former acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, received the report from a Red Team assembled to look at alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility this week, but it’s not clear when—or if—the partially classified report will be released or how the NNSA plans to […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 While a Department of Energy program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge technology had been set to expire this week, some savings have allowed USEC and DOE to undertake a “no-cost” extension of the program until the end of the month. The extension will allow details to be worked out for current […]

Still No Direction to Contractor on ‘Cold Standby’  Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 As the state of South Carolina this week filed for summary judgement in its challenge to the Department of Energy’s planned suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the Department still has not provided any direction to the project’s contractor on […]

From staff reports NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 A North Carolina State-led consortium has been awarded a $25 million grant by the National Nuclear Security Administration for research and development on nonproliferation capabilities. According to the NNSA, the team will perform research and development in methods for detecting foreign nuclear weapon proliferation activities, focusing on projects to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 As the National Nuclear Security Administration pivots toward a smaller and cheaper way of maintaining its uranium processing capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex, acting NNSA chief Bruce Held acknowledged this week that about half of the $1.2 billion that has been spent on the Uranium Processing Facility has […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 The Congressionally appointed advisory panel on National Nuclear Security Administration governance won’t wrap up its final report until later this summer, but the chairmen of the panel told the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week they will have the "essence of the report" completed by Memorial Day. The […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s strategy for maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent can’t absorb any more cuts or schedule delays, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held told a Senate panel this week. The Administration has requested $8.3 billion for NNSA weapons work in Fiscal Year 2015, a $533.9 million […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 More than seven months after Frank Klotz was nominated to head up the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Senate finally confirmed the retired lieutenant general, clearing him by a voice vote late in the afternoon on April 8. Klotz’s confirmation ends the NNSA’s 15-month gap without a permanent administrator; Neile […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The Department of Energy requested a funding boost for weapons projects in Fiscal Year 2015 at the expense of nonproliferation and cleanup programs, Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week, and appropriators are looking for ways to rebalance that funding. Feinstein pressed Secretary of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The Department of Defense this week announced its force structure implementation plan under the New START Treaty, spreading cuts out across the three legs of the nuclear triad. Under the plan, the Pentagon will trim the size of its deployed intercontinental ballistic missile force by 50 ICBMs to 400 but […]

Board Working To Address Staff Morale Concerns Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is considering establishing some sort of ombudsman capability as part of its efforts to address staff morale concerns, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur told NS&D Monitor this week. A new ombudsman was one of several recommendations developed by […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 While a Department of Energy program supporting the American Centrifuge Project is set to come to an end next week, DOE is deciding how to reprogram National Nuclear Security Administration funds to keep the project alive. Last week, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will […]

NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 Incoming Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security is continuing the earlier stages of its transition at the two nuclear weapons sites, gradually introducing the company’s philosophies, implementation plans and management team leaders. Earlier this week, CNS emphasized safety and posted its first "safety message" on its transition web site. It was called, "Respect […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 Department of Energy officials are still in the hot seat with lawmakers over the decision to suspend the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project, and this week they did not provide any specifics on alternatives for plutonium disposition. DOE last month announced that due to rising costs it would immediately […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 Responding to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) is planning to soon introduce a bill that would suspend all National Nuclear Security Administration work in Russia. The wide-ranging bill would prohibit the "contact, cooperation or transfer of technology" between the NNSA and the Russian Federal until Energy Secretary […]

Mcmillan Lays out Needs for Pu Strategy With a 2019 deadline to get out of the aged Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility looming five years from now, Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan this week outlined key requirements for the lab’s plutonium strategy. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, McMillan said […]

Security Upgrade Project Wrapped up at Y-12 The National Nuclear Security Administration said this week that a project to upgrade the security infrastructure at the Y-12 National Security Complex was completed ahead of schedule and approximately $20 million less than its initial $72 million budget. The Security Improvements Project (SIP), which the NNSA said cost […]

IN CONGRESS Subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee will mark up their portions of the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act April 30 and May 1 before the full committee marks up the bill May 7, committee chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said this week. The Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which authorizes and sets policy […]

March   19 Meeting: Nevada Site-Specific Advisory Board; Frank H. Rogers Building, Las Vegas, Nev.   26 Hearing: NNSA Governance, House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, co-chairmen of the NNSA Governance Panel, Norm Augustine and Richard Mies, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Time: TBA.   26 Hearing: National Nuclear Security Administration and the Office […]

Former Nevada Site Office Manager Stephen Mellington has joined Longenecker & Associates as a senior associate

Their actions on July 28, 2012, prompted an almost complete security makeover in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and this week, the perpetrators—Michael Walli, Sister Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed—received years of prison sentences as a result.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has cancelled an ambitious laser fusion energy program aimed at marketing and commercializing National Ignition Facility technology in the face of Congressional scrutiny and questions about the utility of the program

With acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held signaling a shift in M&O contracting across the weapons complex, industry officials gathered at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit last week suggested just taking aim at the large fees being paid might not be the answer to the agency’s problems.

With the National Nuclear Security Administration considering alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility, project officials are scaling back and restructuring current work on the facility, according to a recent memo from UPF Project Director Carl Strock.

In another sign of apparent management turmoil within the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a group of Board employees tasked with examining morale concerns has found what appears to be a significant divide between staff and senior management.

Signaling a potential major change in the Obama Administration’s surplus plutonium disposition strategy, the National Nuclear Security Administration dispatched a consultant to the Savannah River Site this week to examine options for terminating Shaw AREVA MOX Services’ contract for construction of the MOX plant at the site, either as part of a shutdown of the project or as part of a new contracting strategy, NS&D Monitor has learned