Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Iran agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Tehran in the coming weeks to discuss relations between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iran’s deputy foreign minister told reporters last week. The IAEA told Reuters that IAEA director general Rafael Grossi was “actively engaging with all parties involved in the Iran nuclear […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on Thursday reported a drop in second quarter net earnings despite higher sales largely due to lower performance on the Virginia-class submarine program and aircraft carrier construction at the Newport News Shipbuilding segment. Net income fell 12% to $152 million, $3.86 earnings per share (EPS), from $173 million ($4.38 EPS) a […]

Earnings rose at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, despite what the engineering and construction company described as hesitancy in world trade markets. Over the next 12 months, Fluor expects to pursue Department of Energy contracts for work at the Savannah River Plutonium Pits Project and to support high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) nuclear fuel […]

BWX Technologies, a Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear company, announced Tuesday that its subsidiary installed and tested a furnace to manufacture TRISO nuclear fuel for advanced reactor technology. TRISO fuel comprises a uranium fuel core surrounded by carbon and silicone layers. The furnace solidifies molds for TRISO particles before the ingredients become an advanced form of fuel […]

The Department of Energy should soon publish its Supplement Analysis and Amended Record of Decision for blending down roughly 2.2 metric tons of highly enriched uranium in order to make about 3.1 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The document should soon be published in the […]

The Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency in charge of managing the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, was one of hundreds of organizations affected by a massive SharePoint hack. While the bug was discovered last week, Microsoft said in a blog post Tuesday that three Chinese actors were exploiting vulnerabilities in […]

If the Pentagon decides to increase production of the U.S. Air Force’s new B-21 stealth bomber it will require further investment by Northrop Grumman, which expects higher returns for early production aircraft, CEO Kathy Warden said Tuesday. Those investments would be on top of a $226 million pre-tax charge Northrop Grumman incurred in the first […]

A five-acre grass fire broke out near the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. Monday, a local news outlet reported. The lab fire broke out at 1 p.m. Pacific time Monday. It started on Greenville Road near Patterson Pass Road, according to a July 21 article by a local Patch newsletter.  […]

A trio of experts told a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee Tuesday that expanded debriefings on federal contract awards might reduce the number of bid protests. More detailed debriefings, which explain to bidders the rationale behind contract awards, are being used by the Department of Defense and other agencies might consider them as well,  […]

On a 52 to 46 party line vote on Thursday, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Matthew Lohmeier as the 29th Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force–the service’s number two civilian. In written answers to Senate Armed Services Committee questions before Lohmeier’s nomination hearing on May 1, he said that nuclear modernization, including the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A […]

Iran met with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, or the E3 nations, on Friday in Istanbul to discuss nuclear matters, a spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry said in state media. This is Iran’s second meeting concerning nuclear matters this week, as Iran met with China and Russia Tuesday to discuss its nuclear program […]

BWX Technologies has begun manufacturing the reactor core of Project Pele’s microreactor at its Innovation Campus  in Lynchburg, Va., the company announced Thursday, in a press release. Pele is a mobile gas-cooled demonstration microreactor with the ability to produce 1.5 megawatts. The microreactor, which will be used by the Department of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office, […]

The House late last week voted 221-209 to pass its $831.5 billion fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill. The legislation was crafted by House appropriators before receiving full budget details from the Donald Trump administration and represents a flat spending level with fiscal 2025, although it aligns with the White House’s plan to factor in reconciliation […]

Jill Hruby, the most recent administrator of the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, recently joined the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, the organization announced last week. “I’m honored to join the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board at such a pivotal moment for nuclear affairs worldwide,” Hruby said in the […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report this week the National Nuclear Security Administration “made progress” on 11 out of 19 prior recommendations by the congressional oversight agency for accurate cost reporting. The GAO has issued four reports on financial reporting since fiscal 2019 for the DOE’s semi-autonomous agency in charge of the […]

The Senate wants the U.S. Air Force to consider simultaneous construction of silos for the Sentinel for the three missile wings, according to the Senate’s fiscal 2026 military construction, veterans affairs, and related agencies appropriations bill. The three missile wings for the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are the 90th at F.E. Warren […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee released bill language for its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would set the spending cap for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at $26.87 billion. That is over $400 million more than the House Armed Services Committee authorized in its version of the NDAA that […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, recently concluded a 12-day mission to China where it conducted a full-scope review of all of China’s nuclear facilities, activities and safety framework. This review is the first of its kind in almost a decade, according to the Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) publication. The […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) used a House Armed Services Committee hearing on a must-pass national defense policy bill Tuesday to bemoan proposed cuts to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) budget. The House Appropriations Committee last month advanced a fiscal 2026 funding bill that could cut GAO’s appropriation by nearly half. This is bad news for […]

U.S. Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere, the seventh head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) since its founding in 2009, would become the second AFGSC commander to ascend to Air Force Vice Chief of Staff if approved by the Senate. President Donald Trump nominated Bussiere on July 15, according to a Congressional notice. Founded […]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and foreign ministers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom have agreed that Iran will face greater sanctions if it does not reach a nuclear deal with the United States by August, Axios reported. If a deal is not reached, the European powers would reimpose all of the United Nations […]

The House Armed Services Committee Tuesday approved fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provisions to, among other things, create a new Rapid Capabilities Program within the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NDAA passed late Tuesday 55-2 and now advances to a full House markup. The provision within the committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee segment of […]

Congressional defense authorizers would prohibit a reduction in U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles below 400, and the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) wants initial operational capability (IOC) for the LGM-35A Sentinel future ICBM by fiscal 2033. The IOC for the LGM-35A Sentinel future ICBM by Northrop Grumman is more than four years past what the U.S. […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2026 bill would provide nearly $756 million for the U.S. Air Force AGM-181 Long Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear-tipped cruise missile. The figure proposed for the LRSO by RTX–$149 million in the National Defense Authorization Act is more than requested by the Air Force. This number would include $141 million […]

The House appropriations committee voted to advance a fiscal 2026 appropriations bill Thursday that would give $25.317 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That’s around $1.182 billion above the fiscal 2025 levels, although the funding for the Department of Energy as a whole is $1.396 billion below 2025 levels at $48.774 billion.  The […]

BWX Technologies, based in Lynchburg, Va., announced Thursday the award of $2.6 billion in contracts, including future year options, to manufacture naval nuclear reactor components. The contracts, which build on the $2.1 billion in awards BWXT announced in February, would support Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, and any production from these awards would come in the […]

The final version of the budget reconciliation package signed into law July 4 by President Donald Trump includes a long-sought bipartisan proposal to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). “After nearly two years of negotiations—and two separate passages of RECA packages by the Senate in 2023 and 2024,” the RECA expansion was included in […]