Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said on Thursday that the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future intercontinental ballistic missile has consumed the most of his time than any program thus far in his two and a half weeks on the job. Meink said this as the Air Force restructures the program after a Nunn-McCurdy cost […]

WASHINGTON, D.C – The Donald Trump administration’s nuclear-related executive orders can open up the international nuclear market through a bolstered domestic nuclear supply, a panel said at a summit Tuesday.  A panel of executives from BWX Technologies, NuScale Power, Terrestrial Energy, Urenco USA and Westinghouse spoke on the elements for global success in the nuclear […]

Centrus Energy executive Shahram Ghasemian will step down from the company later this month, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission Filing. In the June 6 SEC filing, Ghasemian, who is the company’s senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, has given notice to Centrus that he will resign from his […]

The Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has turned to a former DOE executive with more than 35 years in nuclear management to succeed its retiring CEO. Flour-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Friday announced Jeff Griffin, a senior vice president, has been picked to succeed Dennis Carr […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in testimony at Congress Tuesday that there should be “clarity” on the reorganization and workforce shrinking at the Department of Energy. “The Department of Energy is filled with a bunch of tremendous, hardworking, committed men and women trying to better the direction for our country,” Wright said at a […]

The Secretary of the Navy Tuesday said the government should consider having the two submarine shipbuilders compete on the next version of the Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN). “I think in the next Virginia class, we have to really consider having HII [Huntington Ingalls Industries] build and EB build versus the two of them, co-building. I […]

The Pentagon is placing big bets that the eventual reconciliation bill will provide large portions of the fiscal 2026 funding for some major weapons programs such as the Golden Dome project and B-21 bomber, according to a document obtained by affiliate publication Defense Daily. These bets come as Senate appropriators have cautioned against leaning too […]

Nusano, a West Valley, Utah-based physics company, announced in a press release Wednesday the launch of a program to produce up to 350 metric tons of high-assay, low-enriched uranium by 2029. The high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) program at Nusano makes it the first private company in the U.S. to offer a HALEU-based nuclear fuel solution […]

Israeli officials took credit for attacks on Tehran’s military and nuclear facility early Friday morning, even without approval from President Donald Trump or the International Atomic Energy Agency, media outlets like the New York Times reported. The attack comes just before the United States and Iran were to resume high-level talks over Tehran’s nuclear program […]

The Department of the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency’s energy office plan to award California-based Oklo, Inc. a 30-year, firm fixed price contract for a microreactor, likely at Eielson AFB, Alaska. The contract is contingent upon Oklo receiving a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Oklo “would be required to site, develop, […]

Senate Armed Services committee chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) released legislative text to the House-passed reconciliation bill Tuesday that would seek $96 million for classified nuclear deterrence programs. The $96 million is a $74 million increase from the House of Representatives version of the bill, passed in May with a razor-thin majority. It is part of […]

On Monday, the United Kingdom’s defense minister said the government plans to ultimately field 12 SSN-AUKUS attack submarines. Minster of Defense John Healey’s assessment came in the foreword of a new defense review report. Under the tripartite AUKUS agreement, the United States and U.K. agree to help Australia field nuclear-powered attack submarines, starting with at […]

China could have 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles by 2035, an increase from 400 now, according to a Defense Intelligence Agency single page unclassified graphic released  in mid-May. The graphic illustrates potential threats to the U.S. Homeland that the Golden Dome would guard against. The assessment, called “Golden Dome for America: Current and Future Missile Threats […]

Ukraine’s Pavutina–“Spider Web”–operation points to budget decisions ahead for the U.S. Air Force in hardening its bases in the United States and abroad, especially in the Indo-Pacific, where analysts have pointed to the significant kamikaze drone threat. More than 100 small quadcopter kamikaze drones hidden in trucks took off on cue on Sunday to destroy […]

The Department of Defense, in an online source sought notice May 29, requested industry responses for demilitarizing the Boeing LGM-30 Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile motors. The notice on procurement site sam.gov said the Space Systems Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program is collecting information on vendor capabilities for demilitarization of motors through a method called […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the prime contractor at Y-12 National Security Complex, signed an agreement May 30 with University of Tennessee to create a new nuclear deterrence- and security-focused center in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The partners will develop the National Security Prototype Center to use both Y-12 and University of Tennessee resources to enhance manufacturing, a […]

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request is seeking $45 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), which is 7% more than the $42 million enacted for fiscal 2025. “This increase to safety oversight is imperative for DNFSB to keep pace with NNSA’s [the National Nuclear Security Administration] significantly increased weapons production schedule […]

House Armed Services chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Thursday that he was “troubled” by the “past mismanagement” of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, and that it’s time to “start walking the walk” on supporting Sentinel. “We must ensure Sentinel is ready in time to replace the current ICBMs before they reach the end of […]

The Donald Trump administration this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and prevent lower courts from holding up White House efforts to downsize and reorganize much of the federal government. “This court recently intervened to stop a district court from undoing the effects of the lawful large-scale termination of probationary government employees.” […]

BWX Technologies has appointed Gonzalo Cajade as its chief human resources officer effective June 1. Cajade has been in human resource management for more than two decades. He was most recently executive vice president and chief people officer at TERREPOWER. Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWXT made the announcement in a May 29 press release. Cajade will report […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a vocal nuclear critic and member of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor over the phone Thursday that the extra funding for weapons activities in the White House budget could be better spent on non-proliferation or studying plutonium aging. “At the same time they’re increasing the […]

A Kremlin spokesperson said last week that President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome plan could force both Washington and Moscow to resume nuclear arms control talks, media reported. “In the foreseeable future, the very course of events requires the resumption of contacts on issues of strategic stability,” Dmitry Peskov told Reuters.  Trump and Secretary of Defense […]

One of President Donald Trump’s May 23 executive orders instructs the secretary of energy to replace the surplus plutonium dilute and dispose program with one to process excess plutonium for fuel for advanced nuclear technologies. Trump’s executive order entitled “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” one of four nuclear-themed executive orders released last week, said the […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the Fluor-led prime contractor at Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., said this week crews have started constructing gloveboxes to make the explosive fissile cores of nuclear weapons. “Gloveboxes will be a key component of pit production operations within the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF),” Dennis Carr, CEO of Savannah […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is “on track” with its W88 warhead, the agency’s acting principal deputy administrator said in a Senate panel last week. “We’re on track with the W88, which is to achieve first production unit relatively soon,” James McConnell, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) acting principal deputy administrator, told the Senate […]

A state department spokesperson said Tuesday that the fifth round of talks in Rome between the U.S. and Iran May 23 on a nuclear deal was “constructive.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi still maintains there is “no room for compromise” on keeping enrichment in Iran, he told Iranian state media after the fourth round of […]

The percentage of U.S. Air Force bombers available for missions is in the 50s—a trend consistent with service-wide aircraft availability statistics, Gen. Thomas Bussiere, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, said last week. Such availability takes into account aircraft in depot, while mission capability rates are typically higher, as they do not count […]