Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

BWX Technologies has received a contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop a conceptual design for the first module of a new Lithium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  The first phase of the award is a four-month, $4 million contract that covers the conceptual design […]

The United States and European allies are seeking an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution that would report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear safeguards obligations, news outlets said Friday Sept. 4.  The U.S., Britain, France and Germany are lobbying members of the IAEA Board of Governors ahead of its upcoming meeting, seeking […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Thursday its Y-12 National Security Complex has completed production and acceptance testing of the B61-13’s canned subassemblies, finishing the work roughly seven months ahead of schedule. The milestone fulfills a timeline NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams projected in an August interview with Exchange Monitor, when he said the remaining […]

Nearly a year into his tenure leading the National Nuclear Security Administration, Brandon Williams says some of his most difficult decisions have involved challenging the way the agency has traditionally done business. “The hardest decisions are that we’re not going to do business as usual,” Williams told Exchange Monitor in an exclusive interview in August. […]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he was nominating Hung Cao as Secretary of the Navy after serving in the role in an acting capacity for over four months. “I am pleased to nominate a true WARRIOR, Hung Cao, to become the next Secretary of the Navy. We need Patriots like Hung leading our Navy […]

The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant could face a station blackout within roughly 10 days if external power is not restored or additional diesel fuel is delivered, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week. The plant has been without off-site power since Aug. 20, when military activity damaged its connection to the 330-kilovolt Ferosplavna-1 […]

Michael Mikolanis, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Field Office, will move back to Los Alamos in September to lead the agency’s field office there, local publication Aiken Standard reported. Mikolanis will succeed Ted Wyka, who retired in June after five years as manager of the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office, according […]

Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]

The Department of Energy’s national laboratories as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration have made use of uranium oxide produced by conversion plants at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. That was one of the takeaways from an Aug. 20 meeting of the Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, according to […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Syria was constructing an undeclared nuclear reactor at Deir al-Zor under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to published reports.  The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report viewed by some news outlets such as Al Jazeera its inspectors verified that cooling infrastructure uncovered at the site is […]

Submarine maintenance delays have cost the Navy $3.4 billion over the past decade and could add $3.1 billion more as it prepares to retire aging Los Angeles-class attack submarines, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds. In an analysis of attack submarine (SSN) data from fiscal years 2008 to 2025, GAO said it found […]

Sandia National Laboratories has completed a sounding rocket flight test designed to provide real-world reentry data that will inform development of nonnuclear components for the Navy’s W93 nuclear warhead. The Atrax test, conducted at Sandia’s Kauai Test Facility, collected data on the aerodynamic loads and vibrations a reentry vehicle experiences as it travels toward its […]

The House of Representatives voted 370-48 Tuesday to pass a conferenced, short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding the federal government through Dec. 11, but the House Appropriations chair still criticized the Senate for not working on its individual appropriations bills. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown. The resolution […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to install two new ammunition storage magazines at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Outdoor Live Fire Range, replacing existing structures that no longer meet current security requirements. The project, detailed in an August floodplain assessment released by the Department of Energy, would take place at Technical Area 72, where […]

Parsons has secured two task orders from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  to design and deploy counter-nuclear smuggling systems across the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East Region 3 and Africa Region 2 task orders cover counter-nuclear smuggling initiatives in 25 countries, according to an Aug. 27 company announcement. NNSA is a semiautonomous […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Threat Reduction Agency removed a disused cobalt-60 source from Guatemala, transporting the material to secured storage in the United States. The operation, which started in May, involved the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and Guatemalan officials from the National Centre of Radioactive Wastes and Ministry of […]

The Air Force on Tuesday said it awarded RTX’s Raytheon an up to $603 million contract through August 2031 for a new radar, the APQ-188, for the service’s 75 B-52H bombers under the Radar Modernization Program (RMP). An active electronically scanned array radar based on RTX’s APG-79, the APQ-188 is to replace the bomber’s Northrop […]

WASHINGTON – The next potential nuclear growth sector is moving commercial ships across the ocean, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the head of an international organization said here Wednesday.  Kicking off the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS) initiative, Wright, along with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, said […]

Almost a year after the Janus program was announced in October 2025, the United States Army selected five nuclear companies and awarded a collective of $2.2 billion to them to build over 20 microreactors across several military installations. According to the Army’s Wednesday press release, the five companies are Antares Nuclear, BWX Technologies, General Atomics, […]

WASHINGTON – The United States’ civil nuclear cooperation agreement, or 123 agreement, with Saudi Arabia has been sent to Congress for review, Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed Wednesday to reporters at a press conference. Wright spoke with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi at IAEA’s Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea, […]

Sandia National Laboratories has completed the second and final full-scale crash test of a next-generation transporter designed to carry U.S. nuclear weapons and other sensitive materials. The Mobile Guardian Transporter (MGT), being developed for the Department of Energy’s Office of Secure Transportation, was propelled by rocket motors down Sandia’s sled track before being slammed into […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Fremont, Calif.-based Pacific Fusion have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore collaboration on high-yield fusion, high-energy-density science and related technical areas. The MOU was signed by NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams and Pacific Fusion co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Keith LeChien as the company broke ground on […]

Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) “generally met” Department of Energy requirements for site access and security badging, but an audit identified a gap involving substance abuse testing. The DOE Office of Inspector General found that SRNS, which is the prime that manages and operates the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, generally complied with […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is planning roughly $140 billion in uranium enrichment efforts through 2105, but has not provided Congress with required cost information, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. NNSA’s current inventory of low-enriched uranium and highly enriched uranium is expected to meet national security requirements into the 2040s, […]

The White House’s new science and technology strategy elevates nuclear energy to a critical technology for national security, while also emphasizing the need for a survivable and credible nuclear deterrent. The August 2026 National Security Science and Technology Strategy identifies nuclear energy as one of 12 “key enabling technologies” that the White House says agencies […]

The first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) could cost more than $23 billion, with the 15-ship class totaling $275 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report published this month. The most recent 30-year shipbuilding plan released in May said the Navy plans for the BBG(X) to reach a 15-ship class by 2056 and showed the Navy […]

The Australian government’s naval shipbuilding infrastructure manager selected an Amentum-Laing O’Rourke joint venture to deliver a new nuclear-powered submarine construction shipyard in Australia, Amentum announced last week. Amentum said in a press release that under this long-term contract as a “Capability Partner,” it and Laing O’Rourke will “play a central role in developing the new […]