Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Ukraine has protested to the International Atomic Energy Agency about Russia’s building power lines from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Russia’s main power grid, a Kyiv official told a Ukrainian news agency. Yuri Vitrenko, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, told the news outlet Wednesday that Kyiv sent a […]

In an aim to use nuclear energy technology for defense-related purposes, President Donald Trump’s May 23 executive order wants advanced nuclear reactors put on military installations without consulting the National Environmental Policy Act. Trump’s executive order entitled “Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security,” one of four nuclear-themed executive orders released last week, said […]

While the National Nuclear Security Administration expects a final record of decision for pit production analysis should be complete by 2027, some stakeholders said this week they are “deeply concerned” about the “human cost” of plutonium pits. “This is very dangerous material,” one commenter said Wednesday during an online forum, speaking tearfully of how her […]

The first production unit of the B61-13 gravity bomb is complete, nearly a year ahead of schedule, Pantex Plant prime PanTeXas Deterrence announced this week. The first production unit was completed four months after the announcement of the last production unit for the B61-12. Pantex program manager Taylor Massey said in a press release Monday […]

A non-Sentinel flight test for the W87-1 warhead is planned for next calendar year, a spokesperson for Sandia National Laboratories told the Exchange Monitor in an email this week. “Even with the disruption with the Sentinel program, we’ve been able to continue to keep that program on track,” Laura McGill, director of Sandia, said Monday […]

A team from the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., according to an AFGSC press release. The missile was equipped with a “single Mark-21 High Fidelity Re-entry Vehicle,” the release said. The re-entry vehicle traveled […]

Admiral James Kilby, acting chief of Naval Operations, told a Congressional hearing last week that he was in talks with the director of Strategic Systems Programs on nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) alternatives. “I’ve had a couple of sessions with Vice Admiral Johnny Wolf, who is the strategic programs office lead, who will produce this,” […]

President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a tax bill, was passed in the House in the middle of the night Wednesday into Thursday 215-214 largely on party lines with Republicans Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio) voting against and Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) voting “present.” The portion relevant to the […]

Amid fears the United States is losing ground to rivals in world nuclear power markets, a group of Republicans and Democrats this week introduced the International Nuclear Energy Act. “If the U.S. doesn’t lead on nuclear energy development, Russia and China will,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said in a Tuesday press release. “This bill will […]

The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded a $4-million contract to an Alaskan native corporation subsidiary for maintenance and support services in Nevada. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility maintenance and support services contract for Chenega Reliable Services at the Nevada National Security Site field office in Las Vegas was […]

The U.S. Air Force B-52 Radar Modernization Program (RMP) has exceeded the 15% significant unit cost increase threshold “due to design, production, and installation cost increases,” the Air Force said on Monday. The Air Force program executive office for bombers at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Ohio […]

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine offers a real-world example of military targeting of nuclear plants, and the issue requires more attention, a National Academies board heard last week in Washington, D.C. A war-gaming study to explore this threat was done recently by Henry Sokolski, who heads the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. He discussed the issue […]

James McConnell, acting principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the design for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in South Carolina should be 90% complete in calendar year 2026. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces, asked McConnell how the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, while testifying and receiving questions in the Senate, said he is working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to get more than just a “skinny budget” to Congress. “We’re working with OMB to release more of that, but that’s still a work in progress,” Wright […]

Triad National Security, the prime contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced the beginning of phasing into 24/7 operations at the New Mexico lab’s plutonium facility, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. The nuclear watchdog report dated April 18 said that contractor management determined continuous operations at the facility were needed at […]

Top Senate defense appropriator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week the Donald Trump administration’s defense budget outline, which factors in planned reconciliation spending to achieve a $1 trillion topline, “fails” to meet the required level of investment. McConnell Tuesday criticized the decision to include anticipated reconciliation funds as a “budgetary sleight of hand.” “American politicians […]

Matthew Napoli, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation office in the National Nuclear Security Administration, said he is committed to working with allies to prevent state and nonstate actors, including Iran, from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “We know there are discussions about the Iranian nuclear program, and we’re also very aware […]

The W80-4 warhead will stay on schedule, despite the cost breach of its delivery vehicle the B-52 bomber, Sandia National Laboratories director Laura McGill said during an online press conference Wednesday. “It is really critical that we deliver that system on time,” McGill said while answering a question by the Exchange Monitor on how last […]

BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., said this week that Rob LeMasters, who joined the company a decade ago as a board of directors’ member, has stepped down as chief financial officer and executive vice president. The current chief accounting officer, Mike Fitzgerald, becomes interim CFO, BWXT said in a Monday press release. Fitzgerald joined BWXT three […]

The Senate Tuesday voted 52-to-44 to confirm James Danly, a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to be deputy secretary of energy. The vote was along party lines with four senators, two Democrats and two Republicans, not voting. Danly, an attorney and U.S. Army veteran from Tennessee, was nominated to the position by […]

A federal appeals court has told the White House, and plaintiffs suing the government over mass layoffs, to file arguments next week on the Donald Trump administration’s “emergency motion” to block a lower court’s temporary restraining order. The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday May 13 told plaintiffs, including the American Federation of […]