Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Three Iranian nationals and one Iranian entity with ties to the successor organization to Iran’s nuclear weapons program prior to 2004, were sanctioned by the U.S. State Department this week.  The entities’ ties to the organization, called Iran’s Organization of Defense Innovation and Research (SPND), “materially contribute to, pose a risk of materially contributing to, […]

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, spurred Chinese military researchers to consider the risks toward nuclear facilities, according to a study by China’s People’s Liberation Army. Beijing brought the total number of commercial reactors, both operational and under construction, to 102 last month, according to Beijing publication […]

Shipments to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) appear to be back at a normal pace, with the facility receiving 49 waste shipments in April. The numbers, posted on the public WIPP website as of May 15, would represent the highest monthly total since the 50 shipments the disposal site received in […]

Candice Robertson, who formerly led the Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup branch, has taken an executive position with BWX Technologies, the company said Wednesday. Along with Robertson, who led the DOE Office of Environmental Management for much of the past year, BWXT also announced former DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) executive Linda […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a vocal nuclear critic and member of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor Los Alamos National Laboratory “ought to be able to produce” 100 pits in four years. Garamendi spoke to the Monitor last week in the halls of the Capitol about Secretary of Energy Chris […]

The Donald Trump administration’s outline for a $1 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2026 received swift pushback from senior Republicans for the decision to include anticipated reconciliation funds to reach the record topline. While the White House touted an “unprecedented” 13% boost in defense spending, the base defense budget, released on Friday, would remain flat […]

WASHINGTON – Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), ranking member of the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee, told Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Wednesday she has not received a “single response” to letters she sent him regarding firings at his agency. Kaptur said she and other lawmakers, over the past five months, on a “bipartisan” and […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the company partly attributed to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s intent to award it a sole source contract for an advanced uranium enrichment project.   “We had another quarter of strong commercial backlog growth and see robust opportunities for growth in our government […]

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) called for more investment in new nuclear power to address the United States and global demand for electricity, in an April 28 opinion piece posted in the Washington Times. “We are at a pivotal moment in energy production that will define our nation and the world for the remainder of […]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran must agree to no longer enrich uranium because “the only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons,” according to a May 1 State Department interview. “What they’re basically asking is to be the only non-weapon country in the world that’s enriching […]

Nuclear modernization, including the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future intercontinental ballistic missile, and space resilience are top Department of the Air Force challenges that Matthew Lohmeier, the nominee for undersecretary of the Air Force, said he plans to address. “If confirmed, I suspect that the modernization of the nuclear portfolio and ensuring the resilience of […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., in its second quarter, which the government contractor partly attributed Wednesday to demand for nuclear work and divestiture of a non-core asset.   Net earnings for the second quarter ended March 28 were $4 million, or $0.02 a share, up from a loss of $41 million or $0.46 a share, […]

After his recent reelection victory, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he received a positive phone call from President Donald Trump, according to an Australian publication Monday. “We talked about AUKUS and tariffs and will continue to engage,” Albanese said, adding the two leaders would have a “face-to-face” meetup at “some time in the future.” […]

Teresa Robbins, acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the first production unit of the B61-13 gravity bomb is “anticipated” to be complete later this month. In testimony to the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Robbins said the program was “almost a full year ahead of schedule.” […]

Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., said reusing the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile siloes for the replacement Sentinel in the future might not be “more efficient” or “cost effective.” Bussiere’s comments came at the April 30 Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center virtual […]

Earnings rose at Centrus Energy, based in Bethesda, Maryland, in the first quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed to resolved contracts and supply orders. Net earnings for the first quarter ended were $27.2 million, or $1.60 a share, compared to $6.1 million, or $0.38 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly […]

The Government Accountability Office, in a report sent last month to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, highlighted six areas affecting the mission of DOE and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Nuclear weapons complex areas discussed were: improving contract, project and program management; as well as management of nuclear modernization challenges; addressing strategic human capital; […]

On the heels of a federal judge’s ruling last fall, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration formally announced plans Friday for a detailed review of environmental impacts of planned plutonium pit production. DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced in the Federal Register it is kicking off a programmatic environmental impact statement […]

During the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term he has moved aggressively to reduce the federal workforce and the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex has not been immune. Trump’s second term, which started Jan. 20, hit the 100-day mark this week on April 30.  One of Trump’s initiatives has been the […]

The U.S. Navy this week released a draft Request for Solution to design a prototype for a “survivable sea-based capability” for the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile flight system. Capability requirement responses are due by Monday May 5 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. A planned nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) would be deployed on the Virginia-class […]

The Congressional Budget Office projected in a report released April 24 that plans for the U.S. nuclear forces as described in the fiscal 2025 budget would cost $946 billion for the 2025-2034 period. Of the $946 billion, $817 billion is what is budgeted to “implement the plans for current and future delivery systems, warheads, command […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday posted first quarter declines in its top and bottom-lines driven by lower sales across the company’s operating segments, and higher interest expense and taxes. Net income fell nearly 3% to $149 million, $3.79 earnings per share (EPS), from $153 million ($3.87 EPS) a year ago. The results handily topped consensus […]