Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13 to 7 Wednesday to advance the nomination of James Danly to be deputy secretary of energy. The Danly nomination to be the No. 2 official in the Department of Energy can now go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. No date for such a […]

The Department of Energy has conditionally agreed to provide five companies with high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for advanced nuclear projects.  The five companies awarded are: Kairos Power based in California; Radiant Industries based in California;  TerraPower based in Washington; TRISO-X, a Tennessee-based nuclear fuel subsidiary of X-Energy; and, Westinghouse Electric based in Pennsylvania. HALEU is […]

WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Brandon Williams, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a Senate panel Tuesday he would “speak up” for the “men and women” that work for the agency. “If confirmed, I commit to you that I will stand up for the men and women of NNSA [National […]

In opening remarks at a hearing Wednesday on military posture in the Indo-Pacific region, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said to “accelerate AUKUS” to strengthen deterrence against China and North Korea. “China now has the world’s largest Navy—and a shipbuilding capacity over 200 times greater than our own,” Rogers, chair of the House Armed Services Committee, […]

Ernest Moniz and Joan Rohlfing, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Nuclear Threat Initiative respectively, are stepping down from their roles in 2025 with no refills in place yet. According to a Wednesday press release by the Washington-based nonproliferation-focused nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Moniz and Rohlfing messaged the board, staff and partners […]

The CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries recently downplayed how much impact President Donald Trump ’s 25% aluminum and steel tariffs would have on the shipbuilding supply chain.  Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) CEO Chris Kastner also said adding Australian suppliers to submarine production under the AUKUS agreement will help bolster a fragile supply chain. He argued […]

Russia will obtain licenses to operate, and potentially restart, all units of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine by 2027, plant director Yuri Chernichuk recently told Russian-owned news source Strana Rosatom. Chernichuk told Strana Rosatom, which is owned by Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom that has occupied Zaporizhzhia since 2022, Rosatom will need […]

President Donald Trump said Monday his administration’s forthcoming defense budget proposal will have a topline of around $1 trillion, a record first for the Pentagon. “$1 trillion and nobody’s seen anything like it,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office. In an email to investors, a TD Cowen analyst noted that while the majority […]

The United States on Wednesday sanctioned five entities and one individual that it says support entities overseeing Iran’s nuclear program, the State Department said in a press release. The entities sanctioned include the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and its subordinate Iran Centrifuge Technology Company as part of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on […]

With key Democrats denouncing any possible mass firings at the Department of Energy, the deadline is before midnight April 8 for DOE staff to opt into the latest round of voluntary buyouts. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said April 4 they are troubled by reports by Associated Press and other media […]

In a Tuesday emergency order, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a preliminary injunction by a U.S. District Judge in California ordering federal agencies including the Department of Energy to rehire 16,000 probationary employees. Also, the Associated Press reported this week that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit voted two-to-one to overturn a […]

Several key publicly-traded companies serving the Department of Energy’s weapons complex saw their share prices first decline, some by as much as 10%, and then bounce back in roughly a week’s time. The stock market went in a nosedive over much of the past week after President Donald Trump announced aggressive tariffs on goods from […]

In a series of executive orders released Wednesday, President Donald Trump said any major defense acquisition program 15% over cost could be cancelled. “[A]ny program more than 15 percent behind schedule based on the current Acquisition Program Baseline (APB), 15 percent over cost based on the current APB, unable to meet any key performance parameters, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration hosted Cobalt Magnet 25, an emergency response exercise, with local, federal and international partners from the U.S. and Canada from March 14 to 21. The exercise provided a scenario of a notional nuclear power plant accident to allow response personnel to practice scanning for radiological materials, protecting affected populations and […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said rebooting plutonium pit production is key to bringing nuclear power forward for energy and defense during the Donald Trump administration, according to Fox News Sunday. Plutonium pits, the bowling-ball shaped fissile core placed inside a thermonuclear weapon to trigger its explosion, were produced at the highest rate during the […]

Amid saber rattling between President Donald Trump and Iran, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Congressional panel recently  Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon. Gabbard’s remarks came while testifying at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing March 25. Gabbard said the U.S. Intelligence Community assesses that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and […]

While Wall Street focuses on the S&P 500’s worst quarter in three years due to trade-war threats, the nuclear enterprise could also face market slowdown as uranium stocks fall even further, according to published reports. President Donald Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on energy resources from Canada since early March. He paused the tariffs […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has strengthened its infrastructure project review process, but should require more details on safety, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said recently. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff attended three project reviews and had other interactions with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Project Analysis, Oversight […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Pantex management and operating contractor PanTeXas Deterrence reported a loss of power in nuclear explosive bays the week of March 7. The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, is a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) site that services all U.S. nuclear weapons in assembly and disassembly, and also houses […]

To build the equivalent of an annual 500% increase in submarine tonnage from 2004 to now, Adm. William Houston said the Navy is trying to leverage new technology like automated robot inspectors and drone-based monitors. “We now have automated robots to do inspections for us in tanks – that goes ahead and takes tank inspections […]

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States. would receive a “strong reciprocal blow” if it commits any military “mischief,” according to a statement Monday. Khamenei’s comments come after President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran if the Islamic Republic did not comply with a nuclear deal, as part of his “maximum pressure” […]

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said Tuesday the U.S. Air Force might be able to re-use some Minuteman III silos to house the future Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel. Cramer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel, also said the Air Force is increasingly discussing possible concurrent upgrades to house Sentinel at the […]

Secretary of the Air Force-nominee Troy Meink says that the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile by Northrop Grumman is needed for deterrence.  “The ground leg of the nuclear triad–Minuteman III and, over time, Sentinel–are foundational to strategic deterrence and defense of the homeland,” he wrote in written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee […]

The chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Energy and Water wants to see the Department of Energy’s nuclear-related programs receive as much money as realistically possible during a period of government cutbacks. “I want to see the most robust budgets that we can — understanding that we are in tight fiscal times,” Rep. Chuck […]

The Department of Energy has circulated its own Deferred Resignation Plan, akin to the Office of Personnel Management’s earlier “Fork in the Road” initiative, and responses are due Tuesday April 8, according to a Monday memo from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. The new DOE buyout is spawned by President Donald Trump’s Feb. 11 executive […]

Russia’s top commander in Ukraine Gen. Sergei Surovikin discussed using nuclear weapons to prevent Ukraine from advancing into Crimea in the fall of 2022, the New York Times said March 29. The Times cited U.S. intelligence reports, which also reportedly said that U.S. intelligence agencies put the chances of Moscow using nuclear weapons between 5-10%, […]

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia are appealing a U.S. District judge decision limiting temporary reinstatement of probationary staff at the Department of Energy and many other federal agencies to just states that sued the Donald Trump Administration over mass firings. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of DOE, the Department of […]

While Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) are pulling for President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense against nuclear adversaries, others are saying it is not cost effective. “We need to protect the homeland from as many dangers as are out there,” Wicker told the Exchange Monitor in the halls of the Capitol […]