Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

ARLINGTON, Va. — James Peery, director of the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories, told the Exchange Monitor Monday that the W80-4 had its first flight test on the Long Range Standoff Missile last week. Peery spoke with the Monitor after speaking at a panel at the Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit with Kim […]

The Senate overwhelmingly voted Thursday evening to confirm former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) to be secretary of interior, and also took a step closer to a confirmation vote on Secretary of Energy nominee Chris Wright.  Burgum, who would also lead President Donald Trump’s National Energy Council, easily won confirmation to head the Interior […]

The Senate last week narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth as the new secretary of defense with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie breaking vote on a Friday evening. Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon was approved largely along party lines while three Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), joined […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Fluor-led prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is drawing up a “master campus plan” for the 310-square-mile site to present to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The plan, required for NNSA sites, is a major undertaking, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) President and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and environmental plaintiffs settled a lawsuit that could put a pause on plutonium pit production efforts at Savannah River Site if approved. The agreement, made public Jan. 16, would leave Los Alamos National Laboratory as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) sole pit factory until an environmental impact statement is […]

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic device the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists uses to signify closeness to “global catastrophe,” as of Tuesday is set at the closest it’s ever been to midnight in its 78-year history. “In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal,” the Manhattan-era science and global security […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The scheduled rebaselining process is done at the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., an agency official told the Exchange Monitor here Monday. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages. Audrey Beldio, principal assistant deputy […]

As the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration awaits its marching orders from the President Donald Trump (R) administration, the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now saying it will get to an annual plutonium pit production goal of 30 “ASAP.” Such pits are the triggers for thermonuclear weapons. David Dooley, the associate laboratory director […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is “clear-eyed about the work ahead” with its two-site strategy for plutonium pit production, NNSA’s acting administrator Terea Robbins told the opening of the 17th annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday. Much work remains over the next decade for NNSA to achieve its goal of […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are reintroducing a bill to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation (RECA) Act (RECA). A similar bill passed the Senate last session but never made it to a vote in the House of Representatives. On Thursday, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced he and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) […]

President Trump has signed an executive order for the Pentagon to move forward with developing an “Iron Dome for America,” a massive, likely multi-billion dollar project that will utilize space-based interceptors.  New Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has 60 days to submit a plan for building out the “next-generation missile defense shield,” with the White […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries said Monday it closed its acquisition of the assets of W International, bringing in-house a supplier of submarine structures, modules, and assemblies that struggled to meet the Navy’s needs. Terms of the deal, first announced in early December, were not disclosed. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations site in Goose […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — There will likely be a 15-year minimum overlap in silos between the Sentinel and the last Minuteman III, an Air Force Global Strike Command leader said here Monday. “I think 15 years is probably an ambitious estimate,” Maj. Gen. Stacy Jo Huser, commander of the 20th Air Force in the Air Force […]

The White House this week invited employees of the federal government, including those connected with nuclear energy, weapons and cleanup, to take something akin to a buyout, by submitting a “deferred resignation.” . In a memo dubbed “fork in the road” the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said federal employees can submit deferred resignations by […]

Joel Spangenberg, a career fed who logged several years as a manager around the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, has retired from the federal government and accepted a post with the U.S. branch of a nuclear company based in the United Kingdom. “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Vice President […]

Joyce Connery, who is departing as a nuclear safety watchdog after nearly a decade, would not be shocked to see the President Donald Trump (R) administration revive then-President Joe Biden’s (D) nomination of a former Department of Energy cleanup boss to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board —only this time paired with one or more […]

The Australian defense minister on Tuesday announced another $164 million investment in domestic industry to support the supply chain for the future AUKUS nuclear-powered attack submarine. The Albanese government, the federal executive branch of Australia, specified this covers funding various initiatives focused on about 125 businesses across Australia that will help build and sustain AUKUS […]

WASHINGTON — Jill Hruby, ex-administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said last week the B61-12 gravity bombs have been “fully forward deployed,” meaning stationed by a potential conflict area to respond to threats. “The new B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed, and we have increased NATO’s visibility to our nuclear capabilities through visits […]

The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday endorsed the nomination of Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to be secretary of energy by 15-5, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Wash.) being one of the five Democrats to vote against the executive. The nominations of both Wright and former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) […]

WASHINGTON — Ahead of President Donald Trump’s (R) swearing-in, Jill Hruby, now former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, advised the Trump administration to look at the agency’s enterprise blueprint. “I want to be clear that the blueprint is not a wish list,” Hruby said last week at a tell-all at Washington think tank […]

Among the flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump signed Monday after being sworn in are measures to implement a federal hiring freeze and telling government staff to return to in-person work. “Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate […]

The Department of Energy is putting the breaks on most contract solicitations, reports and personnel moves, Acting Secretary of Energy Ingrid Kolb said this week. In a Monday memo, viewed by Exchange Monitor, Kolb said most contract procurements of $100,000 or more were to be put on hold as were most loan guarantees, hiring, promotions […]

President Donald Trump (R) on Monday ordered federal agencies to pause distribution of funds appropriated by his predecessor’s signature stimulus bills, including funds intended to jumpstart a domestic uranium refining industry. “All agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment […]

Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said Tuesday that the lab cannot rely on wind and solar power for its capabilities or to power its supercomputers. “That was part of a pretty extensive analysis on how to get more power on site,” Mason said in response to a question about the Electric Power […]

WASHINGTON — While unclear how President Donald Trump (R) will approach AUKUS, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says there are ‘positive bits of evidence’ that it will be sustained in the new administration. “The president is very focused on shipbuilding, okay?” Kaine told the Monitor at the Capitol on Wednesday. “So that’s good. And I think […]

President Donald Trump’s (R) return-to-office mandate for federal workers did not affect Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel, who already work mainly on site, the lab’s director said on a virtual town hall Tuesday. “Nobody’s making pits in their garage,” Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said on the zoom call. “Everything has to […]

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tuesday that President Donald Trump must return to the table and reach “an understanding” with Iran on its nuclear program. “There was an agreement that existed before President Trump decided that it was not the path he wanted to follow,” Grossi said, referring to […]

WASHINGTON — Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) pick for secretary of energy, said he would make it a priority to enrich uranium domestically Wednesday at his confirmation hearing. “We have lost our ability to enrich uranium in this country, to construct plutonium pits, and to do so many critical things that are key to […]