Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told the Exchange Monitor it ‘feels like we’re close’ to finalizing an extension for a management and operations contract at Lawrence Livermore. “We’re working on an extension on that,” Hruby said, referring to Lawrence Livermore National Security, the California nuclear weapons lab’s Bechtel […]

The federal government and environmental groups have until Dec. 12 to figure out how to review the environmental effects of plutonium pit production without stopping development of a pit factory in South Carolina, a judge said Friday. It was more than a month ago that Judge Mary Lewis ruled, in a lawsuit filed in 2021 […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority began a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage Nov. 1 at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1, the quasi-government corporation announced last week. A Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) spokesperson told the Monitor in an email that tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) are “loaded during a refueling outage, irradiated during one cycle, […]

A nuclear cleanup contract awarded this week to an Atkins-led team could be modified later to include production of depleted uranium tetrafluoride for the National Nuclear Security Administration. As expected, the Portsmouth / Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Operations and Site Mission Support contract, awarded Nov. 8 to Mission Conversion Services Alliance by the Department of […]

Centrus Energy Corp. will get until late June to deliver 900 kilograms of energy-dense uranium to the Department of Energy, the company said last week in a regulatory filing. Centrus, Bethesda, Md., disclosed the extension, but not its terms, in a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The extension was foreshadowed in February […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the U.S. producing more modernized nuclear weapons annually than it has since the end of the Cold War, the government should not “over respond” to rising nuclear threats abroad, the head of National Nuclear Security Administration said here Wednesday. Although she is “very worried about global conditions,” Jill Hruby, administrator of […]

In the wake of Donald Trump securing his second term as president, the GOP on election day also regained majority in the Senate with new leaders set to take over the upper chamber’s defense authorization and spending panels in the next Congress. While much remains to be finalized with key committee posts in the coming […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the company attributed on Monday to contract wins and higher production in naval nuclear components and microreactors. Net earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $69.6 million, or $0.76 a share, up 15% from $60.4 million, or $0.66 a share, in […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory looked at ‘every possible alternative’ for building a powerline through Caja del Rio Plateau, the lab’s top federal manager wrote in a local newspaper over the weekend. “After years of study, debate and consultation that included the brightest minds at one of the world’s premier science and engineering laboratories, we […]

The U.S. Space Force tested the intercontinental ballistic missile’s ability to strike targets with multiple warheads in a Minuteman III launch Tuesday at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. According to a press release by the Space Force base, an airborne command post controlled the  intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test. “These tests are demonstrative of what […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dennis Carr, chief operating officer at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, told the Monitor here last week that the team’s parent company Fluor would compete for a follow-on management contract at Savannah River. In late September, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) published a special notice with a draft request for proposal (RFP) […]

According to data gathered by the Associated Press and other media, Donald Trump was reelected president with 277 electoral votes and almost every incumbent lawmaker with a big defense-nuclear constituency won reelection. While Trump and these lawmakers will return to Washington come January, U.S. voters also helped Republicans take back the majority in the Senate […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ strong momentum in 2024 came to a halt in the third quarter due to challenges in shipbuilding and notably delays in an award from the Navy for submarine work. Net income in the quarter slid 32% to $101 million, or $2.56 earnings a share from $148 million or $3.70 a share a […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries Wednesday named Kari Wilkinson, currently president of the company’s Ingalls Shipbuilding segments, as the incoming president of its nuclear shipbuilding operations in Virginia effective Jan. 1, 2025. The Newport News segment is HII’s largest, generating $6.1 billion in sales in 2023. Newport News has more than 26,000 shipbuilders. The business builds and […]

Jason Kemp will take over as resident inspector at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board announced Monday. According to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) press release, Kemp’s duties as resident inspector would include advising on safety conditions for the defense nuclear facilities at Los Alamos, […]

The U.S. and the Republic of Korea reached a memorandum of understanding on principles concerning nuclear exports and cooperation on Friday Nov. 1, DOE said Monday. According to an agency press release, the countries as of Monday had yet to complete their final review of the memorandum of understanding (MOU).  According to DOE’s release, the […]

BWX Technologies, a naval-nuclear reactor company that contracts for the National Nuclear Security Administration, announced Thursday that it promoted Robb LeMasters to chief financial officer and executive vice president. “Robb has played a key role in transforming the corporation by supporting organizational development and continuous improvement,” Rex Geveden, chief executive officer, said in a company […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Consolidated Nuclear Security submitted a new rebaseline for the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the facility’s project manager said here. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages. “There is a new rebaseline that’s been […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s in-house legal advisors this month recommended tweaking the agency’s mission statement to clarify that regulation does not unnecessarily limit beneficial civilian use of nuclear energy. Separately, NRC’s Office of the Executive Director, helmed by the agency’s top civil servant, recommended a slightly different change to the mission statement. NRC’s Office of […]

To avoid delaying construction of a plutonium pit factory in South Carolina and still comply with a judicial order in an antinuclear coalition’s lawsuit, the federal government could cancel a companion pit plant in New Mexico, an antinuclear activist said Wednesday. In September, the National Nuclear Security Administration lost a lawsuit against a group of […]

PanTeXas Deterrence was to take over management for the Pantex Plant on Friday, Nov. 1, completing the transition from Consolidated Nuclear Security as the prime contractor for the lab in Amarillo, Texas. Colby Yeary, the site manager for CNS at the Pantex Plant, confirmed that the transition would be complete this week when he spoke […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) told the Monitor here Tuesday that “regardless” of what happens election night Congress needs to get the budget done by Dec. 20. “It’s my hope that we can conference our appropriations bills with the Senate and get a budget passed by Dec. 20,” Fleischmann told the Monitor. “I […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Orano-USA has started the property transfer and licensing process for its planned uranium enrichment plant at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site, the site’s top federal cleanup official said here Wednesday. Orano-USA announced in September that Oak Ridge was its “preferred site” for its uranium enrichment plant that it would build […]

Vehicle mishaps at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory complex continue to worry the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, according to a staff report dated Oct.4 and posted on the board’s website. There were four onsite wrecks during September, including one involving an overturned dump truck, although no one was injured, according to the […]

Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., had a net loss in the third quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed in part to costs associated with a Department of Energy uranium contract. Centrus lost about $5 million, or $0.30 a share, in the third quarter, compared with earnings of about $8.2 million or […]

The Department of Energy is on track to start operation of a major new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico in 2026, managers for DOE and the disposal site contractor said last week. Construction and integrated system testing is complete for the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) at […]

Dan Brouillette, who served as secretary of energy under President Donald Trump, announced Monday he intends to leave as president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, the advocacy group for investor-owned utilities in the United States. Brouillette, who was chosen to lead the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) a little more than a year ago, […]

Over the weekend, Israel attacked two Iranian military bases, one of which the International Atomic Energy Agency suspected is linked to Tehran’s nuclear program, media reported. Iran’s Parchin military base southeast of the capital in Tehran was used to test high explosives for use in nuclear weapons, the Washington-based nonprofit Institute for Science and International […]