Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Companies that want to run the Department of Energy’s National Training Center will wait until November to hear the Government Accountability Office’s decision about a summer protest by the incumbent, which has now gotten another extension at the Albuquerque, N.M. site. In 2023, three small businesses protested the DOE’s 2022 award to Eagle Harbor to […]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would increase the country’s nuclear arsenal to prepare for potential combat with the U.S. and its allies, state media said Tuesday. In a speech Monday, marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Jong Un said the […]

A member of the House subcommittee on strategic forces said Friday that the U.S. and allies must invest in its nuclear arms and missile defense to keep up with adversaries. “Every nuclear state run by an authoritarian regime is heavily increasing its weapons and capabilities,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said in the opening sentence to […]

Charles McMillan, 69, the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, died Friday morning, Sept. 6, in a car crash in New Mexico, people familiar with the situation told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The Los Alamos National Laboratory acknowledged McMillan’s passing Friday in a statement posted to the social media sites LinkedIn and Facebook. […]

David O’Flynn said this week he planned to retire Sept. 8 as the executive director of Strategic Management Solutions, better known as SMSI: an Albuquerque, N.M.-based small business fixture at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon sites across the country.  O’Flynn had been the executive director since April, when SMSI was acquired by Berhard Capital Partners, a […]

Australia said on Monday it planned to hire another 200 workers to be trained to help sustain American and British nuclear-powered submarines on a Western Australia naval base. This recruitment and upskilling program is part of the new government-funded Jobs for Subs program and plans to hire 200 entry-level workers over two years for the […]

Orano-USA on Wednesday said the company could build a uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., using some state funding and Department of Energy land. The planned, “multi-billion dollar” 750,000 square-foot facility will employ about 300 people in Roane County, Tenn., according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. […]

Gary Camper was appointed president of Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies subsidiary Nuclear Operations Group, the company said in a press release Tuesday. Nuclear Operations Group’s mission is to manufacture nuclear reactor parts and fuel for naval submarines and aircraft carriers, which is BWX Technologies’ (BWXT) main business segment, the press release said. According to BWXT’s […]

Patricia Lee, former manager of Savannah River National Laboratory, was sworn in Wednesday as the newest member of the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the agency said. The Senate confirmed Lee July 9 in a 54-41 vote, mostly on party lines. Her term runs through Oct. 18, 2027. Lee has over 30 years of […]

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency traveled Wednesday to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine to assess developments and “precarious” safety conditions, the U.N. agency said in a statement. “The IAEA acts promptly and decisively whenever and wherever there are threats to nuclear safety and security,” Rafael Grossi, director general of […]

The American Nuclear Society is “unconvinced” that high-assay low-enriched uranium could lead to a surge in weapons proliferation, the group said in an open letter to Science Magazine. “The implied recommendation that the United States should unilaterally decide international nuclear security policy by domestically lowering the enrichment threshold for commercial uranium fuel is particularly problematic,” […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Northrop Grumman-led Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program likely will get an updated cost and scheduled estimate in 1.5 to two years, an Air Force civilian official said at an industry conference here this week. The service announced in January that Sentinel had shattered projections put together in 2020 for the program’s […]

The House and Senate essentially agree on fiscal 2025 spending levels for the National Nuclear Security Administration, but election-year politics may lead to a shutdown instead, media reported this week. House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) is considering a six-month continuing resolution to freeze federal spending at 2024 levels through March, media including Politico and […]

State media quoted a Russian foreign minister saying Russia would make changes to its nuclear weapons doctrine in response to Western escalation in Ukraine, Reuters said. “The work is at an advanced stage, and there is a clear intent to make corrections,” state news agency TASS quoted deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov saying Sunday. The […]

A Chinese defense spokesperson said the U.S. should “substantially” reduce its nuclear arsenal and hold off on extending nuclear deterrence, state media said last week. “China pursues a self-defense strategy and maintains its nuclear force at the minimum level required for national security,”Wu Qian, Chinese ministry national defense spokesperson, said, according to Chinese state news […]

WASHINGTON — Following the passage of the Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act in July and the increased interest in nuclear energy, industry advocates say an export process led by the State Department with help from the Department of Energy needs to improve. The Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, which President Joe Biden […]

President Joe Biden approved an unprecedented nuclear strategy in March that would alter the country’s deterrent with aims to focus on China’s expanding nuclear arsenal, the New York Times said. The document, named “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” is currently classified, though the Times said it might be unclassified before the end of the Biden administration. According […]

During a time of much political division in the United States, Democrats and Republicans both support nuclear energy, but lack concensus on nuclear weapons, according to their 2024 party platforms. Now that the Democrats and GOP have concluded their respective national conventions in Chicago and Milwaukee, Exchange Monitor scanned their policy platforms with an eye […]

On Aug. 12, the U.S. Air Force told the Government Accountability Office that the service is canceling the potentially $12 billion Integrated Support Contract 2.0 for the Minuteman III and future nuclear-tipped, silo-based Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles. The service may re-examine intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) support requirements for a future contract. The Integrated Support Contract […]

A weekend wildland fire that threatened thousands of acres at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site is 100% contained, site management said in a social media post Sunday. Fire and rescue teams for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) “have achieved 100% containment of the Ribbon Fire,” according to a Sunday post on […]

In another step in the trilateral AUKUS agreement, the USS Hawaii attack submarine arrived in Australia on Aug. 22 following submarine tender USS Emory S. Land to conduct maintenance work with Australian participants. The Emory S. Land is expected to start several executive maintenance activities in a submarine tendered maintenance period (STMP) aboard the nuclear-powered […]

Iran’s supreme leader told the country’s government Tuesday he was open to nuclear talks with the U.S., but that Iran should not “trust the enemy,” media reported. “Don’t place your hopes in the enemy,” Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a post on the website X, reiterating what he said in a speech […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced Monday it awarded a BWX Technologies subsidiary a contract to evaluate options for a pilot plant for domestically enriched uranium. Nuclear Fuel Services, the BWX Technologies (BWXT) subsidiary that manufactures fuel material for naval nuclear reactors in Erwin, Tenn., would complete the yearlong engineering study as part of the […]

The Russian federation informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that drone remains were found near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, the agency said in a press release. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the situation is “serious” when he visited the site this week. The IAEA said it was […]

While the U.S. Air Force says it is restructuring the Sentinel next generation nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile program, Senate appropriators are recommending adding $200 million in funds in fiscal 2025. The Senate Appropriations Committee would bump the $3.7 billion Air Force request for the Northrop Grumman Sentinel to $3.9 billion. The added $200 million would […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee would give the requested $800 million to the Uranium Processing facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for 2025, $40 million less than House appropriators recommended. The budget for the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), part of the 2025 energy and water development and related agencies appropriations bill the Senate committee passed Thursday, would […]

Husband-and-wife plaintiffs filed written arguments with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently again claiming the Department of Energy contractor running the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee discriminated against them for their religious-based refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The July 24 filing by Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu in litigation against […]