Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who collapsed at an event in Washington last week, got a pacemaker and can return to his duties on Capitol Hill, he said Monday in a video message. “With the pacemaker implant, issues have been now resolved for my public service,” Wilson said in a recorded video statement posted Monday to YouTube. In […]

The U.S. made “huge strides” reinvigorating its civil nuclear industry, the deputy energy secretary said Monday at the International Atomic Energy Agency general conference. “The U.S. civil nuclear industry is providing products and services to partner with countries to achieve their civil nuclear goals, while incorporating effective and efficient nuclear security, safety, and safeguards early […]

WASHINGTON — After lurching back to the House floor Wednesday, the House speaker’s six-month continuing resolution again failed to rally enough support to pass the chamber. The bill went down 202-220, with 14 Republican holdouts, two Republicans voting present and three Democratic supporters. It was mostly clean for the Department of Energy, aside from an […]

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — The head of the U.S. Strategic Command on Wednesday told a roomful of military personnel to produce the nuclear weapons needed to counter pressure from Russia and China. “We now have two nuclear peers,” Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of United States Strategic Command, said in a panel on “the […]

The six-month continuing resolution voted down Wednesday in the House would have delayed completition of nuclear-powered submarines, among other things, the Secretary of the Navy wrote this week in a letter to congressional appropriators. In the letter, dated Sept. 12 and publicly released Monday, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro reiterated some points made […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is giving its 2024 John S. Foster, Jr. Medal to Franklin Miller, lab Director Kim Budil announced Monday in a press release. Miller’s career in the U.S. government spans over 31 years. He has served in roles such as the special assistant to President George W. Bush and senior director […]

Congressman Joe Wilson, 77, whose district abuts the Savannah River Site, was hospitalized in Washington Tuesday night after taking ill, according to his office’s post on website X. Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) son, South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson, said on the website X that the congressman was experiencing “stroke-like symptoms,” according to doctors at […]

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency told the agency’s board of governors that ensuring nuclear safety in Ukraine and Russia was “extremely challenging,” an agency press release said Monday. Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi traveled to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine Sept. 4 to […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security seeks information from entities interested in delivering a vacuum arc remelt furnace to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a Thursday notice said. According to the notice, responses by interested parties are due by Sept. 30. Site prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) would use the […]

WASHINGTON — House speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday in Washington that he was pulling his stopgap six-month GOP spending bill that would extend federal agencies’ 2024 budgets from its scheduled House floor vote. The bill was mostly clean for the Department of Energy aside from an anomaly that grants the agency permission “to sustain […]

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 […]