Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Earnings more than doubled year-over-year at Centrus, Bethesda, Md., in the second quarter, during which the company’s flagship uranium brokerage business almost tripled, according to a press release.  The company’s quarterly earnings call was scheduled for Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Centrus often has what it sometimes calls lumpy quarters, where uranium fuel orders […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, which the company on Monday attributed partly to organic growth in government operations as it prepared to begin work on a new nuclear weapons contract. In June, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded PanTeXas Deterrence, a BWX Technologies (BWXT)-led joint venture, a contract […]

Privately-held Amentum, which has made big acquisitions of late, recorded a net loss in two of the past three fiscal years, according to a financial filing prior to next month’s planned merger with the government contracting branch of Dallas-based Jacobs. That is according to a July 15 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by […]

Publicly-traded companies involved with Department of Energy nuclear programs were not exempt from Monday’s stock market nosedive, although most rallied by the close of trading Thursday. Companies that are big players in both the DOE Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Nuclear Energy posted per-share declines on Monday, […]

Earnings fell at Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, in its third quarter, as the international engineering and construction company refocuses on high-growth areas as it prepares to spin off its government contracting business that will merge with Amentum. Jacobs announced its quarterly financial results in a Tuesday press release. The company made a new Securities and Exchange […]

Here is a look at how far five Department of Energy nuclear-weapon sites have come in the year since the agency announced a drive to repurpose underutilized land for clean energy generation. DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy Project launched in July 2023. It was DOE’s way of meeting President Biden’s (D) Executive Order calling on […]

Officials from the United States and Singapore signed a 30-year peaceful civil nuclear technology deal, or 1-2-3 agreement, on Wednesday as part of the U.S. secretary of state’s six-country Asia tour. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan were present for the signing. Officials from both countries, in a joint […]

Availability of water at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, which is continually decreasing, is “important for nuclear security,” according to the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “The dwindling water levels in the cooling pond remains a potential source of concern, and we will continue to closely monitor and observe the situation at the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration must address safety concerns involving the seismic safety controls at the lab that does subcritical experiments to account earthquake- and other related-risks, according to a safety report. According to a review posted online, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) evaluated the safety designs at the Principal Underground Laboratory for […]

WASHINGTON — Modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons and delivery systems is moving too slowly and the Pentagon has heard about it, Nebraska’s senior U.S. senator said here Tuesday at a think tank. “When we’re in classified briefings and I hear from the military and the department, they give me dates on when things are going […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking for sea transport of nuclear materials from east Asia, according to a solicitation posted Friday on a government contracting database. Offers are due August 16, and work would be done within two years of the solicitation, according to an unclassified statement of work appended to the solicitation.   […]

Teresa Robbins from Y-12 was appointed assistant principal deputy administrator of operations at National Nuclear Security Administration headquarters, according to an email seen by the Exchange Monitor. The newly created headquarters job, NA-4 for short, siphons off some of the responsibilities previously given to the agency’s top-ranking civil servant, the associate principal deputy administrator, or […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday posted what it called strong second quarter results driven by gains at its Mission Technologies segment with help from shipbuilding operations. Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) net income in the second quarter rose 33% to $173 million, or $4.38 a share, from $130 million, or $3.27 a share, a year ago, […]

Earnings rose at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, which the global engineering company with a big footprint in the Department of Energy, attributed to long-term government and commercial contracts, according to a Friday press release. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $169 million, or $0.97 a share, up from […]

Plans to relocate the Nevada National Security Site’s Las Vegas-area campus are on hold for lack of funds, a National Nuclear Security Administration spokesperson told the Monitor Thursday. “The move from the North Las Vegas Facility to a new location was evaluated…because it was identified as a project that could potentially occur in the next […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration would get more than its requested budget for 2025 but fewer funds for nuclear weapons, under a bill Senate appropriators passed unanimously on Thursday. But with a companion spending bill stalled on the House floor and the Senate headed out of town until after Labor Day, a compromise […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration released a report last week that said the U.S. nuclear stockpile had 3,748 warheads as of September 2023. Information on the nuclear weapons stockpile was last released and updated in October 2021, when the stockpile had 3,713 warheads. The number of nuclear warheads is down 88% from its peak in […]

On Tuesday, more than two-dozen advocacy groups with an anti-nuclear bent called on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund a federal nuclear watchdog agency at the $47.2 million level sought by President Joe Biden for fiscal 2025 and the panel came close.  Senate appropriators took up their version of the legislation Thursday and  called for […]