Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Amid an increasingly chaotic international security picture, the post-pandemic landscape for the National Nuclear Security Administration came into clearer focus in 2023 as the agency pressed on with plans to produce plutonium pits, reckoned with a major infrastructure project that got off the rails, started competition for a major new site management contract, and braced […]

An environmentalist lawsuit seeking to delay construction of the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility could stretch out until at least May, according to a scheduling order filed this week in the federal district court for South Carolina in Aiken. In the two year-old lawsuit, four environmental groups sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), arguing […]

Amid an increasingly chaotic international security picture, the post-pandemic landscape for the National Nuclear Security Administration came into clearer focus in 2023 as the agency pressed on with plans to produce plutonium pits, reckoned with a major infrastructure project that got off the rails, started competition for a major new site management contract, and braced […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory would be barred from expanding equipment needed to dispose of surplus plutonium until the lab certifies it can produce at least 30 nuclear weapon cores annually, under a bill passed last week. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed Thursday, would prohibit expansion of the Advanced Recovery and […]

About six months after his nomination, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Vice Adm. William Houston to be director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that develops reactors for Navy warships and submarines. Houston was nominated in May to lead Naval Reactors for an eight-year term. At the time, however, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) was blocking […]

The Los Alamos County Council in New Mexico voted unanimously last week to hire current deputy manager Anne Laurent, to become the new county manager effective March 3, 2024. The 7-0 vote during a Dec. 15 special meeting means Laurent will succeed her boss, Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne, who is retiring. During the […]

Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor will not publish on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in observance of the New Year’s holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.

The Navy’s drive to recruit submarine builders inspired one National Nuclear Security Administration official, who on Tuesday said the nuclear-weapons agency might consider its own flashy recruitment ad. “Everyone in my house was riveted to that commercial,” Frank Lowery, associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said of the We […]

Quality of construction good at Uranium Processing Facility, project-independent review says A new report gave a contractor good marks for construction quality at the Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility, which is significantly over budget and delayed.  That’s the conclusion from the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments, which in December published a report analyzing construction […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup office boss at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has been selected to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s field operations at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a DOE executive said this week. Michael Mikolanis, who has led DOE’s cleanup office at Los Alamos since July […]

The Department of Energy will hold its Clean Energy Project Information Day for the Nevada National Security Site Feb. 13 in Las Vegas, the department said this week. The session will be held at the National Atomic Testing Museum at 755 East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 13, at a time to […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to vacate a national preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, after the Justice Department argued the issue became moot when pandemic emergency measures ended this spring. The court Monday granted a petition filed by Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in July asking the high […]

NNSA signs agreement with Japan, Korea for environmental science and nuclear tech exchange The National Nuclear Security Administration, Japan and South Korea signed a trilateral agreement to collaborate on emerging nuclear technologies.  The three countries signed what they called a framework to create a memorandum of cooperation that will launch early next year to “facilitate […]

On Nov.6 the Los Alamos Fire Department responded to the highly-secure Plutonium Facility at the national laboratory for a report of a fire inside a glovebox used to manipulate radioactive material.  A lab spokesperson said the room was reopened on Nov. 16, though a report on the incident, written by Los Alamos, appeared to say […]

A federal nuclear safety watchdog wants the National Nuclear Security Administration to respond to concerns over worker safety at the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in just over a month. Three different NNSA safety assessments of the in-development plutonium facility have now found concerns with worker safety, specifically that project leaders are allowing workers to […]

President Joe Biden (D) was set to sign a fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes raises for nuclear weapons programs and flat spending for nuclear-weapons cleanup but no major changes for civilian nuclear energy policies. This week, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, both chambers of Congress approved the bill, a compromise version of separate […]

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, sitting on the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine for nearly two years, is battling to retain power for cooling to its six reactors, the International Atomic Energy Agency says.  The plant has lost external power, amidst ongoing combat, at leat eight times since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. […]

The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act contained few surprises for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, but final negotiations between the House and Senate this week did settle a few Capitol Hill disputes over more granular matters at the National Nuclear Security Administration. First, the final NDAA does not gate any travel funds […]

An Iranian-born ex-professor, fired from the University of Toledo in Ohio for allegedly allowing an Iranian citizen to access software owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration, sued the school for wrongful termination, alleging multiple counts of discrimination. Ishmael Parsai, a 69 year-old, nationalized U.S. citizen born in Iran, sued the university in November after […]

Jacobs’ government contracting and cybersecurity businesses, which are expected to merge with Virginia-based Amentum in 2024, account for more than a third of the revenue at Jacobs, according to material released following the Nov. 21 consolidation announcement. Depending on the way it’s counted, Critical Mission Solutions with the cyber and intelligence business line were responsible for between […]

Members of the House and Senate this week stripped a measure to extend compensation for victims of nuclear radiation exposure from a must-pass defense bill. The amendment to the Senate’s version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would have extended the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for 19 years and provided health care […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board should focus on providing the Department of Energy with independent safety advice and let its new incoming operations director deal with the board’s daily grind, a new federal report said. A recently-released Office of Inspector General report on management challenges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Defense Nuclear […]

Senator Tommy Tuberville’s about-face on holding up more than 400 military promotions for months because of Pentagon policies relating to reproductive care for servicemembers does not include nominees to four-star status, including the presumptive head of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program.  The Senate on Tuesday confirmed more than 400 military officials after Tuberville, a Republican […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration welcomed a baker’s dozen of non-governmental experts on arms control and nonproliferation to its Nevada facilities, including parts of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) outside Las Vegas, the agency announced this week.  The Nevada site hosts a variety of nonproliferation projects, largely focused on the ability to detect low-yield […]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) vowed to vote against the must-pass defense policy bill when it comes before the Senate unless it includes compensation for Missourians potentially exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons work dating back to the Manhattan Project. The fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is now in conference between members of […]

A trilateral partnership to give Australia nuclear powered attack submarines is “an enduring commitment,” a “generational opportunity” and a major investment in the economy, a senior state department official said in prepared remarks Monday. The AUKUS partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. is “is an opportunity for us not only to strengthen […]