Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Staffing at the Kansas City National Security Campus can’t match its current workload and may not meet the demands of the next series of nuclear weapons life extensions, according to a recent report.  The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Kansas City site, managed for the agency by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, makes the non-nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration started its oral interviews with four joint ventures vying for a contract to operate the Pantex plant in Texas, a source said Monday. A second source familiar with the ongoing search for a Pantex maintenance and operations contractor for the U.S. nuclear weapons clearing house confirmed to Exchange Monitor that […]

The Department of Energy’s 2023 budget was extended through Jan. 19 by another short-term spending bill, which Congress passed this week before leaving Washington for their Thanksgiving recess. President Joe Biden (D) signed the House-authored bill on Thursday, the same day the Senate passed it 87-11. The House passed the bill Tuesday 336-95. This is […]

Lawmakers who created an independent commission to study U.S. nuclear modernization efforts without estimating the cost, now want to see what replacing all three legs of the triad and rehabbing the National Nuclear Security Administration will cost.  During a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, several representatives — all Democrats — dinged […]

Staffing at the Kansas City National Security Campus can’t match its current workload and may not meet the demands of the next series of nuclear weapons life extensions, according to a recent report.  The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Kansas City site, managed for the agency by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, makes the non-nuclear […]

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a centrist who often rankled his party by refusing to go along with President Joe Biden’s (D) signature stimulus legislation, announced Thursday he would not seek a third full term in the U.S. Senate.  A former West Virginia governor, Manchin was elected to the Senate in 2010 in a special election. […]

A new team of International Atomic Energy Agency personnel crossed the frontlines in Ukraine this week to perform nuclear safety and security missions at the besieged Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. It is the thirteenth such mission since the IAEA last year established a permanent presence at the site to help prevent a nuclear accident during […]

The federal agency that provides outside safety advice to the Department of Energy still struggles with a “sustainable organizational culture and climate,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Inspector General said last week. Organizational culture leads the list of the most serious challenges facing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in fiscal 2024, the […]

Earnings were up year-over-year for Centrus Energy in the third quarter of 2023, when the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer was working on its first batch of high-assay low-enriched uranium for the U.S. government.  The Bethesda, Md., company reported total revenue of $51.3 million and $33.2 million for the three months ended September 30, […]

The Navy’s top submarine officer this week said the tripartite AUKUS agreement’s optimal pathway would have the U.S. sell at least three attack submarines to Australia in the 2030s. Following his remarks at the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium on Nov. 7, Commander of Submarine Forces Vice Adm. Bill Houston told reporters the current plan […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said it made its first delivery of high-assay low-enriched uranium to the U.S. Department of Energy, fulfilling its initial obligation under a contract to make the material for a new generation of  nuclear reactors.  The company made it under the wire of the first phase of its current contract, which covered a […]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday decried Russia’s withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Moscow’s revocation of its ratification of the treaty “represents a significant step in the wrong direction, taking us further from, not closer to, entry into force,” Blinken said in a statement.  President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a […]

A Fluor team has submitted a bid package to operate the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas, Chief Executive David Constable said Nov. 3.  The opportunity, available now that NNSA is splitting the maintenance and operations contracts for Pantex and Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is valued at up to $30 billion over […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Radiological Security and Jordan’s Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission have eliminated the Middle Eastern nation’s reliance on radioactive materials for human blood research and testing.  With the NNSA’s help, Jordan has now replaced all high-activity cesium-137 irradiators with X-ray technology, the agency said in an Oct. 30 statement. […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, currently lacking a quorum, said Wednesday it has filled one of three big staff vacancies by hiring a U.S. Export Import Bank manager as its new executive director of operations. Mary Jean Buhler, chief financial officer at the Export Import Bank, will become the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board […]

The U.S. military will develop a new, higher-yield variant of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb designed for delivery by modern aircraft, the Pentagon announced on Oct. 27. Designated the B61-13, the new bomb will be suited for use against hardened and large-area military targets, the Defense Department said in a statement. Congressional approval and funding […]

The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah has awarded Lockheed Martin a $996 million, 16-year contract for the Mark 21A reentry vehicle, which will carry nuclear weapons on the planned LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. The contract “provides for conducting engineering, manufacturing, and design to provide a low technical […]

The NNSA’s preferred option for continuing operations at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory involves building more than three million square feet of new facilities at various sites in California through 2035.  Two options for future operations at the lab, and their potential environmental impacts, are laid out in a new site-wide environmental impact statement covering the […]

The wife and accomplice of a former Navy employee who attempted to sell nuclear submarine secrets to a foreign nation is stuck with a 22-year prison sentence after a federal appeals court said she is bound by the agreement she made with prosecutors.  Diana Toebbe’s trial court, the U.S. District Court for Northern West Virginia, […]

Earnings rose at BWXT Technologies,  Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the naval reactor manufacturer attributed mostly to its commercial business, offset by staffing up its government business in preparation for future work and an increase in corporate expenses.  BWX Technologies Chief Executive Rex Gevenden said the company’s quarterly performance was “slightly ahead of […]

Design of a glovebox facility for the planned Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in South Carolina is 90% complete and should be done by next spring, an official with the site landlord contractor said this week. “Glovebox design is going to be at 90 percent around spring of next year, and that’s just all of […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee in a voice vote Thursday advanced the White House’s nomination of Patricia Lee to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a panel designed for five people that’s currently down to two.  The nomination of Lee, a manager at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory […]

Navy officials on Wednesday told a House panel that several legislative proposals are needed to prevent delays in the tripartite AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between the U.S., U.K. and Australia.  In a joint statement, Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven, Commander of Naval Submarine Forces Vice Adm. William Houston, and Program Executive Officer for […]

Another nuclear power plant in Ukraine is now at risk because of nearby combat, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Explosions blew out window glass and shook the foundations of the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) in western Ukraine overnight on Oct. 24, shattering windows at the site and temporarily cutting power to some off-site […]

BWX Technologies on Tuesday took home another $300 million contract from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to manufacture nuclear reactor fuel for the Navy’s nuclear-powers submarines and aircraft carriers.  Under the new deal, BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin, Tenn., will manufacture and deliver fuel for the Naval Reactors Program, which supplies propulsion […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the small agency created to provide independent safety advice to the Department of Energy, no longer has a quorum following retirement of longtime member Jessie Hill Roberson, Congress was officially told last week. Federal standards allow Chair Joyce Connery, with an assist from Vice Chair Thomas Summers, to keep […]

The race to build 80 nuclear weapon cores per year is stretching the U.S. supply of gloveboxes used to keep engineers radiation-free while manipulating plutonium and other hazardous materials.  The equipment is becoming difficult to source, Michael Robinson, vice president of project management for Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) earlier this month said at the Energy […]