Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Lockheed Martin wants to build solid rocket motors to compete with the military’s two current main suppliers,  Northrop Grumman’s Orbital ATK and L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne. “We are endeavoring as a defense company to create another supplier,” James Taiclet, the president of Lockheed Martin, testified at a Sept. 20 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s […]

The Air Force expects to certify the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to carry nuclear weapons in January, once sufficient numbers of pilots and ground crew are trained to carry out the mission. But it may not have the jets, equipped with the proper avionics and mission systems, needed to perform the nuclear mission until several […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security moved a meeting for potential bidders on a construction contract for the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, to a nearby college from the nuclear-weapons maintenance site, the contractor wrote in an online notice. “[D]ue to the number of requests we have moved the venue off site to prevent issues with badging,” the […]

The Defense Department extended an existing contract with X-energy Reactor Company under the military’s Project Pele initiative to develop a transportable, cost-effective advanced nuclear microreactor prototype for use in remote military locations.  X-energy expects to advance the design of its prototype – which could ultimately be used for commercial or industrial use in civilian applications […]

Jacobs Solutions, Huntington Ingalls, BWX Technologies and others are among those seeking the National Nuclear Security Administration’s decade-spanning, $30-billion contract to manage the agency’s nuclear-weapons service center in Texas. Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are currently managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) by Consolidated Nuclear Security, a […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement arm has told two contractors it will investigate a fatal tree clearing accident in August near the Central Training Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a pair of Sept. 8 letters, the Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments informed East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors and […]

The annual must-pass defense policy bill that sets spending limits for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs is headed for its final debate in Congress after the House on Tuesday voted for a conference with the Senate. At a high level, the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate this year crafted wildly different versions of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration fixed some inconsistencies with the process it uses to keep track of changes to the way the agency surveys the nuclear-weapon stockpile, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a report published recently and dated Aug. 31. The Inspector General studied the agency’s Universal Change Control process for about […]

ARLINGTON, VA —Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) Tuesday prodded hundreds of people here for the National Cleanup Workshop to urge their congressional representatives to avoid a federal government shutdown but stopped short of predicting a stopgap agreement before fiscal 2023 ends Sept. 30. “Reach out to your member of congress,” said Fleischmann, who chairs the House […]

Two decades after planning began, the fire department for the Y-12 National Security Complex has moved into its brand-new station, site officials said in a recent statement. Construction began in the spring of 2021 after 20 years of discussion and planning, according to a post on the site’s blog. When visiting the new Y-12 Fire […]

The U.S.-Japan Nuclear Security Working Group convened for its 12th meeting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee earlier this month for a wide-ranging discussion on nuclear non-proliferation issues. Corey Hinderstein, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, and Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, deputy director general of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign […]

The U.S. and Philippine governments are in the home stretch of signing a 123 agreement to boost cooperation on both civil energy projects and nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Quoting Philippine Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the Manila Bulletin — that nation’s largest English language newspaper — said the two countries are on the brink of signing the […]

ARLINGTON, VA —Planned plutonium pit production for nuclear defense purposes at two Department of Energy sites depends on the ability to dispose of resulting transuranic waste, a National Nuclear Security Administration executive said here Wednesday. “A single bad waste drum is likely to have a bigger impact on our mission” than any bad pit, James […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

Teams vying to take over the Pantex Plant from its Bechtel-led incumbent will get another two weeks to turn in their final bids, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday. The agency extended the deadline for bids on the potentially 20-year contract by two weeks to Sept. 28, according to a procurement notice posted online. The […]

In what would be a major milestone for a technology eyed as a possible cornerstone for nuclear-weapon sustainment in the latter half of this century, Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., said this week it will begin enriching energy-dense uranium fuel in October. Centrus is in the prove-it phase of a Department of Energy contract, awarded […]

With less than a month left until fiscal year 2024 begins, the White House has asked Congress for a short-term continuing resolution to freeze federal budgets at 2023 levels. Media reported last week that leaders in the House and Senate have remained open to the requested stopgap bill. Fiscal year 2024 begins Oct. 1.  The […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Boston Government Services, has hired Doug Freund in the newly-created post of chief operating officer, the Department of Energy contractor said this week. Freund was most recently senior vice president for Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, where he was responsible for markets and strategy, Boston Government Services said in a press release. In addition, […]

Current and former nuclear weapons workers in the Greater Denver area are invited by the Department of Labor to show up at a Sept. 12 information session on federal occupational illness benefits. Labor Department representatives will be on hand at the Arvada, Colo., session to help attendees with filing new claims or assisting with existing […]

Bill Richardson, a secretary of energy during the Bill Clinton administration who at various points of his career was a Democratic congressman and New Mexico governor, and became something of a specialist in international hostage negotiation, died Sept. 1 at age 75, according to major media accounts. Richardson was first elected to Congress in 1982 and represented New Mexico’s […]

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command and the U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Launch Delta Guardians launched an unarmed Boeing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with three test re-entry vehicles on Sept. 6 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. “The ICBM’s reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands,” […]

President Joe Biden recently nominated the reliably anti-nuclear appropriator Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) as one of this year’s U.S. representatives to the United Nations from Congress. If confirmed by the Senate, Lee would represent the U.S. during the 78th U.N. General Assembly, which opened Sept. 5. High-level meetings among world leaders are scheduled for Sept. […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security said Tuesday it is looking for construction contractors to split a multiple award task order contract at the Pantex Plant in Texas that could be worth up to $600 million over 10 years. The contract includes a five-year base period worth $300 million and five one-year options worth $60 million each, according […]

Sen. Roger Wicker, (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers, (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, on Friday sent a letter to Strategic Command (STRATCOM), “demanding a full accounting of why an Iranian propagandist and former regime official participated as a keynote speaker in a STRATCOM-sponsored event.” […]

Nuclear reactor maker BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., this week pulled in a potentially $100-plus million contract to process unusable, government-owned material into uranium reactor fuel.  The new contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration, with $47 million of guaranteed money and worth $116.5 million with options, will allow the company, which builds nuclear propulsion systems […]

The three members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recently visited the Savannah River National Security Site to examine personnel safety controls for a planned facility expected to churn out at least 50 nuclear warhead cores annually next decade. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) “has been reviewing the design of the Savannah […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration mismanaged development of two machines used to measure the explosive power of nuclear weapons, leading to program delays and cost overruns, the Government Accountability Office found in a recent report.  To continue its long-running program to test the effectiveness of nuclear weapons without actually detonating one, the NNSA established the […]