Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, said during a recent industry gathering. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations for the […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory appeared more or less on track to recategorize one part of its planned plutonium complex as a hazard category three facility, allowing for increased storage of the fissile material there, according to a recent report by the government’s independent nuclear watchdog. In February, Los Alamos prime Triad National Security wrapped up […]

Christopher Davis will be Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s next chief of staff, Granholm wrote Friday in an all-hands email. Davis, according to his LinkedIn profile, has been a senior advisor to Granholm since right around Inauguration Day, prior to which he held various roles at DOE dating back to 2011. Before that, he spent […]

A congressionally chartered commission about U.S. strategic posture is stacked with nuclear-savvy appointees, including the woman who led the National Nuclear Security Administration during most of the Donald Trump administration. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under Trump, will get her direct line to Congress back as one of Sen. Jim […]

Five elected representatives from the Aiken, S.C., area said this week they planned to carry on a fight in the state legislature for a bigger share of federal settlement money related to weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site. With Rep. Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken County) acting as spokesman Monday, the state house members from the […]

A new submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead will be ready for production by 2036, and the National Nuclear Security Administration still hasn’t missed deliveries to the military because of COVID, according to the agency’s latest annual unclassified progress report. Notionally, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will produce the final proof-of-concept model, or first production unit, […]

After idling for half the 2022 fiscal year at last year’s budget level, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get some $26.65 billion to see it through Sept. 30, under an omnibus spending package that at deadline Friday awaited only President Joe Biden’s signature. That’s a 4.5% raise year-over-year that’s 3% more than requested for […]

The U.N.’s nuclear panel is investigating reports that power has been restored at Ukraine’s former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, days after a blackout that raised concerns about the safety of the site’s spent fuel stores. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement Thursday that it was “looking for confirmation” that the lights […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was recently searching for a new director for its office of enterprise project management, according to a want-ad posted on the federal government’s official recruiting website. According to the listing, the agency conducted interviews only for a month, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22. The current occupant of the office — […]

MOX Services, the contractor that was building the canceled plutonium facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, settled allegations of fraud with the government to the tune of $10 million, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The contractor paid to end the nearly three year-old litigation over federal claims that it submitted “false […]

There is not enough money in the world for the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend its way to making 80 plutonium pits a year by 2030, the general who commands U.S. nuclear forces told Congress Tuesday morning. “[W]e now know that we will not get 80 pits per year by 2030 as is statutorily […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, chief engineer […]

Uranium broker and enrichment technology developer Centrus, Bethesda, Md., posted a profitable 2021, easily besting year-ago figures with a net income of  $175 million, or $9.75 a share, on revenue of about $300 million, the company reported Thursday. That compared with a net income of almost $54.5 million, or 57 cents a share, in 2020. […]

A battle Friday morning between Russian and Ukrainian forces at one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants does not seem to have threatened any of the site’s reactors, a UN group said. Although fighting at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine resulted in a fire at a training building nearby a reactor building, […]

The Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration are window shopping at this stage for a ground-mounted solar-electric system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) posted a request for information Thursday on the SAM.gov federal procurement website for help “in determining the optimal […]

After being offline for nearly two years due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and plant upgrades, the Department of Energy says conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride to a more stable form is resuming at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Likewise, depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion into uranium oxide at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio should […]

By Dan Parsons Around 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration expects to take delivery of a pair of new AW139 helicopters, joining the Air Force in swapping a rotary fleet of Bell birds for Leonardo aircraft. The two Leonardo helicopters for the civilian agency’s aerial measuring system (AMS) fleet will carry the same distinctive livery […]

Despite the Russian president’s declaration of a nuclear alert following that country’s invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine, U.S. nuclear posture had not changed as of Tuesday, the head of the U.S. Strategic Command told lawmakers in an open hearing. “My command, as always, is ready to execute our strategic deterrence mission,” Adm. Charles Richard, commander […]

One of the Tennessee Valley Authority reactors that produces tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons on Tuesday switched off for the scheduled replacement of all four of its steam generators, the federally owned corporation said this week. Besides replacing the steam generators at Watts Bar Unit 2, workers will “load 88 new nuclear fuel assemblies, perform […]

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day, the Democratic controlled House and its Armed Services Committee are certain to authorize an increase in the defense budget for fiscal year 2023, the committee’s leader said Thursday. “It’s gonna go up,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Armed Services chair, said in a […]

The alleged conflicts of interest that prompted the National Nuclear Security Administration to cancel the award of a decade-long, $28-billion nuclear-weapon-sites management contract to a Fluor-led team center on current and former officials in the agency’s Information Management office — one of whom landed a job with the winning team months before the government finalized […]

The White House said Friday President Joe Biden intends to nominate Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, passing over J. Michelle Childs, who has presided over a number of cases involving Department of Energy nuclear-weapon programs. Biden was expected to formally introduce the 51-year-old Brown, currently serving on the […]

Total confirmed, active cases of COVID-19 across the National Nuclear Security Administration’s labs, plans and sites fell by more than 70% in February, according to the latest count shared by agency headquarters in Washington. There were 489 confirmed active cases, a spokesperson at headquarters wrote in an email on Thursday. That’s the lowest level since […]

Net income from continuing operations at Fluor, Irving, Texas, fell for both the fourth quarter and 2021 as a whole, which the international company and Department of Energy contractor attributed mostly to a massive, pre-tax charge related to a Dutch pension plan, according to earnings published this week. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, […]

Both quarterly and annual net earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in 2021, and the company told investors this week it is optimistic that it may yet nab a major nuclear-weapon sites management contract that has become embroiled in controversy. The company also said transition is going well for a BWXT-led team that will […]

The Department of Energy’s Enterprise Assessments office, one of the agency’s internal watchdogs, will check out an incident last summer at the Kansas City National Security Campus that resulted in one employee getting what the site called a mild concussion. Among the things the watchdog will look at — in the wake of the employee […]

The Toebbes, Jonathan and Diana, were set to be sentenced in August for attempting to sell Virginia-class submarine technology to a foreign nation, according to a Thursday court filing. The Husband-Wife duo were to face the judge together on Aug. 16 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time in the Martinsburg District Judge Courtroom at the U.S. District […]