Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

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 […]

Citing a lack of transparency on the agency’s part, a losing bidder for a major nuclear-weapon sites management contract cried foul in January when the National Nuclear Security Administration short-circuited an external review of the controversial award, according to the Government Accountability Office. According to a January decision memorandum from the office, part of the […]

Robert Raines, head of procurement for the National Nuclear Security Administration, will retire in June after more than a decade leading the semi-autonomous weapons agency’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, according to an internal memo. Raines has been the National Nuclear Security Security Administration’s (NNSA) acquisition chief since 2011, according to Thursday’s announcement from […]

Following the lead of the House of Representatives earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-27 Thursday evening to approve a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open through March 11. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the latest continuing resolution (CR) in order to prevent a government shutdown today while Democrats […]

The Department of Energy is required to “fully cooperate” with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and will restrict access in only limited cases such as when a representative of the safety watchdog lacks “an appropriate security clearance,” according to a deal reached this week. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two parties have […]

A recent Government Accountability Office report confirms what most observers already assumed — the COVID-19 pandemic prompted much of the federal workforce at the Department of Energy and elsewhere to abandon their cubicles in favor of telecommuting, although the practice has its own hassles. The DOE found there were limits to its work-from-home efforts especially […]

Net earnings from continuing operations fell at Jacobs, Dallas, in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, which the global engineering firm and Department of Energy contractor attributed largely to tax-related adjustments, according to financial results reported last week. Net earnings from continuing operations for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, were $134 million, or $1.03 a share, […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Nimble series of subcritical experiments, the next in line at the test site after Los Alamos’ Nightshade Series, was scheduled to run at least through Sept. 30, a lab official said last week. “We’re targeting Nimble to be done by the end of FY22 or the beginning of FY23,” Bradley […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which requires a regular supply of depleted uranium tetrafluoride for future nuclear-weapon refurbishments, may let a small business coordinate production and delivery of that material to the agency, according to a request for information released last week. The nuclear-weapons agency plans to acquire the uranium tetrafluoride by converting stocks of […]

In the state Senate’s latest plan to split the baby, counties surrounding the Savannah River Site would get about 65% of the mega-settlement South Carolina struck with the Department of Energy in 2020 over plutonium storage. State senators on Tuesday unanimously approved sending some $341 million of the settlement to Allendale, Barnwell and Aiken, the […]

Eighteen more states, some with Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed legal briefs this week supporting a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that blocked President Joe Biden from requiring most federal contractor employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs were filed Tuesday in […]

About a week remained as of Friday for interested parties to express interest to the Department of Energy about running a demonstration project in Ohio to produce hundreds of kilograms of high assay low enriched uranium for the department. DOE envisions a contract lasting as long as 10 years. The first year could call for […]

Maryland-based Amentum, one of the power players in the Department of Energy weapons complex, has completed its $1.9-billion purchase of PAE, a Virginia-based defense and government services contractor, the companies said Tuesday. The deal, which PAE characterized as a “merger” was announced by the parties in October. PAE’s “go-shop” period in which it could talk to other potential […]