Publications: Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Materials for the third and final Nightshade subcritical plutonium test at the Nevada National Security Site have shipped out from the Los Alamos National Laboratory ahead of a shot planned for the fall, the head of the lab’s weapon’s program said here this week. Nightshade C had been scheduled to fire in […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Whatever changes the Joe Biden administration’s nuclear posture review prescribes to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the U.S. national defense strategy, the nuclear production complex will have the same needs as it does now, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s defense programs office said here Tuesday. “I recognize […]

Frank Rose is officially principal deputy administrator of the the National Nuclear Security Administration, the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency announced this week. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm conducted a virtual swearing in for Rose, who lives in Massachusetts, according to a tweet by Jill Hruby, herself sworn in as administrator of the National […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Judgements varied here this week between two senior civilian nuclear-weapons leaders as to whether the National Nuclear Security Administration would meet some legally binding deadlines to produce new nuclear weapon cores this decade. Questioned about the deadlines by Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor during the Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit, the head of National Nuclear […]

The Joe Biden administration said this week it will nominate former National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation hand Corey Hinderstein, currently at the non-government Nuclear Threat Institute, as the agency’s deputy administrator for defense non-proliferation.  “An accomplished leader and well-known expert on #nuclear #security matters, Corey has the knowledge and skills to lead the #NNSA nonproliferation […]

While earnings from continuing operations were down at Fluor, Irving, Texas in the second quarter, the engineering and construction contractor said in a Friday press release it is reducing its debt and increasing its guidance for 2021. In slides released ahead of a Friday earnings call, the company also confirmed that it was among the […]

Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, which the Department of Energy contractor and maker of nuclear submarine reactors and components attributed to non-recurring costs such as commercializing a line of medical isotopes, plus higher interest rates. Net income for the second quarter ended June 30 was $59.4 million or $0.62 […]

The Exchange Monitor held its 2021 Nuclear Deterrence Summit this week in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington. The curtain rose on the show about a year-and-a-half after the 2020 summit, which wrapped up barely a month before COVID-19 changed everything. For some attendees, and maybe more than just some, the summit was the first […]

Jill Hruby was sworn in this week as the sixth administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, she wrote in a Twitter post on the official government account for the nuclear-weapons agency’s leader. Today, surrounded by my family, I was sworn in as #NNSA Administrator by @SecGranholm. Leading the dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to […]

A House Armed Services panel this week called for a briefing about delays to a bomb and warhead refurb at the National Nuclear Security Administration and a new report on planned subcritical testing facilities. The strategic forces subcommittee wrote the requirements into a report appended to its portion of the fiscal year 2022 National Defense […]

The roughly 1% annual increase the Joe Biden administration proposed for civilian nuclear weapons programs is “minimally sufficient” to keep warhead and bomb modernization on track in 2022, but maybe not beyond, a joint Pentagon-Department of Energy nuclear acquisitions group told Congress recently. The Biden request of roughly $20 billion for the National Nuclear Security […]

By voice vote on Thursday, the Senate confirmed Frank Rose as principal deputy administration of the National Nuclear Security Administration, providing a backstop for Administrator Jill Hruby, who was confirmed last week. It took a little more than three months to get Rose confirmed. Rose was one of the four witnesses in a May 27 […]

On a party-line vote Thursday, the House approved a spending bill that would give the National Nuclear Security Administration the requested $20 billion or so for fiscal year 2022: a budget the Nuclear Weapons Council called “minimally sufficient.” The budget is part of a seven-bill minibus appropriations package that the White House has said it […]

Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s potentially 10-year, $30-billion contract to manage two of the country’s main nuclear-weapons production sites have until the second week of August to turn in their final proposals, the agency said this week. The final proposal revisions are due at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 9, the semi-autonomous […]

Some 200 craft workers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California wrapped up a three-day strike on Thursday to protest what they called the lab management contractor’s unwillingness to bargain over a mandatory on-call policy. The Society of Professionals, Scientists and Engineers (SPSE) Local 11 – University Professional and Technical Employees, Communications Workers of […]

Federal employees and on-site contractors without COVID-19 vaccinations will have to mask up at all locations on government property and get COVID-19 tests once a week or more, the Joe Biden administration announced this week amid a surge in 19 cases. “Every federal government employee and onsite contractor will be asked to attest to their […]

Active COVID-19 cases at the National Nuclear Security Administration had spiked to a two-month high in July by Friday after reaching their lowest level of the year earlier in the same month, according to data provided by agency headquarters in Washington. The agency, with its mission-essential nuclear-weapons work, was among the early beneficiaries of COVID-19 […]

An auxiliary manufacturing space, known as Kansas City East and Building 23, should be christened in the fall, the president of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main non-nuclear parts maker said this week. The headcount at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) is “currently around 5,500 with plans growing to 6,000 here before the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration planned to host discussions soon with teams that bid on the potentially 10-year, $30 billion combined management and operations contract for the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, sources said this week. It was unclear at deadline whether the agency planned to invite bidders for traditional oral presentations […]

John Howanitz will be promoted to president of Bechtel National’s nuclear, security and environmental global business effective Sept. 1, replacing the retiring Barbara Rusinko as the head of the Reston, Va.-based company’s nuclear business with the Department of Energy and other agencies worldwide. The company announced the impending change Wednesday in a press release. Howanitz is […]

The Senate on Thursday confirmed ex-Sandia National Laboratories director Jill Hruby as the sixth administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The vote was 79-16. Hruby’s swearing in at the Department of Energy had not been scheduled at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security and Deterrence Monitor. The semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is the […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted 23-3 to approve the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, the panel said in a Thursday press release about the legislation that authorizes more than $20 billion in spending for the National Nuclear Security Administration. The committee’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the policy bill that sets […]

An internal Department of Energy watchdog gave Consolidated Nuclear Security a public calling-out, but no other penalty, for letting an employee at the Pantex Plant in Texas work in radioactive areas for six months last year after the contractor realized the person had lost their dosimeter, according to a report published this week. The employee […]

John “Devin” Biniaz was appointed deputy associate administrator for defense nuclear security, the National Nuclear Security Administration said this week. In his new role at headquarters, Biniaz wil backstop Jeffrey Johnson, the head of the office responsible for physical and information security at the agency’s labs, plants and sites. Biniaz was most recently assistant manager […]

With the full House set to vote next week on a multi-bill spending package that would keep the civilian nuclear weapons budget about flat at about $20 billion, some Republican lawmakers have offered amendments to up funding for a proposed pair of ocean-going nuclear warheads. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) wants to transfer $19 million to […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed Department of Energy budget for fiscal year 2022 would slash funding for one of the potential disposal routes for surplus weapon-usable plutonium that has to be removed from South Carolina under terms of a record-setting legal settlement. Separately, the bill rejects the Administration’s plan to trim the Inertial Confinement Fusion […]

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration is one of many political appointees for key national defense posts whose confirmation votes have been blocked in the Senate, multiple people have told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. Some of these people told the Monitor this week that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) had held Jill Hruby’s […]