The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has given its approval to Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) to move forward with plans for construction of a new administrative and support facility for the Pantex Plant in Texas, CNS announced last week.
The new 343,000-square-foot Pantex Administrative Support complex will provide office space for roughly 1,100 employees of the nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility, or one-third of the workforce, CNS said in a press release. The new facility is intended to relocate employees from aging work space at the plant, the statement said.
CNS is finalizing project details with LawlerWood, LLC, the company that will develop the facility. Construction is expected to begin this August.
A source with knowledge of the construction plans said cost details will become available once bonds are issued and a lease is signed, which is likely to occur in August.
“This milestone underscores our commitment to address the Pantex Plant’s aging infrastructure challenges, and to invest in the site to position it for the future,” CNS Deputy Enterprise Manager Michelle Reichert said in the statement.
NNSA Seeking Sources for Rocket-Propelled Grenade
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking sources for an anti-tank weapon system and/or simulator, according to a request for information posted this week.
The agency is specifically interested in a MILES rocket-propelled grenade and/or a MILES AT4 simulator; the former is an anti-tank weapon system – a rocket fitted with an explosive warhead – and the latter is an anti-tank weapon simulator that uses lasers to simulate live firing. MILES, or Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System, is used by armed forces worldwide to simulate the firing of weapons in tactical training environments.
The procurement would involve an estimated one to six units, the RFI said. Requirements include the capability of firing a pyrotechnic charge, water resistant equipment, and compatibility with the MILES 2000 training system used by the U.S. military. Interested parties must send capability information to David Foreman at [email protected] by 8 a.m. Eastern time on July 5. The RFI does not specify what the systems would be used for, or at which sites.
The NNSA’s site protective forces are equipped with armored vehicles, heavy-caliber weapons, and armor-penetrating ammunition. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, for example, uses grenade launchers as part of its defense posture.
Scientists Urge Obama to Take Nuclear Missiles Off High Alert
A group of over 90 scientists, including Nobel laureates and National Academy of Sciences members, submitted a letter Tuesday to President Barack Obama calling for U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles to be taken off high alert to prevent accidental nuclear launch.
The June 21 letter says U.S. and Russian land-based nuclear missiles, hundreds of which are on high alert, are particularly prone to accidental launch due to technical failures, human error, or misinterpretations of data.
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union kept their missiles on high alert in order to launch them quickly in the event of a surprise nuclear attack. The letter notes that numerous false alarms on both sides over the years could have led to a nuclear launch, a matter of particular concern due to the currently frayed relationship between Russia and the United States.
Keeping those missiles on hair-trigger alert, the scientists said, increases the risk of a launch that could then provoke a retaliatory nuclear attack.
“National leaders would have only a short amount of time—perhaps 10 minutes—to assess a warning and make a launch decision before these missiles could be destroyed by an incoming attack,” the letter says, noting that U.S. strategic bombers were taken off high alert in 1991.
Israel Waiting for ‘Appropriate Timing’ to Ratify CTBT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated Monday that his country will ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) when the time is right, although he did not offer specifics on those circumstances.
Following a meeting Monday in Jerusalem with Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization, Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying Israeli ratification of the treaty “depends on the regional context and the appropriate timing.” The treaty would prohibit explosive nuclear testing, which is conducted for the development of nuclear weapons.
The CTBTO released a statement titled “working on the ‘when’ of Israel’s ratification” that highlighted the high-level meeting and noted that Israel signed the treaty in 1996, on the second day it was opened for signature.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Zerbo indicated in an interview that “Netanyahu considers the issue of ratifying the treaty a matter of ‘when, rather than if.’”
Israel is among the last eight of the so-called “Annex 2” nations that still must ratify the treaty for it to enter into force. The others are the United States, China, Egypt, Iran, India, North Korea, and Pakistan.
Israel is also the only Middle Eastern state to possess nuclear weapons, though it neither confirms nor denies the existence of the arsenal.
Over 120 delegations met last week in Vienna, Austria, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the CTBT and renew the call for global ratification.
