Ted Wyka, the manager at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Field Office, is retiring at the end of June, sources told the Exchange Monitor at a hearing in Santa Fe, N.M.
Prior to his manager role, Wyka was NNSA’s principal deputy associate administrator for safety, infrastructure and operations, and NNSA’s cognizant secretarial officer prior to that. He also previously served as deputy manager for technical operations at the Field Office.
“For the past five years, Ted has been an exceptional Field Office Manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” an NNSA spokesperson told the Monitor. “Under his leadership, the Lab has made significant progress in restoring the plutonium pit production capability necessary for our nuclear modernization. He has spent 40 years in public service with the U.S. Navy and Department of Energy, and we wish him well in this next chapter.”
On the eight year anniversary of President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, called the move the “precursor for his current disastrous war” in a statement May 12.
“President Trump’s decision to end participation in the JCPOA, which limited Iranian enrichment to below the threshold for a nuclear weapon and created the world’s most intensive nuclear inspections regime, was the precursor for his current disastrous war,” DeLauro said. “By walking away from this functioning agreement, he gave up critical leverage over the Iranian regime and enabled them to amass a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, making the regime more dangerous and more confident than ever.”
DeLauro continued by saying this “failure of diplomacy has left President Trump with no good options to end the current war. He has failed to change the Iranian regime, failed to eliminate Iran’s uranium stockpile, and failed to convince the American people that this war is worth fighting.”
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, recently visited Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Va. this week, the company said in a press release.
The release said Smith saw where the Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines were in the production process. “Revitalizing our defense industrial base — particularly in the area of shipbuilding — remains a top priority with strong bipartisan support in the committee,” Smith said in the release.
“We’re grateful for the time Rep. Smith invested with us to see our commitment to the mission and being held accountable for supporting it,” NNS President Kari Wilkinson said in the release. “We understand the urgent need for submarines and aircraft carriers and are steadfast in our commitment to the nation.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a prominent year for nuclear energy, the industry needs to turn its focus towards building new generation at scale, Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) President and CEO Maria Korsnick said at a Tuesday forum.
To open the NEI’s 2026 Nuclear Energy Policy Forum, Korsnick said last year marked a year of serious investment from the private sector, modernization of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and major nuclear projects now underway.
The growing momentum of the nuclear industry over the years has led to big successes, as 90 projects are in development and eight projects have broken ground across North America, Korsnick said. This includes TerraPower’s building of the Natrium reactor in Wyoming and Kairos Power breaking ground on the Hermes 2 reactor in Tennessee, Korsnick said during her statement.
Senate defense appropriators have concerns with the Pentagon’s decision to include key fiscal year 2027 funding priorities, such as critical munitions and drones production, among its request for $350 billion in new reconciliation spending, according to a senior Senate GOP aide.
The insight arrives as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine are set to testify Tuesday on the department’s budget request in back to back hearings before the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees (SAC-D).
The Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion FY ‘27 defense request is split between $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending and $350 billion it will seek through a reconciliation bill. The massive defense spending boost represents a 42 percent increase from the FY ‘26 enacted level of just over $1 trillion when accounting for both the final defense appropriations legislation and the $150 billion in reconciliation funds included for defense in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The reconciliation process to support another defense spending boost would allow Republicans to again pass billions of dollars in Trump administration spending priorities without requiring votes from Democrats to meet the 60 vote threshold in the Senate to break the filibuster.
The Pentagon estimates the U.S.’s ongoing conflict with Iran has now cost at least $29 billion, while a lead official noted the updated figure does not factor in damage to U.S. facilities in the Middle East.
Congressional appropriators on Tuesday pressed Pentagon leaders for more specifics on the costs and munitions expenditures associated with Operation Epic Fury, to include the top Democrats on the House Appropriations Defense (HAC-D) Subcommittee requesting the department provide details by June 11, when the panel plans to mark up its fiscal year 2027 defense appropriations bill.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the HAC-D ranking member, specifically requested a breakout on the following costs associated with military personnel, operational activities, additional maintenance for deployed ships, munitions used, equipment lost and updated fuel costs as it relates to the campaign against Iran. “We’ve asked several times for a complete update on munitions levels and it has not been provided. This lacking delivery of timely information for the committee is appearing to become a pattern,” she added. “And some of these are not new asks, but I thought I’d drill down to be a little more specific for you.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in mid-March acknowledged the Pentagon could potentially ask Congress for $200 billion in supplemental funding to support the ongoing operation against Iran and replenish munitions used in the strike campaign, while noting the final requested figure “could move.”