IN CONGRESS
Congress wrapped up work on the final version of the Fiscal Year 2015 defense authorization bill late last week, with the Senate approving the measure and sending it to President Obama for signature. Among the bill’s provisions is language that would create a national park comprised of sites tied to the Manhattan Project. The park will encompass facilities at Hanford, Oak Ridge and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
IN THE NNSA
The Y-12 National Security Complex and the University of Tennessee have reaffirmed their long-standing relationship with a new “Memorandum of Understanding.” The umbrella agreement, which was signed Dec. 18 during ceremonies at Y-12’s New Hope Center, will provide the platform for continuing partnerships and projects, shared personnel appointments, educational opportunities, and other activities. The main reason for the new agreement was the change of contractors at Y-12. Consolidated Nuclear Security, a corporate partnership headed by Bechtel, took over management of Y-12 on July 1, replacing Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services as the government’s chief contractor. “These partnerships are extremely important,” UT-Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said.
IN THE INDUSTRY
Babcock & Wilcox announced on Dec. 16 that its Nuclear Operations Group been awarded a competitively bid contract to manufacture a number of missile tube assemblies from an initial order for the Ohio Replacement program. Electric Boat, the Ohio Replacement’s prime contractor, awarded the contract in November, according to a B&W spokesperson. The work will be conducted at B&W’s Mount Vernon, Ind., manufacturing facility and is expected to be completed in 2017, according to a press release. B&W expects to add approximately 30 new jobs at Mount Vernon to support this activity. “B&W has a history of manufacturing missile tube assemblies for U.S. nuclear submarines, but it’s been since the 1990s that they have been needed,” the release quotes Peyton S. Baker, President and Chief Operations Officer for B&W’s Government & Nuclear Operations Group, as saying. “With the Ohio Replacement program moving forward, we are honored to be conducting this work again as part of our overall portfolio of national security projects.”
IN THE AIR FORCE
The U.S. Air Force Academy will play a role in the realignments of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland AFB from Air Force Materiel Command to Air Force Global Strike Command, and the reorganization of Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, which will combine the AFNWC commander and Air Force Program Executive Officer for Strategic Systems positions into a single major general position. "The Physics Department is growing a nuclear talent bench, a group of faculty members who have an interest or background in nuclear matters," an academy press release quotes Maj. Dennis Crawford, an instructor with the Academy’s Military and Strategic Studies Department, as saying. "We meet about once a month with guest speakers, subject matter experts from across the U.S., who speak on nuclear matters. Our goal is to build a local cadre of nuclear experts."
The 20th Air Force is receiving 95 new Ford F-150s and Dodge Ram 3500’s equipped with “essentials” for the missile field, including four-wheel drive and radio equipment, according to an F.E. Warren press release. Current trucks average 190,000 miles, well past their life expectancy, incurring extensive maintenance costs, according to the release. The release stated that Art Nyberg, 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle fleet maintenance control and analysis manager at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., said the new vehicles will boost morale and considerably improve mission logistics. Acquisition of the trucks is part of the Force Improvement Program.
ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested on Dec. 15 to Russia’s Interfax News Agency that the country could deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. “The term ‘nuclear-free zone’ which characterises a certain international legal agreement, has never been applied to Crimea,” Lavrov said to the news agency, according to remarks stated to the news agency. “Such zones exist in Latin America, and Central and Southeast Asia. Crimea was not a nuclear-free zone in terms of international law: It was part of Ukraine, which is a non-nuclear state. Now Crimea has become part of a state which, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, possesses such weapons. Under international law the Russian state has the grounds for doing what it likes with its nuclear arsenal – I repeat, a legitimate arsenal – in accordance with its interests and its obligations under international law.”
IN THE NGOs
The Arms Control Association has announced its nominees for ACA Person of the Year. Voting will close at midnight Jan. 7, with the results being announced Jan. 9. Nominees are members of the technical and political negotiating teams of Iran, the U.S., Russia, the UK, France, Germany and China for Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle; Ahmet Üzümcü, Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Sigrid Kaag, head of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission; members of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection teams; Amb. Alexander Kmentt, Austria’s Director for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament; Sen. Patrick Leahy; Sen. Dianne Feinstein; Human Rights Watch; Netherlands Nuclear Security Summit “Sherpa” Amb. Piet de Klerk; Pope Francis; and New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts focusing on the challenges posed by weapons of mass destruction to the Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation is Jan. 9. Selected papers will be published in the center’s InterAgency Journal. “The InterAgency Journal seeks thoughtful articles that provide insight and fresh thinking in advancing the knowledge, understanding, and practice of interagency coordination, cooperation, and collaboration,” the center said earlier this year. “Submissions will receive blind peer review in accordance with standard professional academic journal practice. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of originality, substance of argument, style, and contribution to advancing the understanding and practice of interagency cooperation regarding WMD.” The guest editor for the manuscripts is Dr. John Mark Mattox, senior research fellow at the National Defense University Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Director of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Graduate Fellowship Program. More information can be found on the Simons Center website.
