A House commission studying U.S. strategic forces fully backs modernization of the U.S. nuclear enterprise, including by building a third nuclear shipyard to successfully deter both Russia and China, according to a report published Thursday.
The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States recommends funding “NNSA’s recapitalization efforts, including weapons science, design and production infrastructure. In order to support these appropriations, NNSA should deliver to Congress a long-term prioritized recapitalization plan that highlights the roles played by each facility, the highest risk factors at each facility, actions already taken to mitigate those risks, and opportunities for additional risk mitigation.
It also recommends building a third private shipyard to augment the shipbuilding capacity of General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding.
A group of Republican U.S. senators asked the State Department to provide information on Iran’s nuclear program, alleging the Middle Eastern nation has committed “multiple violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) led Republican colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week requesting an update on Iran’s compliance with the treaty. Thirteen of their Senate colleagues, all Republicans, co-signed the letter.
“The Iranian regime is intent on fomenting terror across the region, as evidenced by its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah’s, brutal attacks this weekend on our ally, Israel,” the letter reads. “Now more than ever, you must ensure that you hold the regime accountable for its failure to comply with obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Further, we were disappointed that the administration did not call for a formal censure of Tehran given its continued non-compliance with the International Atomic Eenergy Agency.
Anti-nuclear activists on Wednesday implored the Santa Fe, N.M., City Council to denounce National Nuclear Security Administration plans to produce plutonium pits at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
About two dozen people, including members of the Los Alamos Study Group participated in the protest outside the council’s municipal headquarters and spoke during a public comment period before the council.
“The planned addition of a plutonium warhead factory to LANL poses serious problems to the region, and is entirely unnecessary from any sane perspective,” Greg Mello, director of the Los Alamos Study Group, said in a statement. “The pits it would make aren’t ‘needed’ for a long time, even assuming the U.S. retains a large arsenal, which binding international law requires the U.S. to negotiate away. LANL’s Rube-Goldberg, Jerry-rigged pit program is driven by greed and the mistaken idea that more and different warheads will help bring peace into the world. Los Alamos is metastasizing into a more virulent global menace than ever, as well as an increasingly intrusive local headache.”
Consolidated Nuclear Security, which manages both the Pantex Plant in Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn, and Texas Tech University have announced a strategic partnership “aimed at fostering innovation in West Texas and the development of creative solutions to challenges directly related to national security,” Pantex said in a statement.
The initiative matches Texas Tech’s Innovation Hub with Pantex to develop tools, technologies and skills needed for nuclear and national security, according to Pantex. The partnership will allow Texas Tech students and faculty to support real-world national security missions while providing Pantex a pipeline for talent, expertise and research-and-development facilities.
NATO’s annual “Steadfast Noon” nuclear exercise begins Monday and will include up to 60 aircraft taking part in training flights over southern Europe, the alliance said Oct 13. The exercise runs through Oct. 26.
The exercise is a routine training activity conducted annually for more than 10 years, NATO said in statement. The maneuvers will involve 13 NATO member countries and various aircraft types, including fighter jets and U.S. B-52 bombers that will fly in from the United States. A different NATO ally hosts Steadfast Noon each year, with this year’s exercise over Italy, Croatia and the Mediterranean Sea.
Some of those aircraft are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, but no live bombs will be deployed during the exercise, NATO said. The alliance said that the exercise is not a response to recent world events and most of the training will be held more than 600 miles from Russia’s border.
Meanwhile, Russia is considering revoking its participation in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that prohibits explosive testing of nuclear weapons, Reuters and other international media reported.
Russian lawmakers on Monday were given 10 days to come up with a possible plan to reverse Moscow’s ratification of the international deal, adopted by the United Nations in 1996.
Russia’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said Oct. 6 that Moscow would revoke its ratification of the pact. The U.S. curtailed all nuclear explosive resting in 1992 but did not join the treaty.
