Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 18 No. 23
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 13 of 13

June 06, 2014

Wrap Up: In the NNSA

By Todd Jacobson

NS&D Monitor
6/6/2014

The National Nuclear Security Administration is planning to award a sole-source contract to Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services for the downblending of up to 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium. Documents released late last week on fedconnect.net don’t reveal the value of the contract, but the deal would be for up to seven years, with the downblending to take place during the first five years of the contract. NFS, which the NNSA said is the only company in the country with a Nuclear Regulatory License capable of downblending the HEU, will keep a portion of the material as compensation for its work. The contract includes a minimum of 13 metric tons of highly enriched uranium that will be downblended. "The Contractor will chemically process the HEU to prepare it for down-blending, procure necessary diluents, and down-blend the HEU to LEU at a 4.95% assay suitable for use in commercial nuclear power reactors and meet the chemical specification of the Contract, arrange for storage of the Governments LEU, manage the LEU transfers into the uranium market consistent with DOE excess uranium policy and market impact determinations," the NNSA said in a sole source synopsis. Companies have until 3 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time June 16 to submit capabilities and qualifications to perform the work under the contract.

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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 18 No. 22
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 12 of 12

May 30, 2014

Wrap Up: In the NNSA

By Todd Jacobson

NS&D Monitor
5/30/2014

New National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz is scheduled to visit the Y-12 National Security Complex next week as part of an effort to visit all of the weapons complex sites during the first few months of his tenure. Klotz is set to visit Y-12 on Wednesday June 4, where he will tour production and storage facilities and meet with contractor and federal officials, NNSA spokesman Derrick Robinson said. The next day, he’ll give a speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit in Chattanooga, Robinson said. Klotz visited the Nevada National Security Site and Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories earlier this month after being confirmed by the Senate in April. The visit to Y-12 won’t be his first. The retired lieutenant general visited the site in 2009 when he was the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command.

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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol 18 No 16
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 12 of 12

April 18, 2014

Wrap Up: In the NNSA

By Todd Jacobson

From staff reports
NS&D Monitor
4/18/2014

A North Carolina State-led consortium has been awarded a $25 million grant by the National Nuclear Security Administration for research and development on nonproliferation capabilities. According to the NNSA, the team will perform research and development in methods for detecting foreign nuclear weapon proliferation activities, focusing on projects to enhance simulation capabilities, algorithms and modeling; evaluation models for detection sensors; new remote sensing capabilities; and data analysis for characterizing and detecting special nuclear materials. The funding opportunity, first announced in May 2013, will provide $5 million a year over five years. The consortium includes the University of Michigan, Purdue, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Kansas State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest national laboratories. “This grant will link students with world-class researchers and introduce them to career possibilities at the national labs while providing education in areas of great importance for the nonproliferation mission,” NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington said in a statement.

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