The Trump Administration is moving away from MOX to dilute and dispose as NNSA sends formal termination letter. Reuters explains, “Instead of completing MOX, the Trump administration, like the Obama administration before it, wants to blend the 34 tonnes of deadly plutonium – enough to make about 8,000 nuclear weapons – with an inert substance and […]
MOX
In the News: MOX Facility Update by FMWG Steering Committee Member Kingston Rief
In September’s Arms Control Today, FMWG Steering Committee member Kingston Rief explains how the MOX program has continued despite the Department of Energy seeking to end the program since 2014. The troubled plutonium disposition program may officially end after the case is heard this September. As Rief explains, “The dilute and dispose process would cost […]
Shifting the Spotlight Away from Nonproliferation
By: Cassandra Peterson March 31st will mark the commencement of the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit. The two-day summits began in 2010, following President Obama’s historic 2009 Prague speech, in which he pledged to work towards the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. While the last summit will likely make tangible […]
Weapons Acquisition and Contract Management Make GAO’s High Risk List – Again
Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released its biennial update to its High Risk List – a compilation of government programs that are identified as “high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or the need for transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges.” Department of Defense weapon systems acquisition and Department of Energy contract management have both been on the GAO’s High Risk List for the last 25 years.
Factsheet: FY 2016 Defense Nuclear Non-Proliferation Budget Request
By Greg Terryn and Sarah Tully Since 2004, the NNSA’s nuclear non-proliferation programs have facilitated the removal of all weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) from 17 countries—165 bombs worth of nuclear material. Nevertheless, “nearly 2,000 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials remain spread across hundreds of sites around the globe,” according to the Nuclear Threat […]
