October 2014 Nuclear Security Brief – Nuclear Materials Security and Other News

Prepared by Nickolas Roth

NRC Chair announces she is stepping down, "notable progress" in security at Y-12, unmanned drones over French nuclear plants, and more.

Highlights:

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair, Allison Macfarlane, announces she is stepping down.
• An inspection of security at the Y-12 nuclear weapons production facility found “notable progress.”
• Unidentified unmanned drones flew illegally over five French power plants nuclear

U.S.-Russian Nuclear Security Cooperation

• Speaking about U.S. nuclear cooperation with Russia, National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Anne Harrington, said “There’s no way to avoid the impact of our geo-political relationship with Russia right now on some of our programs. But I think to the credit of both countries we have remained fully committed, especially to the third-country removal and bringing that material back to Russia. So that work is proceeding, I’m very happy to say.” (Atomic City Underground, 10/26/14)

• Despite increasing tension between the two countries, Rosatom and the U.S. Department of Energy held a meeting to discuss converting Russian research reactors from using highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium. (International Panel on Fissile Materials, 10/31/14)

• Vadim Mikerin, General Director of a U.S.-based Rosatom-owned company, and three Americans were charged with taking bribes to divert contracts related to the U.S.-Russian HEU purchase agreement. (U.S. Attorney’s Office, 10/31/14)

Nuclear Security Funding

• The Department of Energy Office of Inspector General issued a report identifying that the project to upgrade security at the Los Alamos National laboratory’s plutonium processing area is as much as $41 million over budget and nearly a year behind schedule. (U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General’s Report: Management Challenges at the Department of Energy – Fiscal Year 2015, 10/14)

Security for Nuclear Weapons and Materials

• The National Nuclear Security Administration celebrated the opening of its new Alarm Response Training Academy at the Y-12 nuclear weapons production facility. (10/23/14, National Nuclear Security Administration)

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair, Allison Macfarlane, announces she is stepping down. (10/21/14, NRC News)

• As part of its new Force Improvement Program established to address issues related to low morale, the Air Force has created a new Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal. (Great Falls Tribune, 10/13/2014)

Threats & Vulnerabilities

• An inspection of security at the Y-12 nuclear weapons production facility found “notable progress.” (Atomic City Underground, 9/25/ 2014)

• Four vehicles specially designed to transport radiological materials were commissioned by the United States, Kazakhstan, and the United Kingdom. (National Nuclear Security Administration Press Release, 10/3/2014)

• The Islamic State commander “Omar the Chechen” called his father to say he would be coming home to “show the Russians.” According to the father, Omar said “I have many thousands following me now and I’ll get more. We’ll have our revenge against Russia.”  (Bloomberg,10/9/14)

• Unidentified unmanned drones flew illegally over five French nuclear power plants. (Reuters, 11/1/14)

Nuclear Smuggling

• In a new report, the Government Accountability Office recommends that the Department of Homeland Security determine its priorities for covert operations by prioritizing the most dangerous materials, “determining time frames for reporting results, addressing barriers for meeting time frames, and developing mechanisms to track corrective actions.” (Government Accountability Office, Combating Nuclear Smuggling: Risk-Informed Covert Assessments and Oversight of Corrective Actions Could Strengthen Capabilities at the Border, September 2014)