A Glossary of Commonly Used Nuclear-related Acronyms
| ABM Treaty | 1972. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. One of the first treaties of the Cold War, limiting both the US and the USSR to only one location of anti-ballistic missiles; as a guarantor that neither side would seek first-strike capability. The US withdrew from the ABM Treaty under President George W. Bush., and over the last decade has deployed missile defenses along Russia’s perimeter, ostensibly to defend from Iranian missiles, though the Russians see this as seeking a first strike capability. |
| ANA | Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. Includes Nuclear Watch New Mexico. |
| ALCM | Air launched cruise missile |
| B61-12 | The latest model of the B61 nuclear bomb, endowed with various “smart bomb” features, the bomb stationed at NATO bases in Europe. |
| CBO | Congressional Budget Office |
| CMRR | Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project (at LANL) |
| CNS | Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, composed of of Lockheed Martin and the Bechtel Corporation, manages both Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Texas under a single contract. |
| CO | Consent Order. A voluntary agreement worked out between two or more parties to a dispute. It generally has the same effect as a court order and can be enforced by the court if anyone does not comply with the orders. |
| CO | Compliance Order |
| CTBT | Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 1996. 183 signatories, however the US Congress never ratified. |
| DNFSB | Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. An independent organization within the executive branch of the United States Government, chartered with the responsibility of providing recommendations and advice to the President and the Secretary of Energy regarding public health and safety issues at Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities. |
| DOD | Department of Defense |
| DOE | Department of Energy |
| EA | Engineering Assessment. DOE’s office of Enterprise Assessments reports directly to the Secretary of Energy. (Note also Note also Environmental Assessment and Engineering Assessment in “Regulation, Waste and Cleanup” below.) |
| EA | Engineering Assessment |
| EA | Environmental Assessment |
| EIS | Environmental impact statement |
| FAS | Federation of American Scientists |
| FY | Fiscal Year |
| GAO | Government Accountability Office |
| GBSD | Ground-based strategic deterrent (latest iteration of ground-based ICBM) |
| HEU | Highly Enriched Uranium |
| HLW | High-level Waste |
| ICAN | International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANW.org)- ICAN mobilized a majority of nations in 2017 to sign on to the TPNW. (Each nation’s vote must now be ratified in their parliaments) ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for their ongoing efforts |
| INF Treaty | Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. 1987. The US and Soviet Union agreement to remove intermediate and shorter range missiles from Europe. Both Russia and the US now accuse each other of violations. |
| KCP | Kansas City Plant, now officially called Kansas City National Security Campus. |
| LANL | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| LANS | Los Alamos National Security- primarily composed of the Bechtel Corporation and the University of California, has held the annual ~$2 .4 billion Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) management contract since June 2006. A new contractor will be chosen in May 2018. |
| LLNS | Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, a partnership of the University of California, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, AECOM, and Battelle Memorial Institute in affiliation with the Texas A&M University System. |
| LRSO | Long range standoff – nuclear air launched cruise missile. So named because it is intended to be launched from bombers at a great distance from the target’s defensive arrays. |
| MOX | Mixed Oxide Plutonium Disposition Facility. (At SRS) Originally part of a post-cold war arrangement with Russia to transform bomb-grade plutonium into fuel for power plants. While the Russian facility was completed in 2.5 years in 2014 at a cost of $200 million, the corresponding US facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is decades from completion, already cost $7.6 billion, and was expected to cost a further $48 billion; DOE Secretary Perry announced its termination on May 13, 2018. The new plan is to “downblend” the plutonium and bury it in New Mexico’s WIPP. |
| N2S2 | Nevada National Security Site |
| N3B | Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, LLC- contractor for cleanup at LANL NB: Tetra Tech Inc is a major subcontractor for N3B in the LANL cleanup contract. |
| NA-LA | NNSA-Los Alamos Field Office Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for the US nuclear arsenal. |
| NEPA | National Environmental Policy Act |
| NMCAB | New Mexico Community Advisory Board. DOE funded to provide input to DOE. |
| NMED | New Mexico Environment Department |
| NMELC | New Mexico Environmental Law Center |
| NNSA | National Nuclear Security Administration |
| NPT | Non-Proliferation Treaty. 1968. Non-nuclear signatories agreed not to develop nuclear weapons, and nuclear powers promised to negotiate arsenal reductions toward the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. |
| NTESS | National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia. Honeywell’s management entity for Sandia National Labs (long operated by the Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) -Note that Honeywell also manages the Kansas City Plant through it’s entity “Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies” |
| NWC | Nuclear Weapons Council. Includes officials from both DOE and DOD. |
| NWNM | Nuclear Watch New Mexico (aka NukeWatch, Santa Fe, NM) |
| PEIS | Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement |
| PEP | Performance Evaluation Plan |
| PER | Performance Evaluation Report |
| PF-4 | Plutonium Facility 4 (at LANL) |
| POGO | Project On Government Oversight |
| PSR | Physicians for Social Responsability |
| PU | Plutonium |
| RAD LAB | Radiological Laboratory (at LANL) |
| RCLC | Regional Coalition of LANL Communities. DOE funded. |
| RLUOB | Radiological Laboratory Utility and Office Building (AKA the “Rad Lab”) (at LANL) |
| SALT | Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. 1972. |
| SEIS | Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement |
| SLBM | Submarine-launched ballistic missile. Unlike land-based ICBMs, submarines cannot be targeted in a first strike, and thus the SLBM is the guarantor of a second-strike capability |
| SLCM | Submarine-launched cruise missile |
| SNL | Sandia National Laboratory |
| SRS | Savannah River Site |
| SSMPES | Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Statement |
| START | Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. 1994, Expired 2009. Replaced by New START, 2010. |
| SWEIS | Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement |
| TPNW | Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. Signed by 122 countries in 2017, ratifications coming in every week now |
| Tri-Valley CAREs | Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (Livermore, CA) |
| UPF | Uranium Processing Facility (at Y-12) |
| WAND | Women’s Action New Directions |
| WIPP | Waste Isolation Pilot Project. Carlsbad New Mexico. |
| WTF | Waste Treatment Facility at Hanford, Washington |