U.S. national labs have concerns about viability of U.S. nuke arsenal

[ErnstBlofeld]

GeoStrategy Direct:

 

The directors of the three national laboratories involved in nuclear weapons development and maintenance testified before the Senate last week that they have major concerns about the long-term commitment of the Obama administration to spending the millions needed to modernize the arsenal and supporting infrastructure.

Michael Anastasio, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that U.S. weapons in the stockpile today are safe, secure and reliable.

 

But he said: “I do worry about the long-term viability.”

 

The Obama administration, which is aiming to eliminate all nuclear weapons, is opposed to developing new and more advanced nuclear weapons because it supports the views of anti-nuclear activists. It also is insisting on maintaining the moratorium banning underground nuclear tests, something that would be required for new warheads.

 

Anastasio said he is concerned that the additional funding for nuclear weapons modernization is being added by the Obama administration, beginning later this year. “I fear that some may perceive that the FY11 budget request meets all of the necessary budget commitments for the program; however, there are still significant financial uncertainties…”

 

He also stated that “much of the planned funding increase for weapons activities do not come to fruition until the second half of the ten year period.”

 

Paul J. Hommert, director of Sandia National Laboratory, also said that while the stockpile is currently safe and secure: “I would say that perhaps as we look to an unprecedented age of our overall stockpile, the imperative for us to take some action on that stockpile is increasing, and in this forum we'll just leave it at that.”

 

George H. Miller, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told the panel that the principle issue is to keep the arms stockpile safe and secure.

 

“Thus far, we have been able to retain confidence in warhead safety and effectiveness by offsetting identified increased uncertainties with corresponding increases in performance margins,” Miller said. “They have been obtained by changes external to the nuclear explosives package or by relaxing or eliminating military requirements… Options to further improve these margins have largely been exhausted.”

 

Senate Republicans have demanded a comprehensive nuclear arms modernization package as part of any support for the New START treaty.

 

The lab directors also confirmed that Russia is modernizing its nuclear arsenal while the U.S. arsenal continues to atrophy.

 

“As far as is Russia modernizing their stockpile, to the best of the information I have from our intelligence community and our contact directly with the Russians over the years, I certainly believe that that's what they're doing,” Anastasio said.

 

Miller also said the Russians are modernizing their arsenal.