By George Lobsenz
The Obama administration has signaled plans to kill the Energy Department’s reliable replacement warhead program “both explicitly and implicitly” while proposing to sharply increase funding for the department’s nuclear nonproliferation initiatives.
Both moves were outlined in a “passback” budget document sent by the White House Office of Management and Budget last month to DoE that outlined the administration’s funding priorities for the department in fiscal year 2010, which begins in October.
The passback, which can be appealed by DoE except for designated “presidential initiatives” such as the proposed plus-up for nonproliferation, overall calls for a $142 million increase over “likely” fiscal 2009 funding levels for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous DoE agency that manages the department’s nuclear weapons complex.
That includes an $80 million increase in fiscal 2010 funding for nonproliferation, which then is slated to receive hikes of $160 million in fiscal 2011; $320 million in fiscal 2012; $480 million in fiscal 2013; $640 million in fiscal 2014; and $800 million in fiscal 2015.
Funding increases for NNSA’s nonproliferation program, included in a broader presidential initiative aimed at addressing “loose nukes” overseas, then would ramp up more slowly to $862 million in fiscal 2019.
Consistent with President Obama’s campaign promises to oppose development of new nuclear weapons, the passback document calls zeroing out all funding for the reliable replacement warhead (RRW) and cutting back other nuclear weapons programs aimed at expanding the nation’s nuclear arsenal or production capacity.
“The RRW program, both explicitly and implicitly, is canceled,” said the passback document. “Funding in explicit accounts (science) should be zeroed. Funding in implicit accounts, such as in construction accounts that support the production rate increases associated with the RRW program, should be reduced to support modernization only.”
On other weapons cuts, the passback calls for DoE to:
“Constrain” plans to increase production rates for refurbishing the W-76 warhead; the department instead is to “maintain the W-76 Life Extension Program at the FY 2009 level of activity.”
Cancel plans to expand production capacity for plutonium pits for warheads while maintaining current pit manufacturing capability at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“Consider offsets in the maintenance of testing capabilities at the Nevada Test Site and in experiments with the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) accelerator.” The passback also calls for cancelling the refurbishment of LANSCE, which also supports civilian research at the New Mexico lab.
Obama’s decision on the RRW is not unexpected, but he previously had not taken a clear position on whether he would kill the initiative, which the Bush administration strenuously argued was crucial to modernizing the nation’s Cold War-era nuclear arsenal.
Interestingly, Obama’s action clashes with the position taken by his defense secretary, Robert Gates, who late last year said the RRW initiative was key to national security. Other Pentagon officials also have urged production of the RRW.
Obama’s stance on the RRW is particularly intriguing in that he is considering moving NNSA and the weapons complex out of DoE and into the Pentagon.
Pentagon and NNSA officials under Bush contended that continuing to maintain and refurbish the nation’s existing decades-old warheads was getting increasingly expensive, and that aging of plutonium and other warhead components was raising questions about the reliability and safety of weapons, especially since the United States has suspended underground weapons testing.
At the same time, they said the RRW would be easier and cheaper to manufacture, maintain and secure than current warheads and NNSA could eliminate the use of many toxic materials, such as beryllium. Further, it said the RRW would provide more reliability–thus eliminating any possible need to return to underground testing–and that the new bomb would allow NNSA to shrink the size of the weapons complex more aggressively.
However, Congress never endorsed production of the RRW, with some Democrats saying U.S. production of a new nuclear warhead would undermine its arms control and nonproliferation agenda. Lawmakers last year ordered DoE and the Pentagon to provide a more detailed analysis of the strategic rationale and justification for the RRW.
However, a blue-ribbon panel with several prominent Democrats and led by William Perry, former defense secretary in the Clinton administration, in December released an interim report to the Hill that noted that life extension of existing warheads was getting “more difficult to execute” and that the Bush administration had proposed the RRW to deal with that problem. The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States also said in the report that while the nation should continue efforts to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons for its defense, “as long as the U.S. depends on nuclear deterrence, national policies must ensure that this deterrence is reliable, safe and secure.”
Other NNSA programs targeted for possible reductions by the passback document include “readiness in technical base and facilities (RTBF),” which generally encompasses maintenance and operation of weapons production buildings.
“Protect core of operations and maintenance of the complex,” the passback document said.. “Consider as offsets limiting overhead and other contractor-discretionary RTBF funding and eliminating construction funding for projects that have failed to meet major milestones. Project engineering and design work of complex transformation projects, where consistent with prior guidance, should be funded before funding construction.”
The document also called for reducing “laboratory-directed research and development” funding “to or close to levels in the Department of Energy’s science laboratories.”
In NNSA’s inertial confinement fusion ignition and high yield campaign, the document told DoE: “Protect work related to achieving ignition on schedule. Consider as an offset delaying direct-drive experimental research until indirect-drive fusion has been has been demonstrated..”
On advanced warhead simulation and computing, the passback said: “Consistent with the need to maintain stockpile certification without nuclear testing, consider delaying the purchase of new computer systems.”
The passback also called for protecting these programs from cuts: naval reactors; secure transportation asset; nuclear counterterrorism incident response; environmental project and operations; defense nuclear security; cyber security; readiness campaign; stockpile certification; facilities and infrastructure recapitalization.
Overall, the passback said funding for NNSA weapons program would increase from $6.28 billion in fiscal 2009 to $6.32 billion in fiscal 2010; defense nonproliferation would go from $1.96 billion to $2.05 billion; and naval reactors from $828 million to $833 million.