Appropriators Take Issue With Administration's Nuclear
Weapons Initiatives
The Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill which the House
Appropriations Committee has passed is at considerable variance with
the Bush Administration's FY 2006 request for various nuclear weapons
initiatives. The subcommittee that wrote H.R. 2419 is chaired by David
Hobson (R-OH); the Ranking Member is Peter Visclosky (D-IN).
House Report 109-086 provides the subcommittee's recommendations for
various weapons activities of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Selections from the report regarding a congressionally-mandated review
of the weapons complex, the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, Nevada
Test Site readiness, Inertial Confinement Fusion, Advanced Simulation
and Computing, and a modern pit facility follow. There is considerable
report language beyond that excerpted below; the entire report may be
viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov/;
see National Nuclear Security Administration - Weapons Activities. The
Senate has not drafted its bill, which can be expected to be more favorable
to the Administration's request.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX WIDE REVIEW:
"The Committee tasked the previous Secretary of Energy
with conducting an independent assessment of the Department of Energy's
infrastructure requirements for the nuclear weapons complex over the
next twenty-five years. The Secretary established a Task Force within
the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board (SEAB) to conduct the Nuclear
Weapons Complex Infrastructure Study. The Committee is encouraged
by the preliminary work of the Task Force but will not act on any
recommendations until the final report is finished this summer. The
Committee will consider the Task Force recommendations in the fiscal
year 2006 Conference Report this fall. The Committee notes the timeliness
of the Task Force study based on the distribution of funds requested
in the fiscal year 2006 budget request. The budget request for direct
stockpile support by weapon tail number is only ten percent of the
total Weapons Activities request. Too much of the remaining 90 percent
of the budget request supports a residual Cold War capacity within
the weapons complex which is not needed for the long term sustainable
stockpile. . . . "
"The Committee recommendation provides no funding for
RNEP. The Committee continues to oppose the diversion of resources
and intellectual capital away from the more serious issues that confront
the management of the nation's nuclear deterrent, primarily the transformation
of the Cold War nuclear weapons complex and existing stockpile into
a sustainable enterprise. The Committee has been disappointed at the
bureaucracy's adherence to an initiative that threatens Congressional
and public support for sustainable stockpile initiatives that will
actually provide long-term security and deterrent value for the Nation.
It is the understanding of the Committee that, instead of conducting
an RNEP study at a DOE national laboratory, the Department of Defense
will conduct a non-nuclear penetrator study at a Department of Defense
facility."
CAMPAIGNS:
"Campaigns are focused efforts involving the three weapons
laboratories, the Nevada Test Site, the weapons production plants,
and selected external organizations to address critical capabilities
needed to achieve program objectives. The Committee recommendation
is $1,911,686,000, a decrease of $168,758,000 below the budget request
of $2,080,444,000. The Committee's recommendation takes into consideration
the reduced scope of the Life Extension activities and the existing
Science-based Stockpile Stewardship program to restructure the weapons
program to transition to a Sustainable Stockpile configuration."
"Science campaigns.--The Committee recommendation for
science campaigns is $216,905,000, a reduction of $45,020,000 from
the budget request. The Committee's recommendation takes into consideration
the reduced scope of the Life Extension activities and the existing
Science-based Stockpile Stewardship program to restructure the weapons
program to transition to a Sustainable Stockpile configuration."
TEST SITE READINESS:
"The Committee provides $35,179,000 for the primary
assessment technology subprogram, a reduction of $10,000,000 from
the request. The Committee recommendation includes $15,000,000 for
the Test Readiness subprogram, a reduction of $10,000,000 from the
budget request. The Committee continues to oppose the 18-month test
readiness posture and refers the Department to the unambiguous language
provided in the reports accompanying the fiscal year 2004 and 2005
Appropriation Acts requiring the Department to maintain the current
24-month test readiness posture. The initiation of the Reliable Replacement
Warhead (RRW) program designed to provide for the continuance of the
existing moratorium on underground nuclear testing by insuring the
long-term reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile obviates any
reason to move to a provocative 18-month test readiness posture. .
. ."
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION (ICF) IGNITION AND HIGH YIELD:
"The Committee recommends $541,418,000 for the inertial
confinement fusion and high yield program, which maintains the program
at the current year level and is an increase of $81,000,000 over the
budget request.
"The Committee supports the Department's response to
the Congressional concern expressed last year regarding the fiscal
year 2005 budget request proposed schedule slip to the program goal
of ignition demonstration in 2010 for the National Ignition Facility
(NIF). The Committee continues to view ignition demonstration as the
primary benchmark for success in this program. The Committee commends
the Department's effort to projectize the ICF program consistent with
DOE Order 413.3, and to manage the ignition, diagnostic, cryogenic
and experimental programs as projects incorporating a work breakdown
structure to track scope, cost, and schedule milestones, within a
project management control system. The Committee directs the NNSA
to report quarterly on the milestone cost and schedule variance within
the respective experimental programs on progress toward the NIF 2000
rebaselined program.
"The Committee recommendation includes a total of $69,623,000
for Facility Operations and Target Production, of which $15,000,000
shall be available to accelerate target fabrication. The Committee
believes that a target that meets all the NIF ignition criteria should
be produced and characterized in a cryogenic environment. NNSA should
provide the Committee with a detailed schedule by March 2006 to accomplish
this requirement. Should fabrication of the new beryllium target prove
too high risk to ensure meeting the NIF milestones, NNSA is required
to provide the Committee with the alternative that will be pursued
in order to keep to the 2010 ignition schedule. The Committee recommendation
includes $25,000,000 to continue development of high average power
lasers and supporting science and technology within the Inertial Fusion
Technology program line; within that amount, the Committee includes
$2,000,000 for the high density matter laser at the Ohio State University
Technology Park. The Committee recommendation includes $15,000,000
for the Naval Research Laboratory, and $71,558,000 for the University
of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), an increase
of $26,000,000 over the budget request. The LLE is the principal research
and experimentation laser facility for NNSA Science-based Stockpile
stewardship activities. The Committee increase includes an additional
$4,000,000 for OMEGA operations to provide additional shots to support
the ICF campaign goal of an ignition demonstration in 2010 and an
additional $22,000,000 to accelerate the OMEGA Extended Performance
capability project, a four beam super-high-intensity, high-energy
laser facility to support the nation's stockpile stewardship program.
The Committee notes that the University of Rochester is providing
$21 million for the building to house the OMEGA EP. The Committee
recommendation provides $141,913,000 for construction of the National
Ignition Facility (NIF), the same as the budget request."
ADVANCED SIMULATION AND COMPUTING (ASCI):
"The Committee recommendation for Advanced Simulation
and Computing is $500,830,000, a reduction of $160,000,000 from the
budget request. The Committee has consistently supported ASCI funding
based on the assumption that spending three quarters of a billion
dollars every year on high-end computing power at the three weapons
laboratories; Los Alamos, Sandia, and Livermore was required to maintain
the safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile without underground
testing. However, Congressional testimony by NNSA officials is beginning
to erode the confidence of the Committee that the Science-based Stockpile
Stewardship is performing as advertised. The Department continues
to argue for an 18 month test readiness posture because of the possibility
of unanticipated problems in the existing stockpile due to aging that
ultimately will impact confidence in the reliability of the nuclear
deterrent. The Department's argument for building a ‘responsive
infrastructure' is also based on the need to respond to unforeseen
problems in the existing stockpile. The Committee recommendation recognizes
the Department's inability to achieve the promises of the Stockpile
Stewardship effort and redirects ASCI funding to maintain current
life extension production capabilities pending the initiation of the
Reliable Replacement Warhead program. . . ."
PIT MANUFACTURING AND PIT CERTIFICATION:
"The Committee recommendation for pit manufacturing
and certification campaign is $241,074,000, a reduction of $7,686,000
from the budget request. The Committee commends the Los Alamos National
Laboratory for its work restoring the pit production capability to
the nuclear weapons production complex. The Committee continues to
oppose the Department's accelerated efforts to site and begin construction
activities on a modern pit facility and urges the Department to continue
to concentrate its management attention on meeting the fiscal year
2007 schedule for a certified pit ready for the stockpile. The Committee
provides $120,926,000 for W88 Pit Manufacturing and $61,895,000, for
W88 Certification, the same as the budget request. The Committee recommendation
for pit manufacturing capability is $23,071,000 the same as the budget
request.
"The Committee does not provide the requested $7,686,000
for the modern pit facility (MPF) pending the outcome of the Nuclear
Weapons Complex Infrastructure Study and the accelerated plutonium
aging experiments. The Committee recommends the NNSA focus its efforts
on how best to lengthen the life of the stockpile and minimize the
need for an enormously expensive infrastructure facility until the
long-term strategy for the physical infrastructure of the weapons
complex has incorporated the Reliable Replacement Warhead strategy,
and the potential for a significantly reduced out-year stockpile requirement,
and the expanding TA-55 pit production capacity at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory. The post-2025 stockpile size and the evolving
responsive infrastructure strategy for the weapons complex should
dictate the timing and location of a pit production facility. The
Committee will consider a modern pit facility site and design only
when the detailed analysis of the pit aging experiments and the concomitant
capacity requirements tied to the long-term stockpile size are determined.
The Committee provides the budget request for Pit Campaign support
activities at the Nevada Test Site."
Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics fyi@aip.org
301-209-3095
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