FY 2012 Request for National Nuclear Security Administration

Publication date
Number
21

The  Administration has requested a 5.1 percent or $568.2 million increase for the  National Nuclear Security Administration for FY 2012.  Under this request, funding would increase  from the FY 2011 Administration request of $11,214.8 million to $11,782.9  million. 

An  FY 2011 appropriation bill has not been passed for the NNSA.  However, the Department of Energy has based  its comparisons on the FY 2011 request, and not on the FY 2010 appropriation.

The  DOE “Budget Highlights”  document provides  additional detail regarding the NNSA request, starting on page 62.  Selections from this document follow.

Total  NNSA Funding:

Up  5.1 percent or $568.2 million from $11,214.8 million to $11,782.9 million.

The  budget document explains:

“The  National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) continues significant efforts  to meet Administration and Secretarial priorities, leveraging science to  promote U.S. national security objectives. The FY 2012 President’s budget  request for NNSA is $11.8 billion; an increase of 5.1 percent from the  President’s FY 2011 Request. The five-year FY 2012-2016 President’s       Request  for the NNSA reflects the President’s global nuclear nonproliferation  priorities and his commitment to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and  sustain a strong nuclear deterrent, as described in the 2010 Nuclear Posture  Review (NPR) Report, for the duration of the New START Treaty and beyond. The  NNSA’s defense and homeland security-related       objectives  include:       -  Ensure that the U.S. nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective while  implementing changes called for by the 2010 NPR and the New START Treaty       -   Broaden and strengthen the NNSA's  science, technology and engineering mission to meet national security needs       -  Transform the Nation's Cold-War era weapons complex into a 21st century  national security enterprise       -  Work with global partners to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the  world and implement the President’s nuclear security agenda expressed in the  May 2010 National Security Strategy and the Nuclear Posture Review report       -  Provide safe and effective nuclear propulsion for U.S. Navy warships”

Weapons  Activities:

Up  8.9 percent or $620.9 million from $7,008.8 million to $7,629.7 million.

The  budget document states:

“The  Weapons Activities request is an increase of 8.9 percent over the President’s  FY 2011 Request. This level is sustained and increased in the later outyears.  The multi-year increase is necessary to reflect the President’s commitment to  maintain the safety, security and effectiveness of the nuclear deterrent  without underground nuclear testing, consistent with the principles of the  Report on the Plan for the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, Nuclear Weapons Complex,  and Delivery Platforms (known as the ‘1251 Report’) and the Stockpile  Management Program as stipulated in Sections 1251 and 3113(a)(2) of the National  Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2010. Increases are provided for  direct support of the nuclear weapon stockpile, for scientific, technical and  engineering activities related to maintenance assessment and certification  capabilities, and for recapitalization of key nuclear facilities. The  President’s Request provides funding necessary to protect the nationalresource  of human capital at the national laboratories through a stockpile stewardship  program that exercises and retains these  capabilities.”

Programs within Weapons Activities include:

Directed  Stockpile Work: Up 3.4 percent or $65.2 million from $1,898.4 million to  $1,963.6 million.

Science  Campaign: Up 11.1 percent or $40.7 million from $365.2 million to $405.9  million.

Engineering  Campaign: Up 0.8 percent or $1.2 million from $141.9 million to $143.1 million.

Inertial  Confinement Fusion and High Yield Campaign: Down 1.1 percent or $5.3 million  from $481.6 million to $476.3 million.

Advanced  Simulation and Computing Campaign: Up 2.1 percent or $13.2 million from $615.8  million to $629.0 million.

Readiness  Campaign: Up 27.1 percent or $30.4 million from $112.1 million to $142.5  million.

Readiness  in Technical Base and Facilities: Up 25.8 percent or $477.2 million from  $1,849.0 million to $2,326.1 million.

Defense  Nuclear Nonproliferation:

Down  5.1 percent or $137.7 million from $2,687.2 million to $2,549.5 million.

The  budget document states:

“The  FY 2012 request for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) is $2.5 billion; a  decrease of 5.1 percent from the President’s FY 2011 Request. This decrease  reflects completion of long-lead procurements for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication  Facility (MOX) and Waste Solidification Building (WSB). It also reflects our  decision to await an agreement between the U.S. and Russia on detailed  implementation milestones prior to requesting additional U.S.-pledged funding  to support Russian plutonium disposition. The Administration prioritizes U.S.  leadership in global nonproliferation initiatives as directed through the  National Security Strategy and has advanced this agenda through commitments  from global partners during the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit. In addition to  the programs funded solely by the NNSA, Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation  programs support interagency and international efforts to protect national  security by preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials to  terrorist organizations and rogue states. These efforts are implemented in part  through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the G8 Global Partnership  against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, and the Global  Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.”

The  budget document continues, mentioning Molybdenum 99:

“DNN  supports the President’s goal to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the  world within four years. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative’s emphasis in  FY 2012 is to convert domestic and international nuclear reactors from  weapons-usable highly enriched uranium fuel to low-enriched uranium fuel (LEU);  while preserving our capability to produce the critically needed Molybdenum 99  isotope. The FY 2012 President’s request for International Nuclear       Materials  Protection and Cooperation reflects selective new security upgrades to  buildings and       sites  in accordance with the President’s goal to secure vulnerable nuclear materials  around the world within four years, as well as enhancements and sustainability  support for previous work. The Fissile Materials Disposition program continues  domestic construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility scheduled to come  online in 2016; and design for the pit disassembly and conversion capability to  provide it with plutonium oxide feedstock.”

Note  that the Administration has requested an increase of 24.6 percent or $29.3  million from $119.0 million to $148.3 million for Highly Enriched Uranium  Conversion, stating “Increase reflects support to accelerate the establishment  of a reliable domestic production capability for the critical medical isotope  Mo-99 without the use of HEU.”

Naval  Reactors:

Up  7.8 percent or $83.2 million from $1,070.5 million to $1,153.7 million.

Office  of the Administrator:

Up  0.4 percent or $1.8 million from $448.3 million to $450.1 million.

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