Final FY21 Appropriations: National Nuclear Security Administration
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s appropriation for fiscal year 2021 increases the agency’s budget by $3 billion to just under $20 billion, nearly matching what the Trump administration requested.
Most of the additional funding is for modernizing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and associated infrastructure, building on a budget surge that began in 2015 when NNSA’s topline stood near $11 billion. The legislation also increases funding for nuclear nonproliferation programs by $96 million to $2.26 billion, distributed across efforts to secure nuclear materials domestically and abroad, as well as efforts to minimize their use and detect clandestine nuclear activities.
An explanatory statement
Nuclear stockpile modernization
NNSA’s budget was the subject of a major dispute within the Trump administration last year, in which President Trump ultimately sided
Part of NNSA’s budget increase is for efforts to manufacture the plutonium cores of nuclear weapons, known as “pits,” to replace aging ones in the existing stockpile. The agency has lacked large-scale pit production facilities since the 1989 closure of its Rocky Flats facility in Colorado and it is working to reconstitute these capabilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Per a statutory requirement, NNSA is aiming to produce at least 80 pits per year across both sites by 2030, and the appropriation increases the program budget for pit production from $798 million to $1.37 billion in support of that goal.
However, via the House report, Congress notes that an independent assessment
In addition, Congress raises concerns about “the apparent lack of focus on advancing knowledge regarding pit and plutonium aging” following a 2006 study
Weapons research, development, and testing

A schematic of changes to NNSA’s weapons R&D budget structure.
(Image credit – Congressional Research Service)
R&D budget restructure. Congress accepts NNSA’s proposal to restructure its weapons R&D activities within a new account called Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering. The account includes a new budget line dedicated to university-based programs and subsumes certain activities from elsewhere in NNSA’s budget. Congress funds the new topline account at $2.81 billion, a 10% increase over the equivalent accounts in fiscal year 2020, slightly exceeding the request.
Stockpile verification. Much of the weapons R&D portfolio supports the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which employs various scientific capabilities to certify the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile without resorting to explosive nuclear testing. Responding to reports
Stockpile Responsiveness Program. To complement the Stockpile Stewardship Program, Congress created the Stockpile Responsiveness Program in 2017 to offer lab personnel opportunities to exercise a broader range of skills associated with the weapons lifecycle, such as weapons design. While the program’s budget has quickly grown to $70 million, the House proposed to slash it to $5 million. The final legislation maintains the budget at $70 million, while retaining House language directing NNSA to provide a detailed account of current activities as well as “timely updates on the status of any new and existing taskings, studies, and assessments.” In its budget request, NNSA sought to assure
Assessment Science. Through the Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments program, NNSA is developing a new X-ray imaging capability
Inertial Confinement Fusion. The ICF budget is increasing $8.5 million to $575 million, with Congress directing NNSA to allocate at least $349 million for the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, $5 million above the minimum it specified last year, and at least $82 million for the OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester, $2 million above last year’s minimum. It also allocates at least $67 million for the Z Facility at Sandia National Labs, as it did last year. Under the budget restructuring, the High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas program is moved to the new Academic Programs account and funded at $8.7 million, a marginal increase.
Academic Programs. The total budget for Academic Programs is increasing $15 million to $102 million, with $35 million specified for the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program, a $10 million increase. Via the House report, Congress also directs NNSA to allocate $6 million toward establishing an advanced manufacturing research center focused on ways to “evaluate, diagnose, and control materials for production and manufacturing purposes.” It stipulates that the center be led by “a university with a school of engineering that has expertise in lifetime extension research and materials science.”
Nuclear nonproliferation

Workers remove a cesium-137 irradiator from Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in 2018.
(Image credit – NNSA)
Cesium cleanup. Through its Cesium Irradiator Replacement Program, NNSA helps hospitals transition away from using blood irradiators that contain the radioactive isotope cesium-137. Congress directs NNSA to allocate at least $65 million to the program, a $20 million increase over the minimum specified last year. Of the total, $30 million is allocated to cleanup of cesium spilled
Nuclear forensics. Congress endorses NNSA’s proposal to create a National Technical Nuclear Forensics R&D Program
Nonproliferation workforce. Congress ramps up funding for the recently established Nonproliferation Stewardship Program
Low-enriched uranium fuel. Congress increases the Nonproliferation Fuels Development program budget from $15 million to $20 million in support of efforts to create a low-enriched alternative to the highly enriched uranium fuels currently used by nuclear-powered naval vessels. The administration requested no funds for the effort, maintaining that such fuel would be impractical and costly for the Navy to use.
Mo-99 production. Over the past decade, NNSA has supported private-sector efforts to develop domestic production methods for the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 that do not use highly enriched uranium. Congress provides $50 million to support a new competitively awarded funding opportunity
Plutonium disposal. In 2018, NNSA pulled the plug on a beleaguered project