Department of Energy Releases Sections of Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plans

Two Ploughshares Fund grantees -- Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) -- recently obtained previously unpublished sections of the Obama Administration's plan to modernize the nuclear stockpile.  

The classified "Section 1251 Report," which was submitted to Congress in concert with the New START Treaty, outlines the Obama Administration's plan to maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal for as long as we have nuclear weapons.  The document was prepared by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), part of the Department of Energy.

UCS and FAS identified several key takeaways from the newly released documents, including:

• The United States plans further reductions in its nuclear arsenal
• Reductions will not save much money or reduce the size of the nuclear complex
• Extending the lifetimes of existing weapons will cost $1 billion per year after 2014
• All warheads will be modified

In a recent LA Times article, Hans Kristensen of FAS pointed out that the United States has "to think carefully about what signal we're sending to other countries."

For additional analysis of the documents from Ploughshares Fund grantees, please see:

• Tri-valley CAREs: "Internal DOE Document Reveals Different Nuclear Weapons Plans than the Agency's Public Pronouncements"
• NukeWatch New Mexico: "New Nuclear Weapons Plan: Large Arsenal Maintained, Dismantlements Bottlenecked, Plutonium Pit and Waste Production at Los Alamos Expanded"

To read the nuclear modernization documents, please click below:

• FY 2011 Stewardship and Management Plan Summary (previously released)
• Annex A: Stockpile Stewardship Plan
• Annex D: Biennial Plan and Budget Assessment on the Modernization and Refurbishment of the Nuclear Security Complex