A US plan for simpler, safer nuclear arms
Cold War-era US warheads are too complex for the needs of today's geopolitical climate, some say.
from the March 9, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"We still have the same missiles, but they carry far fewer warheads, so there's no particular premium on making those warheads light. And I'm spending money to get rid of plutonium, not conserve it," said Linton F. Brooks, then-administrator of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, in a discussion on the future of nuclear weapons last year.
According to current and former US officials, the US can take advantage of change in the world and to redesign existing warheads so that they have more margin for error, are easier to manufacture, and may be secure against terrorists if they are ever stolen.
Picking a new warhead design
Enter the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW). The RRW design project began three years ago. Per congressional order, it is supposed to produce only replacements for existing warheads – not to create additional warheads for new missions such as attacking underground bunkers. The US has an arsenal of about 6,000 deployed warheads and has previously said it would reduce the number to 1,700 to 2,200 by 2012.
On March 2, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced the selection of a design from Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories for RRW development. Under the program, Navy submarine-launched weapons would be the first warheads replaced.
US officials indicated that the Lawrence Livermore design beat out a competitor from the Los Alamos National Lab in large part because it was based on older designs that have already been proven effective in underground nuclear tests.
The US has maintained a moratorium on nuclear tests since 1992. It has signed, but not ratified, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans explosions in all environments for military or civilian purposes.
The chosen design "builds on the successful scientific accomplishments of our Stockpile Stewardship Program, which helps to maintain our nuclear weapons without underground testing," said Thomas P. D'Agostino, NNSA acting administrator, on March 2.
Over the next year, US lab scientists will put together cost estimates and an engineering and production plan that Congress will be able to consider next year, Mr. D'Agostino added.
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