[ RadSafe ] U.S. FY 2006 Nuclear Weapons Funding bill

[John Jacobus]

>From another list server.

Note: 
ROBUST NUCLEAR EARTH PENETRATOR (RNEP) ("BUNKER
BUSTER"):  "The Committee recommendation provides no
funding for RNEP. 


-----Original Message-----
From: fyi at aip.org [mailto:fyi at aip.org] 
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 11:58 AM
To: Jacobus, John (NIH/OD/ORS)
Subject: FYI #73: FY 2006 Nuclear Weapons Funding bill

FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science
Policy News Number 73: May 23, 2005

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. . . . "


ROBUST NUCLEAR EARTH PENETRATOR (RNEP) ("BUNKER
BUSTER"):

"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
The American Institute of Physics
fyi at aip.org    http://www.aip.org/gov
(301) 209-3094
##END##########


+++++++++++++++++++
"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com