Life Extension Programs

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) isn’t giving up his fight to cut funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s B61 life extension program. Quigley said he was in the “beginning stages” of drafting a bill to cut funding for the nuclear bomb refurbishment despite a failed attempt to trim money from the program during debate on […]

Concerned about possible schedule slips on the B61 life extension program, House Republicans yesterday tied progress on the refurbishment effort to one of the Obama Administration’s signature nonproliferation program during a markup of the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Act. While also fending off attempts by Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee to roll […]

With the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Act slated to be considered on the House floor later this week, House lawmakers sifted through hundreds of proposed amendments to the bill, including a measure drafted by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) that would force NATO to pay for 50 percent of the cost of the B61 refurbishment […]

Concerned about the rising costs of the B61 life extension program and a 2019 deadline to complete a First Production Unit on the bomb, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is calling on the National Nuclear Security Administration to “reassess” options on the expensive refurbishment effort while slashing funding for the program. The Obama […]

Sequestration cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons account won’t impact the W76 refurbishment program and will have a “minimal” impact on the B61 refurbishment program, NNSA weapons chief Don Cook said yesterday in a speech at the Capitol Hill Club. The across-the-board funding cuts slashed approximately $600 million from the NNSA’s weapons account […]

Concerned about the National Nuclear Security Administration’s ability to pull off an interoperable warhead that could be replace the W78 and W88 weapons systems, the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee unveiled legislation yesterday that would require the Nuclear Weapons Council to broaden the scope of its refurbishment studies. The NWC already broadened the scope […]

The Obama Administration’s decision to refurbish about 400 B61 nuclear bombs is a “nonsensical decision” that is at odds with the President’s vision for a world free of nuclear weapons, the New York Times suggested in a May 26 editorial that advocated that the Administration scrap the $10 billion program. “In a seminal speech in […]

Future approaches to extending the lives of the nation’s nuclear warheads are likely to be restrained in their scope in the wake of the challenges faced by the National Nuclear Security Administration to contain costs on the B61 refurbishment, the former head of the agency said yesterday. Estimates to refurbish the B61 bomb have reached […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has scrapped plans to push the completion of refurbished “hedge” W76 warheads back to 2021 and now plans to complete the entire W76 life extension program by 2019, according to budget documents released this week. The change comes after Navy officials publicly raised concerns that the decision to push back […]

A recent review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s refurbishment plans for the B61 nuclear bomb by the JASON Defense Advisory Group reveals no technical show-stoppers while suggesting that the biggest risks to the project involve money. “There are no radical new technologies being introduced into the NEP that cause JASON to have a significant […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s W76 warhead life extension program could face cost overruns and schedule delays if agency officials can’t better control the per-unit cost of the refurbishment effort, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said in a report released yesterday. The IG said that the NNSA’s own cost projections indicated that it would […]

The Obama Administration’s decision to slow work on the W76 refurbishment erased any margin for error in the key life extension program, but a senior Navy official said late last week that the service was comfortable with the change and signed off on the decision. Faced with tightening budgets, the NNSA said in February that […]

The estimated cost of a National Nuclear Security Administration program to refurbish four versions of the B61 nuclear bomb has nearly doubled to $7.9 billion over the last year and could cost as much as $10 billion, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said yesterday at a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. Feinstein, the chair […]

A disconnect between the designs being developed for the B61 Life Extension Program and available budgets posed a significant threat to the program in 2011, according to a newly released National Nuclear Security Administration document. Life extension options developed by Sandia National Laboratories “significantly exceeded the President’s budget” and earlier estimates, it was revealed in […]

Navy officials are concerned about the Administration’s decision to slow refurbishment of the W76 nuclear warhead in the FY 2013 request, which stretches the life extension program to 2021. The plan will meet the Navy’s operational requirements, but pushes back the completion of hedge warheads for three years and erases any room for error from […]

The refurbishment of the W76 warhead was another victim of the NNSA’s belt-tightening as the agency pledged to slow down work on the warhead to free up money for life extension work on another nuclear bomb, the B61. But NNSA Defense Programs chief Don Cook told NW&M Monitor on the sidelines of the Fourth Annual […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plans to slow down production of refurbished W76 nuclear warheads in Fiscal Year 2013 has raised concerns among top Navy officials, a senior Navy official told the House Armed Services Committee last week. The Administration requested $174.9 million in NNSA’s budget for the W76 program, a decrease of $81.3 million […]

Air Force Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan, the top active duty military officer in the NNSA’s weapons program, shed light on the Navy’s concerns with the agency’s plans to stretch production on refurbished W76 warheads through 2021, three more years than had been initially planned. NNSA officials previously said the altered production schedule frees up money […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council met yesterday afternoon to decide on a path forward for the B61 life extension program, but it’s unclear what conclusion was reached. The NWC is a joint Department of Defense/National Nuclear Security Administration group that governs stockpile management decisions, and it is headed up by acting Under Secretary of Defense for […]