President Donald Trump signed into law last week the massive reconciliation bill that would appropriate millions in extra funds to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The funds, part of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that includes $150 billion for defense purposes, would be available in fiscal 2025 through the end of fiscal 2029.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), in addition to the $25 billion it received for fiscal 2025, will receive $200 million to conduct studies on the life cycle of the nuclear weapon. NNSA will also receive $540 million to address deferred maintenance and repair needs, $1 billion to accelerate construction of facilities, and $400 million for the development of the warhead for the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N).
The funds for NNSA’s warhead for SLCM-N – currently the W80-4 warhead, though NNSA and the Navy have said they are looking at alternatives – are separate from the $2 billion the Department of Defense will receive to accelerate integrating SLCM-N into Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.
The DoD also got $2.5 billion for risk reduction for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program and $500 million for improvements to the current Minuteman III ICBM system. $4.5 billion was also appropriated to expand production capacity of the B-21 long-range bomber, which is capable of carrying NNSA’s B61-12 gravity bomb, and purchasing aircraft only if it expands production capacity.
The nuclear triad also received $148 million for expanding D5 missile motor production, or the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile, and $400 million to accelerate developing Trident D5LE2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
NNSA also received $120 million for domestic uranium enrichment centrifuge deployment for defense purposes, and DoD received $125 million to accelerate developing small, portable modular nuclear reactors for military use.
