The Obama Administration is requesting $48.05 million for National Nuclear Security Administration warhead dismantlement efforts in Fiscal Year 2016, $1.95 million less than FY 2015 funding levels, but it is planning to level out funding through FY 2020, according to budget documents released Monday. The NNSA said it was still on track to meet its goal of dismantling all weapons retired before FY 2009 by FY 2022 under the current dismantlement plan, which includes relatively flat funding through FY 2020. Under the budget projections released Monday, funding for the program would gradually increase before peaking in FY 2019 at $52.37 million. Funding of $51.77 is projected for FY 2020. The bulk of the NNSA’s warhead dismantlement work takes place at the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The relatively flat level of funding represents a departure from last year’s budget request. The Administration requested only $30 million a year ago before Congress boosted funding, and projected funding peaking at $71 million in FY 2019. Budget documents reveal that the dismantlement program “developed several dismantlement scenarios to eliminate any gaps in dismantlement due to further stockpile reductions.”
Jobs