Nonprolif. Groups Petition White House for More Nuke Security Funding

Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
5/30/2014

Nonproliferation groups have harshly criticized the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 request for nonproliferation work, and two groups are now directly appealing to the White House to increase the funding. The Council for a Livable World and the Fissile Material Working Group have initiated an online petition calling for the White House to restore funding for nuclear security programs in the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Defense. The Administration requested $1.6 billion for NNSA nonproliferation work, a cut of $398.4 million, and $365 million for the Pentagon’s Cooperative Threat Reduction account, drawing howls of concern from nonproliferation groups.

If the petition gets 100,000 signatures, the White House is required to issue an official response, the groups said. "These cuts increase the risk that terrorists could obtain materials to construct a crude nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb," the groups wrote in the petition, adding: "We applaud your leadership on initiating the Nuclear Security Summit process. Still, as you said at the 2014 summit, significant work remains to be done. Please work with Congress to ensure that these programs have resources to build a secure nuclear future where no American fears the threat of nuclear terrorism."

The National Nuclear Security Administration conducted a “subsurface, non-nuclear chemical high-explosive experiment” at the Nevada National Security Site aimed at improving U.S. detection of low-yield nuclear explosions, the agency said Sept. 30.

The experiment was conducted in the P Tunnel in Area 12 at NNSS and involved chemical high explosives and radiotracers, according to the release. Data gathered during the test will be used to validate scientific models and refine algorithms supporting U.S. nuclear explosion detection capabilities, the agency said.

The experiment was particularly focused on improving the ability to detect a “decoupled” nuclear explosion, in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the seismic signals that reach monitoring sensors. NNSA said the United States previously determined that China conducted a decoupled nuclear test at its Lop Nur test site in June 2020.

“[I]t takes nuclear expertise to detect nuclear activities and experiments like these ensure America remains unmatched in detection,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said. “The Trump Administration has made it clear that the United States will lead from a position of strength.”

Researchers deployed a broad range of sensors during the experiment, including accelerometers, seismometers, infrasound and electromagnetic sensors, as well as chemical and radiotracer samplers and meteorological equipment.

NNSA said the experiment supports the Donald Trump administration’s broader effort to maintain U.S. capabilities for detecting foreign nuclear testing. The agency described the work as part of ongoing efforts to ensure the United States can identify nuclear activities even when an adversary attempts to reduce the signals produced by an underground explosion.

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