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March 17, 2014

NUKE WEAPONS COUNCIL MEETS TO DECIDE ON PLANS FOR B61

By ExchangeMonitor

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 Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall. The group also includes NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Fluornoy, U.S. Strategic Command Chief Gen. Robert Kehler, and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

The group was expected to be presented with several refurbishment options for the B61 bomb after the NNSA and Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories completed a design definition and cost study on the refurbishment this fall. The council’s authorization is needed for the refurbishment to proceed to Phase 6.3 of the life extension program, development engineering. The NNSA hasn’t released details about the design definition and cost study for the refurbishment, but the agency is believed to have produced a wide array of alternatives and an equally broad cost range between $3.9 billion and $7 billion that reflects the different security, surety and safety features that could be added to the weapon during the refurbishment.

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