National Nuclear Security Administration's Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan

Dear Ms. Kearney,

Today, we published the third post in a new blog series jointly produced by FAS and the Union of Concerned Scientists. This four part series will analyze the National Nuclear Security Administration's Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan and future challenges the plan will face in the new budget environment.

Since the 1950s, the reliability of U.S. nuclear warheads has been successfully validated using a wide range of simulation experiments, such as the compression of fissile material in hydrodynamic tests. These hydrodynamic tests are designed to mimic the first stages of a nuclear explosion. Yet, in the FY 2012 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, there is a push to increase the size of hydrodynamic tests and use more fissile material to more closely resemble actual warhead design. NNSA officials claim scaled experiments could yield more data and save money, but the weapons laboratories and Congress say that the plan is premature and needs more studying.

To read more about the push for use of scaled experiments by NNSA in the third post of this series, click here.

Please join me on Friday, September 23, 2011 at 1 PM EST in which I will be participating in a conference call with FAS members to answer questions and discuss the implications of the 2012 Stockpile Stewardship Management Plan. If you would like to participate in this call, please e-mail Katie Colten at kcolten@fas.org by Thursday, September 22.

Thank you for your continued support of FAS and helping us reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our world.

With Gratitude,

Hans M. Kristensen