Not since the resurgence of the Cold War in Ronald Reagan's first term has there been such an emphasis on nuclear weapons in U.S. defense strategy.

Natural Resources Defense Council

The Nuclear Weapons Council, made up of officials from the Defense and Energy departments, has ordered a three-year study into developing a nuclear-tipped, earth-penetrating weapon that can destroy hardened underground targets. The administration has also established "advanced warhead concept teams" at the nation's three nuclear weapons laboratories to work on new warheads or warhead modifications.

Both initiatives were proposed in a year-long study, the Nuclear Posture Review, conducted under the direction of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and approved by President Bush last month. But they were only made public Thursday in congressional testimony by retired Gen. John A. Gordon, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the country's nuclear weapons complex.

Some groups are criticizing the Bush administration's plans. "Not since the resurgence of the Cold War in Ronald Reagan's first term has there been such an emphasis on nuclear weapons in U.S. defense strategy," said the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that specializes in analyzing U.S. nuclear weapons programs.

At the time the Nuclear Posture Review was released, officials focused attention on its proposals for large-scale reductions in the number of nuclear warheads. Bush announced in November that the United States will reduce the number of deployed warheads from its current level of 6,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200 within 10 years. But instead of destroying most of the warheads, the administration plans to put them in storage where they could be reactivated.

In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gordon said the Nuclear Weapons Council study on a bunker-penetrating warhead is examining two possible designs, one by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the other by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Gordon also said the studies "would proceed beyond the 'paper' stage and include a combination of component and subassembly tests and simulations."

The National Nuclear Security Administration workload, at least for the next 10 years, is overwhelmingly devoted to refurbishing nuclear warheads for the land-based Minuteman III ICBM, the sub-launched Trident SLBM, the air-launched cruise missile and versions of the B-61 nuclear bomb. The one new warhead planned for dismantlement is the W-62, the original warhead on the first 500 Minuteman III missiles, but disassembly of those warheads is not expected to begin until late in this decade, Gordon said.

To support this workload, the Nuclear Posture Review calls for almost doubling the capacity of the Nuclear Security Administration's Pantex plant outside Amarillo, Tex., to handle 600 warheads a year, up from today's 350, according to a report issued last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to the council's report, the posture review also calls for a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to be operational in 2020, a new sub-launched ballistic missile and new strategic submarine by 2030 and a new heavy bomber by 2040.

Gordon said the review calls for accelerating work on development of a new plant to produce plutonium pits, the part of a thermonuclear weapon whose atomic explosion acts as a trigger mechanism.

In addition, Gordon said, there would be an expansion and modernization of the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn., which handles highly enriched uranium as well as the other radioactive materials for thermonuclear weapons. An additional $15 million has been allocated to prepare the Nevada Test Site to resume testing within a year's time, although Gordon said the Bush administration still supports the moratorium on underground testing.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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