Press Room

 

 

LIVERMORE, CA – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sent its Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Budget Request to Congress. The largest share, by far, of DOE’s $30 billion request is its $12 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). And, the lion’s share of the NNSA funding request goes to Nuclear Weapons Activities, at $7.630 billion for FY 2012.

 

Energy Secretary Steven Chu released an 18-page slide presentation from Washington; later also releasing the full 562-page NNSA Budget Request. Several items jump out:

 

First, the Secretary of Energy’s budget presentation for nuclear weapons activities is deceptive. On page 19 of Chu’s presentation, for example, there is a column that says FY12 vs. FY10, followed by the notation that the nuclear weapons activities budget request represents a $621 million increase. However, that is not correct. The FY 2010 appropriation for nuclear weapons activities was $6.386 billion, the FY 2012 request is $7.630, a difference of $1.244 billion.

 

For most DOE programs, the column headings are correct and the FY 2012 budget request is truly compared to the agency’s FY 2010 appropriations (called the “current appropriation” due to a series of Continuing Resolutions in FY 2011, with no full-year budget). A small asterisk at the bottom of Chu’s page 19 lets you know that the NNSA comparison is with the FY 2011 budget request in contrast to what the column headings actually say. Tri-Valley CAREs Executive Director, Marylia Kelley, charged, “This is deceptive and serves to disguise that the FY 2012 budget request for nuclear weapons activities is more than a billion dollars over the 2010 appropriation.”

 

In other highlights, the NNSA budget request for a new plutonium factory at Los Alamos to enable an increase in the production of new bomb cores from 20/year to up to 80/year, called the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility, is $300 million for FY2012, with overall construction pegged at up to $6.2 billion, according to the budget request.

 

Similarly, the NNSA request for a new Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 in TN to enable an increase in the production of new nuclear weapon “secondaries” – also up to 80/year – has more than $160 million requested for FY 2012, with an overall price tag of up to $6.5 billion, according to the budget request. In both cases, the estimates may rise as the two projects “mature”.

 

The NNSA budget request also contains increases for nuclear weapon “Life Extension Programs” (LEPs) that go far beyond extending the explosive life of U.S. nuclear weapons and instead tinker with adding “modifications” and new features and capabilities. The FY 2012 request includes $257 million for the submarine-launched W76 LEP, nearly $224 million for a new gravity-dropped B61 LEP, and funds an initial feasibility study at $51 million for a future W78 ICBM LEP. As with the new bomb plants, these monies are a mere down payment on the overall future LEP programs.

 

Kelley said, “The FY 2012 increase in the NNSA nuclear weapons funding request is for expensive, unnecessary new bomb plants and for making ill-advised changes inside U.S. nuclear weapons that may actually undermine their safety and reliability by introducing features that cannot be fully tested. Because this increase in funding will exacerbate the nuclear dangers we face and make us less secure, we call on the 'tea party' members of Congress and the budget hawks of both parties to cut the NNSA nuclear weapons activities budget back to its 2010 level, at a minimum. That would save more than a billion dollars in the coming year and tens of billions in the coming decade.”

 

Staff Attorney, Scott Yundt noted, “While the New START ratification agreement contained a commitment for “modernization” of the nuclear weapons complex and to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear deterrent, that does not mandate that Congress throw bundles of cash at NNSA for programs of questionable value. Instead, Congress should adequately fund facilities at Pantex to safely dismantle retired warheads, defense environmental cleanup programs and Global Threat Reduction and other important non-proliferation programs at DOE.”

 

Yundt continued, “We are also dismayed that Livermore Lab’s nuclear weapons activities are slated to rise. The NNSA request for Livermore’s FY 2012 weapons activities is up more than $92 million, to $1.091 billion from around $998.85 million in 2010. In contrast, the NNSA request for renewable energy research at Livermore Lab is only $7.35 million. This demonstrates a mistaken set of priorities.”

 

Kelley concluded, “This budget request showers its affection in the form of billions of dollars on unnecessary, dangerous and proliferation-provocative nuclear weapons programs. This is a ‘heartbreak budget’ for all who favor global nuclear disarmament. We at Tri-Valley CAREs call on President Obama to follow through on his 'Prague speech,' in which he committed the U.S. to lead the way on global disarmament issues. We do not underestimate how hard it will be to constrain NNSA funding, but that is a necessary step on the path to a safer world and we pledge on this Valentine’s Day to dedicate our efforts to it.”

 

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Copies of the Energy Secretary’s presentation and the NNSA budget request can be found at doe.gov, or on our website at www.trivalleycares.org under “government documents”.