March 17, 2014

B61 FUNDING CUT BY SENATE E&W APPROPS PANEL; REASSESSMENT OF LEP CALLED FOR

By ExchangeMonitor

Concerned about the rising costs of the B61 life extension program and a 2019 deadline to complete a First Production Unit on the bomb, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is calling on the National Nuclear Security Administration to “reassess” options on the expensive refurbishment effort while slashing funding for the program. The Obama Administration requested $537 in Fiscal Year 2014 for refurbishment work on the bomb, according a Pentagon estimate could cost more than $10 billion. The NNSA’s own estimate is approximately $8 billion. “The question is do you have to take a Cadillac model to do the work or can you take a lesser model, a Ford model, and repair those components that are necessary,” Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said after subcommittee cleared the FY 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act.

After the markup, Feinstein also told reporters that the subcommittee was only funding a bare-bones refurbishment on three key components of the bomb, but NW&M Monitor learned that funding for the B61 was not restricted in such a way. Feinstein, however, has proven to be a skeptic about refurbishment efforts, a critic of cost increases on major NNSA projects, and an advocate of the Obama Administration’s push for new nuclear reductions, which has fueled her position on the B61. “I doubt very much whether a B61, candidly, in my view, is ever going to be used, and a pox on the house of the people that use it, because they’re big bombs,” she said after the markup. “And I happen to agree with what the President is doing, which is working for reductions in nuclear arms on a bilateral basis with Russia. The [New] START Treaty I think was a beginning.”

The subcommittee’s decision has been hotly debated behind closed doors in recent weeks, with Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) fighting to preserve funding for the refurbishment. At yesterday’s markup, he voiced opposition to the cut, and he is believed to be considering taking action when the full Senate Appropriations Committee marks up the bill Thursday. “While overall funding for weapons activities are strong, specific funding for programs such as the B61 life extension program are far from adequate in my opinion,” Udall said. “Funding for the LEP is insufficient as recommended by our lab directors, the NNSA, DoD, the Nuclear Weapons Council, and the President, and will have major impacts on our Stockpile Stewardship Program.”

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