March 17, 2014

CBO ESTIMATES NUCLEAR SPENDING AT $355 BILLION OVER NEXT 10 YEARS

By ExchangeMonitor

Maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent over the next 10 years is likely to cost about $355 billion, $141 billion more than the Obama Administration suggested in 2011, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in late December. The report also notes that other nuclear-related activities, like nonproliferation, nuclear dismantlement, missile defense, and nuclear cleanup, are likely to add another $215 billion more to the estimated price tag over the next decade. In 2011, the Administration said that it would need $214 billion to maintain and modernize its nuclear deterrent over the next decade, which included costs for delivery vehicles as well as nuclear warheads and associated infrastructure. Congress asked the Congressional Budget Office to assess the cost of maintaining the nuclear deterrent over the next 10 years, and the CBO delivered its report shortly before Christmas.

The CBO found that DOE’s portion of maintaining and modernizing the deterrent would cost about $105 billion over the next 10 years, of which about $77 billion would be needed for work on the nuclear weapons enterprise. The Department of Defense’s share of the nuclear costs would be about $191 billion. However, the budget office said “if costs to modernize weapons and delivery systems and to construct new nuclear facilities continued to grow as they have historically” it would take another $59 billion over the next decade to maintain the deterrent. DOE’s share of the increase would be $29 billion, while DOE’s share would be $30 billion. CBO noted that much of the cost to modernize the nation’s warheads, weapons complex and fleet of delivery systems would take place outside the 10-year window that it examined, meaning that future costs could continue to increase.

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