Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
12/19/2014
President Obama this week signed an omnibus spending package that funds the government for the rest of Fiscal Year 2015. Overall, the bill provides $8.23 billion for the NNSA’s weapons program, an $83 million cut from the Administration’s $8.31 billion request but a $450 million increase over the $7.78 billion provided in FY 2014. The bill fully funds the Administration’s $643 million request for work on the B61 refurbishment, $259.2 million request for work on the W76 refurbishment, and its $165.4 million request for work on the W88 Alt 370. The bill also provides $35.7 million for work to sustain Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium capabilities after the cancellation and of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and fully funds the Administration’s $335 million request for work on the Uranium Processing Facility, while lifting a restriction on the use of construction funds on UPF prior to the 90 percent design threshold. The bill also fully funds a $9.4 million feasibility study on the cruise missile warhead that the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee zeroed out.
Despite the Administration’s plans for a shutdown of the project, construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility will continue at the $345 million funding level included in the bill. That compares to the $196 million included in the Administration’s FY 15 budget request, which called for work on the plant to be ramped down as it moves into a “cold standby” mode while the Department of Energy examined alternatives to the facility. Overall the bill provides the NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation $1.64 billion, or $86 million more than the budget request.
The $853.3 million the bill allocates for research, development, testing and evaluation for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement program is $4 million above the amount requested by the President and authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 15, accounting for development of the ship’s propulsion component. The appropriations bill provides more money for Trident 2s than all other strategic forces, allocating $1.18 billion toward missile modification and missile industrial facilities, compared to Obama’s $1.2 billion request. Funding for Trident 2s occupies more than 38 percent of the total amount indicated for Navy weapons.
