Energy and Water Development Appropriations: Nuclear Weapons Activities

April 1, 2016 – March 14, 2022 R44442

Energy and Water Development
Appropriations: Nuclear Weapons Activities
Updated March 14, 2022
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R44442

Energy and Water Development Appropriations: Nuclear Weapons Activities

Summary
The annual Energy and Water Development appropriations bill funds, among other activities, the
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semiautonomous agency within the
Department of Energy (DOE). NNSA operates three programs: Defense Nuclear
Nonproliferation, Naval Reactors, and Weapons Activities. The last is the subject of this report.
The Weapons Activities account supports U.S. nuclear warheads, provides the materials and
components for those weapons, and sustains the infrastructure that supports that mission. They
provide for “the maintenance and refurbishment of nuclear weapons to continue sustained
confidence in their safety, reliability, and performance; continued investment in scientific,
engineering, and manufacturing capabilities to enable production and certification of the enduring
nuclear weapons stockpile; and manufacture of nuclear weapon components.”
NNSA’s budget request for FY2022 sought $15.48 billion for Weapons Activities, an increase of
0.9% over the enacted funding of $15.35 billion in FY2021, within a total budget of $19.7 billion
for NNSA. Congress provided $15.9 billion for Weapons Activities, within a total of $20.7 billion
for NNSA, in H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022. The increase follows a
nearly 25% increase in NNSA’s budget for Weapons Activities between FY2020 and FY2021,
when funding grew from $12.6 billion to $15.35 billion.
NNSA reorganized and renamed its programs areas in its FY2021 budget request. The four main
programs, each with a request of over $2 billion for FY2023, include the following:
 Stockpile Management contains many projects included in Directed Stockpile
Work from previous years. It supports work directly on nuclear weapons,
including life extension programs, warhead surveillance, maintenance, and other
activities. The FY2020 appropriation for Directed Stockpile Work that became a
part of Stockpile Management was $3.7 billion. Congress appropriated $4.3
billion for them in FY2021 and $4.6 billion in FY2022.
 Production Modernization programs focus on maintaining and expanding the
production capabilities for the components of nuclear weapons. According to
NNSA, these include primaries, canned subassemblies, radiation cases, and non-
nuclear components. The FY2020 appropriation for programs now included in
this program area was $1.6 billion; Congress appropriated $2.5 billion for them
in FY2021, and $2.9 billion in FY2022.
 Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering replaces the Research,
Development, Test and Evaluation program area. These programs provide the
scientific foundation for science-based stockpile decisions. The FY2020
appropriation for programs now in program area was $2.6 billion. Congress
provided $2.8 billion in FY2021 and FY2022.
 Infrastructure and Operations maintains, operates, and modernizes the NNSA
infrastructure. It supports construction of new facilities and funds deferred
maintenance in older facilities. The FY2020 appropriation for programs now in
this program area was $3.2 billion. Congress appropriated $4.1 billion for these
programs FY2021 and $3.9 billion in FY2022.
Weapons Activities also includes several smaller programs, all of which are described in this
report: Secure Transportation Asset, Defense Nuclear Security, Information Technology and
Cybersecurity, and Legacy Contractor Pensions.
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Energy and Water Development Appropriations: Nuclear Weapons Activities

Overview
The Nuclear Security Enterprise
Responsibility for U.S. nuclear weapons resides with both the Department of Defense (DOD) and
the Department of Energy (DOE). DOD develops, deploys, and operates the missiles and aircraft
that can deliver nuclear warheads. It also generates the military requirements for the warheads
carried on those platforms. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a
semiautonomous agency within the Department of Energy, oversees the research, development,
test, and acquisition programs that produce, maintain, and sustain the warheads. NNSA is also
responsible for storing and securing the warheads that are not deployed with DOD delivery
systems and for dismantling warheads that have been retired and removed from the stockpile.
Congress authorizes funding for both DOD and NNSA nuclear weapons activities in the annual
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA); it funds the NNSA budget through the Energy and
Water Development Appropriations Act. This report focuses on the portion of the Energy and
Water Development Appropriations Act that funds NNSA’s nuclear weapons activities.
Reorganization of the Nuclear Security Enterprise
During World War II, when the United States first developed nuclear weapons, the Army
managed the nuclear weapons program. In 1946, Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1946
to establish the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The AEC was an independent civilian agency
tasked with managing the U.S. nuclear weapons program. In the Energy Research and
Development Act of 1974, Congress dissolved the AEC and created the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), which among
other functions managed the nuclear weapons program. That program was moved again by the
Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which dissolved ERDA and created DOE.1
Congress, in passing the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (P.L. 106-65,
Title XXXII), established the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. In
addition to managing the nuclear weapons program, NNSA also manages the Defense Nuclear
Nonproliferation and Naval Reactors programs.
These reorganizations stem, in part, from long-standing concerns about the management of the
nuclear weapons complex. Many reports and legislative provisions have been written over the
past several decades to address this issue.2 Congress has also expressed concerns about cost
growth and transparency in NNSA’s programs. These concerns have focused on both major
construction projects and weapons refurbishment programs. Congress may continue to focus on
cost growth and program management as it reviews NNSA’s budget request for FY2021; NNSA
has requested a 25% increase in its FY2021 budget for Weapons Activities.

1 For a history of the nuclear weapons program and related topics, 1939-2010, see U.S. Department of Energy, National
Nuclear Security Administration, “NNSA Timeline,” https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-energy-departments-role-
nuclear-security.
2 Most recently, in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (P.L. 112-239), Congress established
the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise and directed the panel to make
recommendations on “the most appropriate governance structure, mission, and management of the nuclear security
enterprise.” Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise, “A New Foundation
for the Nuclear Enterprise,” November 2014, pp. ix-x, http://cdn.knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/wp-content/uploads/sites/
11/2014/12/Governance.pdf?ga=1.83182294.1320535883.1415285934.
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The Nuclear Weapons Complex
At the end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. nuclear weapons complex consisted of 14 sites—3
laboratories, the nuclear weapons test site in Nevada, and a number of manufacturing plants for
weapons materials and components. As the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal
declined and demand for new warheads and materials abated in the 1990s, the United States
closed several facilities in the complex.
The complex now consists of eight sites in seven states. These sites include three laboratories
(Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA; and
Sandia National Laboratories, NM and CA); four production sites (Kansas City Plant, MO;
Pantex Plant, TX; Savannah River Site, SC; and Y-12 National Security Complex, TN); and the
Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site). NNSA manages and sets policy for
the complex; contractors operate the eight sites.3
Funding Trends Since 2010
The Obama Administration requested increased funding for the nuclear weapons complex in each
of its annual budgets. In an editorial published in January 2010, then-Vice President Biden noted
that U.S. nuclear laboratories and facilities had been “underfunded and undervalued” for more
than a decade.4 He stated that the President’s budget request for FY2011 would include “$7
billion for maintaining our nuclear-weapons stockpile and complex, and for related efforts,” an
amount that was $600 million more than Congress appropriated for FY2010. He also stated that
the Administration would “boost funding for these important activities by more than $5 billion”
over the next five years. Although the passage of the Budget Control Act in late 2011 slowed the
increases in NNSA budgets, as is evident in the figure below, the actual appropriations for
NNSA’s weapons activities have begun to exceed the 10-year expectations outlined in 2010.
The Obama Administration outlined a 10-year projection of its funding plans for the nuclear
weapons enterprise in a May 2010 report to Congress, known as the “1251 report,” in support of
the ratification of the New START Treaty.5 In the November 2010 update of that document, the
Obama Administration projected weapons stockpile and infrastructure costs for FY2011-FY2021
at between $85.4 billion and $86.2 billion. As shown in Figure 1, funds appropriated for these
programs fell below the projected levels early in the decade, after passage of the Budget Control
Act. However, beginning in FY2017, NNSA budget requests have exceeded the amount predicted
in the 2010 report, in response to policy decisions and growing program requirements.
The Trump Administration sharply increased funding for NNSA’s budget for Weapons Activities,
above both the level expected in the 1251 report and the level projected in earlier NNSA budgets.
In its budget for FY2018, the Trump Administration requested an additional $1 billion for NNSA
weapons activities over the level appropriated in FY2017. While the Administration had indicated
that this increase would support both accumulated deferred maintenance requirements at NNSA
weapons facilities and ongoing warhead life extension programs, it continued to direct funding to
the higher-priority life extension programs while funding for deferred maintenance remained

3 For details on the sites in the Nuclear Weapons Complex, see CRS Report R45306, The U.S. Nuclear Weapons
Complex: Overview of Department of Energy Sites, by Amy F. Woolf and James D. Werner.
4 Joe Biden, “The President’s Nuclear Vision,” Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2010.
5 Congress had requested this report in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (P.L. 111-84),
Section 1251, and mandated that it outline a comprehensive plan to “(1) maintain delivery platforms [that is, bombers,
missiles, and submarines that deliver nuclear weapons]; (2) sustain a safe, secure, and reliable U.S. nuclear weapons
stockpile; and (3) modernize the nuclear weapons complex.”
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essentially unchanged. Most of the increases in the funding request for FY2018 divided between
the life extension programs and research and development activities. Congress enacted a budget
of $10.642 billion for weapons activities for NNSA in FY2018, in the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141).
Figure 1. Funding for NNSA Nuclear Weapons Activities
Projected, Requested, and Appropriated, FY2011-FY2022 (billions of current dollars)
18
16
November 2010
14
projection (1251
Report)
12
Budget Request
10
8
Appropriations
6
4
2
0
FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22

Sources: NNSA budget requests, congressional appropriations reports, CRS estimates.
The Trump Administration’s budget for FY2019 requested $11.02 billion, an increase of nearly
$400 million over the funding enacted in FY2018. Congress enacted a budget of $11.1 billion for
weapons activities in the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and
Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 115-244). The FY2020 budget requested $12.4
billion, an increase of $1.3 billion (12%) over the funding enacted in 2019. The House Energy
and Water Appropriations Subcommittee recommended $11.7 billion—$660.8 million above the
funding enacted for FY2019, but $647.8 million below the budget request for FY2020 (H.R.
2960, H.Rept. 116-83), while the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee
recommended $12.7 billion (S. 2470, S.Rept. 116-102). Congress appropriated $12.5 billion in
the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94).
In its FY2020 budget documents, NNSA projected that it would request $12.8 billion for
Weapons Activities in FY2021, within a total budget of $16.9 billion for NNSA. The FY2021
budget request, however, sought $15.6 billion for Weapons Activities within a total of $19.8
billion for NNSA. This would amount to a 25% increase in funding for Weapons Activities, an
18% increase in funding for NNSA over the amount appropriated in FY2020, and a 21% increase
in funding for Weapons Activities and a 17% increase in funding for NNSA over the amount
NNSA had expected to request for FY2021. The House approved $13.7 billion for Weapons
Activities in its version of the FY2021 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (H.R.
7613, H.Rept. 116-449). While this would have been an increase of $1.203 billion (10%) over the
amount appropriated in FY2020, it was a reduction of $1.942 billion from the FY2021 budget
request. Congress, however, appropriated $15.3 billion in H.R. 133, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act for 2021.
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Press reports indicate that the Office of Management and Budget initially reduced NNSA’s
request for FY2021 from $19.6 billion to $18.6 billion, with the White House cutting it further to
$17.5 billion.6 However, reports indicate that, after some Members of Congress appealed to the
President, the White House approved the request for $19.6 billion for NNSA in FY2021.7
In a hearing before the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee
on March 3, 2020, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the Administrator of NNSA, outlined the goals for the
increased funding:
The weapons activities request of $15.6 billion will allow us to modernize the nation’s
nuclear weapons stockpile and infrastructure and meet national security requirements after
several decades of neglect. It will modernize the stockpile with five weapons
modernization programs, execute stockpile sustainment activities, and conduct annual
assessment activities on all weapon systems. With this request, we will continue the
dismantlement and disposition of weapons and components from weapons retired from the
stockpile and support production modernization activities for nonnuclear components and
strategic materials, including a two-site plutonium pit strategy. We will also continue to
recapitalize NNSA’s aging infrastructure, including the Y12 uranium processing facility,
the NNSS U1A complex enhancements project, and the high explosive science and
engineering facility at Pantex.
She noted that NNSA had not asked for or expected this level of funding in the FY2020 budget
request because “we have budget caps and we were operating other—under other situations.” She
stated that the FY2021 budget request was “a realistic number to get us to resolve the decades-
long neglect that has been applied to NNSA and our enterprises.”8
While this explanation focused on the need to pursue modernization programs across the NNSA
portfolio, press reports indicate that the magnitude of the budget increase was not just a result of
the scope of the effort. According to these reports, “internal government documents show the
raise is devoted substantially to covering previously undisclosed cost overruns” and to avoid
“years of new delays in the majority of U.S. atomic weapons programs.” Consequently, “the
additional funds are needed not so much to advance capabilities as merely to keep troubled
programs from falling further behind.”9
During the March 3, 2020, House Armed Services Committee hearing, Allison Bawden of the
Government Accountability Office raised concerns about the size and scope of NNSA’s FY2021
budget request. She noted that “the nuclear security enterprise is embarking on its most ambitious
level of effort since the Cold War era, and NNSA is currently managing four weapon
modernization programs, proposing a fifth, and undertaking infrastructure projects that affect
every strategic material and component used in nuclear weapons.” She stated that it was
important for NNSA to set “priorities among its efforts in the event of budget shortfalls or cost or

6 Steve Hayes, “Budget Squabble Threatens U.S. Nuclear Modernization Efforts,” The Dispatch, January 21, 2020,
https://thedispatch.com/p/budget-squabble-threatens-us-nuclear.
7 Joe Gould, “Trump will seek 20% budget boost for nukes, says Inhofe,” Defense News, January 28, 2019,
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/01/28/trump-will-seek-20-budget-boost-for-nukes-says-inhofe/?
utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2001.29.20&utm_term=Editorial%20-
%20Early%20Bird%20Brief.
8 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Fiscal 2021 Budget Request
for the Nuclear Forces and Atomic Energy Defense Activities, Hearing, 116th Cong., 2nd sess., March 3, 2020.
9 John M. Donnelly, “Undisclosed delays plague atomic programs, cost billions to fix,” Congressional Quarterly,
March 19, 2020, https://plus.cq.com/doc/news-5863379?0&searchId=4tcMmrz2.
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schedule overruns” and raised several concerns about the existing program and schedule. She
noted, among other concerns, that
 because “NNSA’s modernization program is highly integrated, any delay could
have a significant cascading effect on the overall effort”;
 the “construction scheduled for pit facilities is aggressive, and a delay could have
an impact on the schedule for the weapons programs it supports”; and
 “because NNSA uses the same production infrastructure for each weapon
program and capacity is limited, each program’s schedule can impact the next.”10
The Biden Administration requested $15.5 billion for Weapons Activities in NNSA for FY2022,
an increase of 0.9% over the enacted funding of $15.3 billion in FY2021. This was a reduction of
around $460 million from the $15.9 billion the Trump Administration had signaled, in its FY2021
budget documents, that it expected to request in FY2022. Congress appropriated $15.9 billion in
H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022. In testimony before the Senate Armed
Services Committee, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Grenholm and Charles Verdon, the acting
Administrator of NNSA, noted in prepared testimony that the FY2022 budget would “enable
NNSA to execute its long-standing nuclear modernization efforts,” while the Biden
Administration completed its formal review of U.S, nuclear modernization efforts.11 Dr. Verdon
further noted that he believed that the request balanced risk across the complex, with the warhead
programs and major facility modernizations “getting the funding that they absolutely needed.”12
Managing the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile
The United States conducted 1,054 nuclear weapons test explosions between 1945 and 1992.
These were the primary means by which the United States both determined whether its nuclear
weapons designs would work and confirmed that the weapons remained reliable and effective as
they aged. In 1992, Congress enacted a moratorium on U.S. nuclear weapons testing when it
attached the Hatfield-Exon-Mitchell amendment to the Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Act, 1993.13 President George H. W. Bush signed the bill into law (P.L. 102-377)
on October 2, 1992.
In the absence of nuclear weapons testing, the United States uses a science-based program to
maintain and sustain confidence in the reliability of the nuclear stockpile. Congress established
the Stockpile Stewardship Program in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
1994 (P.L. 103-160). This program, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2010 (P.L. 111-84, §3111), is to ensure “that the nuclear weapons stockpile is safe,
secure, and reliable without the use of underground nuclear weapons testing.”

10 Ibid.
11 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services, Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security
Administration on Atomic Energy Defense Activities, Hearing, 117th Cong., 1st sess., June 24, Prepared Statement,
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
June%2024,%202021%20SASC%20Joint%20Testimony%20of%20Secretary%20Granholm%20and%20Acting%20U
nder%20Secretary%20Verdon%20on%20DOE%20Posture%20Final.pdf.
12 Ibid.
13 This amendment banned testing before July 1, 1993, set conditions on a resumption of testing, and then banned
testing after September 1996 unless another nation tested. The United States signed the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, which banned all nuclear explosive tests. Although Congress voted against giving its consent to ratification of
this Treaty in 1999, and the Treaty has not yet entered into force, the United States continues to observe a moratorium
on nuclear explosive testing.
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NNSA implements the Stockpile Stewardship Program through the activities funded by Weapons
Activities account in the NNSA budget. Prior to this budget year, the account included three
major program areas, each with a budget in excess of $2 billion, and several smaller programs.
The aggregate funding for these programs appears in Table 1, below.
Table 1. Funding for Weapons Activities, FY2017-FY2020
(millions of current dollars)
FY2017
FY2018
FY2018
FY2019
FY2019
FY2020
FY2020
Program
Enacted
Request
Enacted
Request
Enacted
Request
Enacted
DSW
3,308.3
3977.0
4,009.4
4,666.2
4,658.2
5,426
5,449
RDT&E
1,842.2
2028.3
2,034.4
1,995.4
2,014.2
2,278
2,398
Programs
I&O
2,808.4
2803.1
3,117.8
3,002.7
3,087.9
3,208
3,151
Othera
1,359.5
1430.8
1,480.5
1352.8
1,339.7
1,497
1,459
Total
9,318,1
10,239.2
10,642.1
11,017.1
11,100.0
12,409
12,457
Sources: NNSA Congressional Budget Requests, House and Senate Appropriations Committee reports.
Notes: Details may not add to totals due to rounding. DSW: Directed Stockpile Work; RDT&E: Research,
Development, Test and Evaluation; I&O: Infrastructure and Operations.
a. “Other” includes Secure Transportation Asset, Defense Nuclear Security, Information Technology and
Cybersecurity, and Legacy Contractor Pensions.
In the FY2021 budget request, NNSA reorganized the Weapons Activities account and renamed
some of its main programs areas. The four largest program areas, each with a request of over $2
billion for FY2021 and FY2022, include Stockpile Management; Production Modernization;
Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering; and Infrastructure and Operations. Table 2
displays the FY2020 enacted funding for the prior program areas and the FY2021 and FY2022
funding requests for the new program areas; it also displays the comparable funding amount for
these program areas if NNSA had requested funding according to this organization in FY2020.
Table 2. Funding for Weapons Activities, FY2021 Budget
Comparison of Reorganized Program Areas (millions of current dollars)
FY2020
FY2021
FY2020

Progra
FY2020,
Program
Comparable
FY2021
FY2021
FY2022
FY2021
m Area Enacted
Area
Request
Request
Enacted
Request
Enacted
DSW
5,449
Stockpile
3,680
4,284.2
4,290.2
4,632.6
4,647.6
Management
RDT&E
2,398
Production
1,565,5
2,457.9
2,547.9
2,910.9
2,929.9
Modernization
I&O
3,151
Stockpile RTE
2,553.1
2,782.1
2813.7
2,690.6
2,843.0
Other
1,459
I&O
3,199.5
4,383.6
4,087.5
3,586.4
3,868.3

Other
1,458.8
1,694.2
1605.6
1,663.6
1,631.2
Total
12,457
Total
12,457
15,602
15,345
15,484.3
15,920.0
Source: NNSA Budget Request, FY2021, H.R. 133, Division D-Energy and Water Development and Related
Agencies, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Notes: Details may not add to totals due to rounding. DSW: Directed Stockpile Work; RDT&E: Research,
Development, Test and Evaluation; I&O: Infrastructure and Operations: Stockpile RTE: Stockpile Research,
Technology, and Engineering; Other: Secure Transportation Asset, Defense Nuclear Security, Information
Technology and Cybersecurity, and Legacy Contractor Pensions.
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The House rejected some of these proposed changes in the structure of the Weapons Activities
programs, noting in the appropriations committee report (H.Rept. 116-449) that, although NNSA
had sought “to engage in a constructive and transparent manner in communicating the proposed
changes,” the committee “believes additional oversight and monitoring is necessary.” Congress,
however, provided appropriations according to the new program areas in H.R. 133, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Stockpile Management
According to NNSA’s budget materials, the Stockpile Management program “maintains a safe,
secure, and militarily effective nuclear weapons stockpile.”14 The activities in this program area
include warhead life extension, modification and design efforts; the annual assessment process
for the current active stockpile; stockpile sustainment activities; warhead dismantlement
activities; and sustainment of manufacturing capabilities and capacities. According to NNSA, the
Stockpile Management program includes four subprograms: Stockpile Major Modernization,
Stockpile Sustainment, Weapons Dismantlement and Disposition, and Production Operations.
As shown in Figure 2, and evident in the NNSA budget documents, all of the subprograms in the
Stockpile Management program were part of the Directed Stockpile Work program in previous
budgets, although some Directed Stockpile Work subprograms have moved to other program
areas. Specifically, according to NNSA’s budget documents, parts of Stockpile Services
subprogram moved into the Production Modernization program area and the Stockpile Research,
Technology, and Engineering program area. Some of the Strategic Materials programs moved to
Production Modernization and some moved to Infrastructure and Operations.
Congress appropriated $5,449.3 million for
Directed Stockpile Work in FY2020. NNSA
Figure 2. Realignment Out of Directed
requested $6,370.6 million, an increase of
Stockpile Work
17%, for the same subprograms in FY2021
(although not all are in the Stockpile
Management Program area). Congress
provided $3,680.1 million in FY2020 for the
portions of Directed Stockpile Work that are
included in Stockpile Management in
FY2021. NNSA then requested $4,284.2
million for these program, an increase of
16.5% over FY2020. Congress appropriated
$4,290.2 million in H.R. 133, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
NNSA requested $4632.7 million for these
programs in FY2022, an increase of 8% over

the amount enacted in FY2021. Each of the key subprograms in Stockpile Management is
described below.

14 Department of Energy, Budget Request For FY2021, Volume I, National Nuclear Security Administration,
Washington, DC, February 2020, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/03/f72/doe-fy2021-budget-volume-
1_2.pdf.
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Stockpile Major Modernization
The Stockpile Major Modernization subprogram funds activities that were included in the Life
Extension Programs (LEP) and Major Alterations subprogram of Directed Stockpile work.
According to NNSA, “the Stockpile Major Modernization subprogram is where all the approved
warhead acquisition programs are conducted.” NNSA notes that these programs are necessary “to
extend the expected life of stockpile systems for an additional 20 to 30 years.”
NNSA completed an LEP for the W76 warhead for the Trident II (D-5) submarine-launched
ballistic missile (SLBM) in 2019; this included a small number of low-yield W76-2 warheads. An
LEP for the B61 bomb is ongoing, combining several older versions of the bomb into a single
B61-12 version. NNSA is also pursuing an alteration for the W88 warhead currently deployed on
Trident II (D-5) missiles and a life extension program for the W80 cruise missile warhead. The
Air Force plans to deploy the new W80-4 on the new Long Range Standoff missile (LRSO)
currently under development. The FY2022 budget also includes funding for another alteration to
the W80-4 warhead, known as theW80-4 ALT-SLCM. The Navy would deploy this warhead on a
new sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM) later in the decade. NNSA is also pursuing the W87-1
modification program, which is to provide a warhead for the new U.S. land-based intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the 2030s.
The FY2022 budget continues funding for the W93 sea-based warhead, which is expected to
eventually replace the W76 and W88 warheads. In the past, DOD documents had referred to this
warhead as the next Navy warhead, and had not expected to request funding for it until FY2023.
A DOD official noted that because the warhead does not yet exist, this is not a life extension
program, but neither NNSA nor DOD had designated this as a “new” warhead. 15 According to
Admiral Richard, the Commander of USSTRATCOM, it is a new program of record.16
In its FY2021 budget request, NNSA requested $2,666.9 million for the Stockpile Major
Modernization subprogram. Congress approved this amount in Division D-Energy and Water
Development and Related Agencies of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133).
NNSA has requested $2,832.3 million for Stockpile Major Modernization in FY2022. Congress
approved this amount in Division D-Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 2471).
 NNSA requested no additional funding for the W76-1 LEP or the W76-2
modification program—the low-yield version of the warhead. The W76-2
modification reportedly entered service in January 2020.17
 NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $771.7 million for the B61-12 LEP
in FY2022, a decrease of $44 million from the $815.7 million enacted for
FY2021. The B61-12 is to combine four existing types of B61 warheads; the Air
Force plans to also add a tail kit assembly that is designed to improve the
accuracy of the bomb. According to NNSA’s budget documents, the LEP

15 Aaron Mehta, “Inside America’s newly revealed nuclear ballistic missile warhead of the future,” Defense News,
February 24, 2020, https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2020/02/24/inside-americas-newly-revealed-
nuclear-ballistic-missile-warhead-of-the-future/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=
EBB%2002.25.20&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief.
16 Patrick Tucker and Marcus Weisgerber, “A New Nuclear Warhead? STRATCOM Chief Can’t Answer Yes or No,”
Defense One, February 27, 2019, https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2020/02/new-nuclear-warhead-stratcom-chief-
cant-answer-yes-or-no/163395/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2002.28.20&
utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief.
17 Aaron Mehta, “Trump’s new nuclear weapon has been deployed,” Defense News, February 4, 2020,
https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2020/02/04/trumps-new-nuclear-weapon-has-been-deployed/.
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“reuses, or replaces all of the bomb’s nuclear and non-nuclear components to
extend the service life of the B61 by at least 20 years, and to improve the bomb’s
safety, effectiveness, and security.” The first production unit (FPU) was
scheduled for FY2020 but was delayed due to an issue with capacitors used in six
major electrical components. According to NNSA, it is on schedule to provide
the first production unit in FY2022 and to complete the program in FY2026.
 NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $207.2 million for the W88
Alteration in FY2022, a reduction of $49.8 million from the $256.9 million
enacted in FY2021. The program is intended to upgrade the arming-fuzing-firing
system on the warhead and refresh the warhead’s conventional high explosives.
This warhead is carried on a portion of the D-5 (Trident) submarine-launched
ballistic missiles (SLBMs). NNSA expected to provide the FPU of this warhead
in 2020, but according to NNSA, the delivery was delayed due to an issue with
capacitors used in three major components. According to its budget documents,
NNSA provided the first production unit of this warhead to the Navy in August
2021 and will complete the program by FY2026.
 NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $1,080.4 million for the W80-4 in
FY2021, an increase of $80 million over the $1,000.3 million enacted in FY2021.
This is the warhead for the new long-range cruise missile. The LEP would seek
to use common components from other LEPs and to improve warhead safety and
security. NNSA has begun to “ramp up engineering activities for development
and design on the W80-4,” and the significant increases in the budget request for
FY2021 and FY2022 reflect an increase in the scope of work on the program.
The first production unit is scheduled for FY2025, with program completion
expected in FY2031.
 NNSA requested $10 million in FY2022 to begin work on the W80-4 Alteration
for the new sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM). In this first year of the program,
NNSA planned to work with the Department of Defense to “define specific
operational requirements and translate those into warhead performance
characteristics.” Both the House and the Senate Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Subcommittees questioned this funding in their reports on the
FY2022 appropriations. The House subcommittee (H.Rept. 117-98) eliminated
funding for this alteration, noting that funding was premature because the Biden
Administration had not yet completed its planned Nuclear Posture Review. The
Senate subcommittee, in its report (S.Rept. 117-36), mandated that NNSA certify
that there were operational requirements justifying the program before it
obligated funding. Congress included this funding, however, in H.R. 2471, the
Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2022.
 NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $691 million for the W87-1
warhead modification program in FY2022, a 28% increase over the $541 million
enacted for the W87-1 in FY2021. This increase follows a nearly fivefold
increase in funding in F2021 over the FY2020-enacted level. The increases in
funding for the W87-1 reflect a “ramp-up” of activities across all program areas.
The Air Force plans to deploy the W87-1 on the new U.S. land-based
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent
(GBSD). NNSA has indicated that the FPU for the W87-1 is currently planned
for FY2030. However, NNSA has also indicated that the W87-0 warhead, which
is currently deployed on U.S. Minuteman III ICBMs, will also be “qualified and
deployed onto the GBSD.” During recent testimony, Dr. Charles Verdon, the
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acting Administrator of NNSA, indicated that nearly half the W87-0 warheads on
Minuteman III missiles will transition to the GBSD.18
 NNSA requested $53 million in FY2021 to begin Phase 1 “concept assessment
and refinement” activities for the W93 warhead. Although the House declined to
appropriate this funding in its version of the FY2021 Energy and Water
Development appropriations bill (H.R. 7613, H.Rept. 116-449) and expressed a
number of concerns about the program, Congress approved the request in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133). NNSA requested, and
Congress appropriated, $72 million for the W93 warhead in FY2022, with the
program transitioning from the Phase 1 concepts study to Phase 2, where NNSA
and will review the concepts and provide a specific set of design options.
In May 2019, NNSA indicated that the delivery of the first production units for both the B61-12
and the W88 Alt were likely to slip after it identified defects in the electrical capacitors used in
the modified warheads. NNSA’s Kansas City National Security Campus, which acquires the non-
nuclear parts of nuclear weapons, determined that the capacitors might not remain reliable for the
30-year life of the modified warheads. As a result, NNSA plans to replace the capacitors that cost
about $5 per unit with $75 units built to a higher standard. This is likely to add about $120-$150
million to the cost of the W88-Alt LEP and $600 million to $700 million to the cost of the B61-12
LEP.19
As noted above, the W87-1 warhead will replace the W78 warhead on U.S. ICBMs, beginning
with the deployment of the GBSD in the 2030s. 20 The W78, which is the oldest warhead in the
U.S. stockpile, dating from 1979, was originally supposed to be replaced by a new warhead,
known as the IW1, which would have been an interoperable warhead that could be delivered by
ICBMs (in place of the W78 warhead) and SLBMs (in place of the W88 warheads). The FY2016
budget request suspended work on the IW1, and the FY2017 and FY2018 budgets did not request
any funding for it. The FY2019 budget requested $53 million to resume research and
development activities on the IW1. Congress enacted this amount, but the conference report
(H.Rept. 115-929) requested a study on the rationale for and alternatives to the plan to use an
interoperable warhead as a part of the W78 life extension program. During 2019, NNSA dropped
the IW1 designator and instead, pursued a life extension program for just the W78 ICBM
warhead. It then designated this program as the W87-1, to reflect the fact that it has a similar
primary design to the existing W87 ICBM warhead for the IW1.

18 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services, Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security
Administration on Atomic Energy Defense Activities, Hearing, 117th Cong., 1st sess., June 24, 2021,
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
June%2024,%202021%20SASC%20Joint%20Testimony%20of%20Secretary%20Granholm%20and%20Acting%20U
nder%20Secretary%20Verdon%20on%20DOE%20Posture%20Final.pdf.
19 Dan Leone, “Balky Capacitors Could Delay Two NNSA Nuke Refurb Programs,” Nuclear Security and Deterrence
Monitor, May 10, 2019. https://www.exchangemonitor.com/balky-capacitors-delay-two-nnsa-nuke-refurb-programs/.
See, also, Aaron Mehta, “How a $5 part used to modernize nuclear warheads could cost $850 million to fix,” Defense
News, September 25, 2019. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2019/09/25/nuclear-warhead-programs-
need-850m-fix-heres-how-the-government-plans-to-cover-it/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&
utm_campaign=EBB%2009.26.19&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief.
20 U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, W78 Replacement Program (W87-1): Cost
Estimates and Use of Insensitive High Explosives, Report to Congress, Washington, DC, December 2018,
https://nukewatch.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/W78-Replacement-Program-Cost-Estimates-IHE-1.pdf.
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Stockpile Sustainment
According to NNSA, Stockpile Sustainment “directly executes maintenance, surveillance,
assessment, surety, and management activities for all enduring weapons systems in the stockpile.
These include the B61, W76, W78, W80, B83, W87, and W88 weapons.” This program area is
essentially the same as the Stockpile Services program area in the FY2020 budget, which
provided for routine maintenance, replacement of limited-life components, surveillance, and
assessment of fielded systems for all weapons types in the active stockpile. It also includes the
Multi-Weapon Systems subprogram, which had been funded under the Manufacturing,
Technology, and Production subprogram in the Stockpile Services subprogram of Directed
Stockpile Work in the FY2020 budget.
NNSA requested $1,180.5 million for Stockpile Sustainment in FY2022, an increase of 18% over
the $998.3 million that the programs in this area received in FY2021. Within this total, the budget
request shows increases in sustainment funding for the B61 gravity bomb and the W76, W78, and
W87 warheads, and the B83 bomb. According to NNSA’s budget documents, the increased
funding request for FY2022 is driven, in part, by the need to extend the service life of the B83
gravity bomb.
In its FY2020 budget request, NNSA had sought $51.5 million to sustain the B83 gravity bomb,
which the Obama Administration had planned to retire in the early 2020s. The Trump
Administration reversed that decision in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review and added funding for
FY2020 to support B83 sustainment activities. Congress funded the Administration’s request for
B83 sustainment in FY2020 but directed NNSA to submit a report on “the current status and
future plans for the B83 system.” In FY2021, NNSA noted that it planned to continue to pursue
the surveillance and assessment activities needed to support the requirement in the 2018 Nuclear
Posture Review, but that it anticipated using prior years’ funding for this program. Congress
provided $30.8 million for B83 sustainment in FY2021 and directed NNSA to provide Congress
with “periodic and timely briefings concerning the status of sustainment efforts.” Congress noted
that it remained concerned about the feasibility of maintaining the bomb with reduced funding
and the possibility that the bomb might need eventual modifications for its warhead.
NNSA requested $98.5 million for B83 sustainment in FY2022, a more than threefold increase
over the funding enacted in FY2021. In its budget documents, NNSA noted that the Nuclear
Weapons council issued a decision in June 2020 to extend the B83 service life; the funding
increase will support that decision. This work will require the replacement of limited life
components, such as the neutron generators and the tritium reservoirs. Both the House and the
Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees questioned this funding in
their reports on the FY2022 appropriations. The House subcommittee (H.Rept. 117-98)
eliminated funding for B83 sustainment, noting that funding was premature because the Biden
Administration had not yet completed its planned Nuclear Posture Review. The Senate
subcommittee, in its report (S.Rept. 117-36), mandated that NNSA certify that there were
operational requirements justifying the program before it obligated funding. In H.R. 2471, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Congress appropriated the requested amount of $98.5
billion for FY2022.
Weapons Dismantlement and Disposition (WDD)
According to a fact sheet released by the State Department in 2017, the U.S. nuclear stockpile
peaked at 31,255 warheads in 1967, stood at 19,008 warheads in 1991, and declined to 4,571
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warheads by 2015.21 It had declined further, to 4,014 warheads by 2016 and 3,822 by 2017. The
WDD subprogram includes funding for the interim storage of warheads awaiting dismantlement,
funding for actual dismantlement, and funding for the disposition of warhead components and
materials. NNSA requested $68.9 million for WDD for FY2017, an increase over the
appropriated level of $52 million in FY2016. According to NNSA, this increase was designed to
support President Obama’s commitment, pledged at the 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
Review Conference, to accelerate dismantlement of retired U.S. nuclear warheads by 20%. The
Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee approved this request and
noted in its report (S.Rept. 114-236) that it supported the accelerated dismantlement plan “as a
way of preparing its workforce for necessary stockpile production work beginning later this
decade.” The House subcommittee, however, objected to the accelerated dismantlement plan and
reduced total funding for directed stockpile work. The final version of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act for FY2017 (P.L. 115-31) allocated $56 million to weapons dismantlement
and disposition.
NNSA requested $56 million for weapons dismantlement and disposition in FY2018 and
FY2019; Congress approved this amount in both years. NNSA’s budget documents note that
NNSA capped funding for this program at $56 million at the direction of the FY2017 and FY2018
National Defense Authorization Acts. NNSA also noted that dismantlement activities serve as “a
significant supplier of material for future nuclear weapons production and Naval Reactors.”
Unlike in previous years, however, the FY2019 budget documents did not reiterate the goal,
supported by previous budgets, of dismantling weapons retired prior to FY2009 by FY2022.
NNSA requested $47 million for weapons dismantlement and disposition in FY2020. NNSA’s
budget request noted that the decline in funding requested for this program area “results from a
reduction in legacy component disposition … consistent with material and component needs for
the stockpile and external customers.” Hence, as was the case in the FY2019 budget request,
while NNSA still sees the WDD program as a supplier of materials to the U.S. weapons stockpile,
it no longer sees it as a component of U.S. nonproliferation policy. Congress increased funding
for this program in FY2020 in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94),
in which Congress approved $56 million for WDD.
NNSA requested $50 million for WDD in FY2021. As was the case in FY2020, NNSA noted that
the decline in funding for requested for this program area results from a “reduction of legacy
component inventories.” The House, in its version of the FY2021 Energy and Water Development
appropriations bill (H.R. 7613, H.Rept. 116-449), added $6 million to the WDD account;
Congress accepted this position and appropriated $56 million for WDD in H.R. 133, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
NNSA has requested $51 million for WDD in FY2022. As in previous years, NNSA notes that the
reduction in funding is a result of a “reduction of legacy component inventories.” The budget
documents indicate that, in FY2022, NNSA will continue to pursue the “safe and secure
dismantlement of nuclear weapons and components in excess of national security requirements”
and will “recycle material and components from dismantled units.” In H.R. 2471, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Congress appropriated $56 million for WDD.

21 U.S. Department of Defense, Stockpile Numbers, End of Fiscal Years 1962-2016. May 2016,
http://open.defense.gov/Portals/23/Documents/frddwg/2015_Tables_UNCLASS.pdf.
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Production Operations
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the Productions Operations program area includes the
Production Support subprogram that had been a part of the Stockpile Services program area in the
FY2020 budget structure. Other portions of Stockpile Services have been moved to other areas of
the Weapons Activities budget. As noted above, NNSA renamed the Manufacturing, Technology,
and Production subprogram as the Multi-Weapon Systems subprogram and moved it to the
Stockpile Sustainment program area. Other parts of Stockpile Services have moved to the
Production Modernization program area and the Stockpile Research, Technology, and
Engineering program area. These program areas are discussed below.
Production Operations “provides engineering and manufacturing labor, quality assurance, and
programmatic equipment support for the manufacturing base that enables the individual site
capability and capacity to sustain NNSA’s nuclear security enterprise’s production mission.” The
activities in the production mission include weapon assembly, weapon disassembly, component
production, surveillance, and weapon safety and reliability testing. NNSA also notes that
Production Operations coordinates closely with Advanced Manufacturing Development program,
which is funded through the Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering program area.
NNSA requested $568.9 million for Production Operations in FY2021, an increase of $24.9
million over the $544 million enacted for Production Support in FY2020. According to NNSA,
this increase supports continued growth needed to support the LEP workload. Congress
appropriated this amount in H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. NNSA also
requested, and Congress appropriated, $568.9 million for Production Operations in FY2022.
Production Modernization
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the
Production Modernization program area
Figure 3. Realignment into Production
“focuses on the production capabilities of
Modernization
nuclear weapons critical to weapon
performance, including [plutonium]
primaries, [uranium] secondaries, radiation
cases, and non-nuclear components.” As
Figure 3 shows, and as is evident in NNSA’s
budget request, NNSA funded most of these
subprograms through the Strategic Materials
portion of Directed Stockpile Work in the
FY2020 budget. The new program area also

brings in subprograms from Stockpile
Services and from other FY2020 program areas, such as portions of Advanced Manufacturing
Development from the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation program area, and portions
of Capabilities Based Investments from the Infrastructure and Operations Program Area.
NNSA requested, and Congress approved, $1,501 million for Strategic Materials in FY2020.
According to NNSA’s FY2021 budget documents, with additions from other program areas, the
subprograms included in Production Modernization were funded at $1,565.5 million in FY2020.
NNSA requested $2,457.9 million for Production Modernization in FY2021, an increase of 56%
over FY2020. The House, in its version of the FY2021 Energy and Water Development
appropriations bill (H.R. 7613, H.Rept. 116-449), approved $1,858.7 million and did not adopt all
the program changes identified and the FY2021 budget request. However, in H.R. 133, the
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Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021, Congress maintained the program changes and
appropriated $2,547.9 million for Production Modernization.
NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $2,910.9 million for Production Modernization in
FY2022, a 14% increase over the amount enacted in FY2021. According to NNSA, the increases
in this budget will support preliminary design activities at the Savannah River Plutonium
Processing Facility and the Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project. They will also support
“other key production capability modernization activities for high explosives and energetic
materials, secondary capability, and non-nuclear components.”
These activities are evident in the four key subprogams within the Production Modernization
program area: Primary Capability Modernization, Secondary Capability Modernization, Non-
nuclear Capability Modernization, and Tritium and Domestic Uranium Enrichment. As noted
below, the largest increases in funding in the FY2022 budget support Primary Capability
Modernization (i.e., the plutonium pit activities).
Primary Capability Modernization
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the Primary Capability Modernization program
“consolidates management of primary stage material processing and component production
capabilities.” In nuclear weapons, primaries are the plutonium pits and high explosives that serve
as the core of nuclear weapons. Consequently, this program area supports both plutonium
modernization and high explosives and energetics modernization.
NNSA began to ramp up funding for plutonium modernization in the FY2020 budget request,
when it sought $712 million for plutonium sustainment, which represented a 97% increase over
the $361.3 million enacted for plutonium sustainment in FY2019. The FY2020 budget documents
noted that NNSA restructured this program to support the May 2018 decision to pursue a new
approach for plutonium pit production to meet the requirement of producing a minimum of 80
pits per year by 2030. Instead of focusing solely on building capacity at Los Alamos National
Laboratory, NNSA decided to “repurpose the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility at
the Savannah River Site to produce at least 50 pits per year” and to continue work that would
allow Los Alamos to produce “no fewer than 30 pits per year.”22 Consequently, NNSA requested
$420 million to support design activities at Savannah River and begin the modifications needed to
produce 50 pits per year at the repurposed facility by 2030.
The Plutonium Modernization subprogram of Primary Capability Modernization includes four
subprograms: Los Alamos Plutonium Modernization ($610.6 million enacted in FY2021; $660.4
million requested and enacted for FY2022); Plutonium Pit Production Project at Los Alamos
($226 million enacted in FY2021; $350 million requested and enacted for FY2022); Savannah
River Plutonium Operations ($200 million enacted in FY2021; $128 million requested and
enacted for FY2022); and Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility ($241.9 million enacted
in FY2021; $475 million requested and enacted for FY2022). The two program areas at Los
Alamos fund activities needed to recapitalize buildings and capacity to meet pit production
requirements at Los Alamos. The programs at Savannah River support efforts to plan for
operations at the new pit facility, to work on its design, its site and facility preparation, and to
begin long lead procurement. As is evident, the largest increases in funding would support pit

22 U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Plutonium Pit Production, Fact Sheet,
Washington, DC, April 2019, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/05/f62/2019-05-13-FACTSHEET-
plutonium-pits.pdf.
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production at Los Alamos (an increase of 55% over FY2021 funding) and the design of the
Savannah River Processing Facility (96% over FY2021 funding).
In FY2021, Congress reiterated its concerns about NNSA’s pit production plans. It mandated that
NNSA provide a plan outlining an integrated master schedule for “all pit production-related
project and program activities” going forward. It also directed NNSA to develop “a
comprehensive, integrated ten-year research program for pit and plutonium aging that represents
a consensus program among the national laboratories and federal sponsors.” Both the House and
the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees again stressed their
concerns about these programs in their reports on the FY2022 appropriations. Both noted that
NNSA had not yet submitted the required integrated master schedule. The House subcommittee
(H.Rept. 117-98) also repeated its concerns about contingency planning at NNSA for pit
production, noting “the timeline for achieving 80 pits per year will stretch beyond 2030.” The
Senate subcommittee, in its report (S.Rept. 117-36), noted that it “continues to support the
program of record” pit production, but suggested that it would be unable to continue this support
without the information in the integrated master plan.
When outlining its plan for supporting pit production sites at both Los Alamos and Savannah
River, NNSA had announced that it would reach the goal of producing 30 pits per year at Los
Alamos by 2026 and 50 pits per year at Savannah River by 2030. However, in testimony before
Congress in support of the FY2022 budget, NNSA has indicated that the Savannah River site will
not be capable of producing 50 pits per year until sometime between 2032 and 2035. According
to Charles Verdon, the acting Administrator of NNSA, a detailed analysis completed when NNSA
began its work on the Savannah River site showed that NNSA would not be able to place all the
necessary equipment and people at the site in time to meet the 2030 objective.23
The Primary Capability Modernization program area for Enterprise Plutonium Support funds
activities that support pit production across the Nuclear Security Enterprise. NNSA requested, and
Congress appropriated, $90.8 million in this area in FY2021; NNSA requested, and Congress
appropriated, $107.1 million for FY2022. NNSA has also requested, and Congress appropriated,
$67.4 million for High Explosives and Energetics in FY2021. This program focuses on
modernizing production facilities and qualifying explosive and propellant materials used in
nuclear warhead primaries. NNSA requested and Congress appropriated $68.8 million for High
Explosives and Energetics in FY2022.
Secondary Capability Modernization
NNSA requested $457 million for Secondary Capability Modernization in FY2021, an increase of
56% over the $293.5 million allocated to the same programs in FY2020. NNSA funded most
programs in this area through the Strategic Materials portion of Directed Stockpile Work in
FY2020, although $64 million was a part of the Advanced Manufacturing program area in
Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation. Congress approved this request in H.R. 133, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
According to NNSA, this program area “is responsible for restoring and increasing manufacturing
capabilities for the secondary stage of nuclear weapons.” The FY2022 budget included $306.7
million for efforts to modernize enriched uranium operations at the Y-12 facility, an increase of

23 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services, Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security
Administration on Atomic Energy Defense Activities, Hearing, 117th Cong., 1st sess., June 24, 2021,
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
June%2024,%202021%20SASC%20Joint%20Testimony%20of%20Secretary%20Granholm%20and%20Acting%20U
nder%20Secretary%20Verdon%20on%20DOE%20Posture%20Final.pdf.
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57% over the $194.2 million funded in FY2020. NNSA has again requested $306 million for
uranium modernization in the FY2022 budget. The FY2021 budget also included $110.9 million
for a new depleted uranium modernization program to restart capabilities that lapsed in the early
2000s; NNSA has requested $138.2 million for this project for FY2022. The FY2021 budget also
included $39.4 million for lithium modernization in FY2021. This project will modernize
facilities at the Y-12 plant and process lithium to support defense programs. NNSA has requested
$43.8 million for this project for FY2022. In H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2022, Congress appropriated the funds requested in the program area.
Non-nuclear Capability Modernization
The FY2021 budget included $107.1 million for Non-nuclear Capability. This was a sevenfold
increase over the $14 million allocated to the programs in this area in FY2020, when they were
funded through the Strategic Materials subprogram of Directed Stockpile Work and the
Capabilities Based Investments subprogram of Infrastructure and Operations. NNSA has
requested $144.6 million for this program area for FY2022. According to NNSA, this program
area “provides funding to modernize production of non-nuclear components for multiple weapon
systems.” The funding will support production of non-nuclear components at the Kansas City
National Security Complex. Congress approved this request.
Tritium and Domestic Uranium Enrichment
NNSA has requested $489 million for Tritium and Domestic Uranium Enrichment in FY2022, a
reduction of 10% from the $547.1 million enacted in the FY2021 budget. NNSA funded this
program area through the Strategic Materials subprogram of Directed Stockpile Work in FY2020.
The Tritium Modernization portion of this program ($312.1 million enacted in FY2021; $349
million requested for FY2022) funds activities needed to produce, recover, and recycle the tritium
gas used in U.S. nuclear weapons.24 The Domestic Uranium Enrichment Program ($70 million
enacted in FY2021; $140 million requested in FY2022) is designed to ensure a reliable supply of
enriched uranium to support U.S. national security and nonproliferation needs. According to
NNSA, “its goal is to supply current enriched uranium needs and re-establish a domestic uranium
enrichment capability.” In FY2021, Congress added $90 million for a Uranium Downblend
subprogram; in FY2022, NNSA combined this program area with the Domestic Uranium
Enrichment Program. In H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Congress
appropriated the funding requested in this program area.
Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering
(SRT&E)
According to NNSA’s budget request, Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering includes
six subprograms that provide “the knowledge and expertise needed to maintain confidence in the
nuclear stockpile without additional nuclear explosive testing.” This program area “provides the
foundation for science-based stockpile decisions, tools, and components; focuses on the most
pressing investments nuclear security enterprise needs to meet DOD warhead needs and
schedules; and enables assessment and certification capabilities used throughout the Nuclear
Security Enterprise.” It funds not only the science and engineering programs, but also large

24 Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen needed to boost the yield of nuclear weapons. Because it has a half-life of
12.4 years and degrades at a rate of 5.5% per year, the tritium in nuclear weapons must be replenished regularly.
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experimental facilities, like the Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments (ECSE)
program and the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) and NNSA’s first Exascale system at
Livermore Laboratory.
As Figure 4 shows, and as is evident in the
NNSA budget request, the program areas
Figure 4. Realignment into SRT&E
funded through SRT&E FY2021 are similar
to those funded though the Research,
Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E)
program in the FY2020 budget, with some
program areas added from the Stockpile
Services portion of Directed Stockpile Work.
According to NNSA’s budget documents,
Congress allocated $2553.1 million in
FY2020 for the programs now included in
SRT&E. NNSA requested $2,782.1 million

for SRT&E in FY2021. Congress appropriated $2,813.7 million in H.R. 133, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021. NNSA requested $2,690.6 million, and Congress appropriated $2,843
million, for these programs in FY2022.
Specific programs under SRT&E include the following.
Assessment Science
Assessment Science replaces the Science Program from prior years’ budgets. According to
NNSA’s budget documents, the Assessment Science program provides “the scientific
underpinnings required to conduct annual assessments of weapon performance and certification
of LEPs” along with the “information required to understand the impacts of surveillance findings
to assure that the nuclear stockpile continues to remain safe, secure, and effective.” Specifically, it
performs experiments to obtain the materials and nuclear data required to validate and understand
the physics of nuclear weapons performance and pursues activities that develop, exercise, and
maintain the expertise of NNSA’s nuclear weapon design, engineering, and assessment
community.
NNSA requested $773.1 million for the Assessment Science program in FY2021, an increase of
30% over the $594.8 million allocated to comparable programs in FY2020. According to NNSA’s
budget documents, this funding increase addressed cost growth for planned installation of the
equipment needed to support the W80-4 and W87-1 program certification requirements. Congress
appropriated $769.4 million in FY2021. NNSA requested $689.6 million for this program area in
FY2022. According to NNSA, the decrease in the budget request reflected a reallocation to
higher-priority NNSA programs and projects. Some subprograms, however, did not see a
decrease. The FY2021 budget had included $215.6 million for Enhanced Capabilities for
Subcritical Experiments, an amount that remains the same in the FY2022 budget request.
Congress appropriated $769.4 million in this program area, restoring funds to the level enacted in
FY2021.
Engineering and Integrated Assessments
Engineering and Integrated Assessments replaced the Engineering Program from prior years’
budgets. It also includes some subprograms that had been funded through the Science Program
and Stockpile Services in FY2020. According to NNSA, this program strengthens “the science,
technology, and engineering base by maturing advanced technologies to improve future weapon
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systems” and provides “tools for qualifying weapon components and certifying weapons without
nuclear explosive testing.” It includes funding for the Stockpile Responsiveness program, which
NNSA had added to its budget request in FY2018, in response to congressional direction in the
FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). NNSA requested, and Congress
appropriated, $337.4 million for this program area in FY2021. NNSA requested $336.8 million
for FY2022. Congress enacted $342 million for this program area.
Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High Yield Program
This program develops the tools needed to create extremely high temperatures and pressures in
the laboratory—approaching those of a nuclear explosion—to support weapons-related research
and to attract scientific talent to the Stockpile Stewardship Program. The centerpiece of this
campaign is the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest laser, located at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory. NIF is intended to produce “ignition,” the point at which a
nuclear fusion reaction generates more energy than is used by the lasers to create the reaction.
While achieving ignition has been delayed, NIF has nonetheless proven to be of value to stockpile
stewardship at energy levels that do not reach ignition. NIF was controversial in Congress for
many years, but controversy waned as the program progressed. NIF was dedicated in May 2009.25
The program also supports the Z Facility at the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the
Omega Laser Facility (Omega) at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics
(LLE).
The FY2021 budget included $575 million for this program area. Congress appropriated $575
million. Within this total, it allocated $349 million for NIF, $67 million for the Z facility, and $82
million for the OMEGA Laser Facility. NNSA requested $529 million for FY2022, and Congress
enacted $580 million.
Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program
The ASC program develops computation-based models of nuclear weapons that integrate data
from other campaigns, past test data, and laboratory experiments, to create what NNSA calls “the
computational surrogate for nuclear testing to determine weapon behavior.” NNSA notes that
“modeling the extraordinary complexity of nuclear weapons systems is essential to maintaining
confidence in the performance of our aging stockpile without underground testing.” This program
also supports nonproliferation, emergency response, and nuclear forensics.
In its FY2021 budget, NNSA moved the Construction subprogram in ASC to the Programmatic
Construction subprogram within Infrastructure and Operations, leaving $767.8 million in
comparable funding for FY2020 ASC programs. NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated,
$732 million for the ASC Program in FY2021. NNSA requested and Congress appropriated $747
million for ASC in FY2022.
Weapon Technology and Manufacturing Maturation
According to NNSA, the Weapon Technology and Manufacturing Maturation program will
develop “agile, affordable, assured, and responsive technologies and capabilities for nuclear
stockpile sustainment and modernization.” As a part of the FY2021 budget realignment, this

25 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, “Dedication of World’s Largest Laser Marks the Dawn of a New Era,”
press release, May 29, 2009, https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2009/NR-09-05-05.html.
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program area included subprograms that had been a part of the Engineering Program, the
Advanced Manufacturing Development program, and the Stockpile Services program in
FY2020.26
NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $298 million for this program area in FY2021, a
34% increase over the $222.3 million allocated to comparable programs in FY2020. NNSA
requested and Congress appropriated $292.6 million in FY2022.
Infrastructure and Operations (I&O)
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the Infrastructure and Operations program area
“maintains, operates, and modernizes the NNSA infrastructure in a safe, secure, and cost-effective
manner to support program results while maximizing return on investment and reducing
enterprise risk.” In FY2021 the program is to continue to “improve the condition and extend the
design life” of existing buildings while also supporting construction of new facilities. There is
widespread agreement that NNSA’s infrastructure is in need of significant upgrades, with some
facilities dating from early in the nuclear age.
NNSA requested $4,383.6 million for this program area in FY2021, an increase of 37% over the
$3,199.5 million allocated to comparable programs in FY2020. NNSA’s budget documents
indicated that this increase in funding “represents the acceleration of a long-term effort to
modernize NNSA infrastructure.” Congress appropriated $4,087.5 million in H.R. 133, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. NNSA has requested $3,586.4 million for FY2022. In
H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Congress appropriated $3,868.3 million
for this program area.
Specific programs under I&O include the following:
Operations of Facilities
The Operations of Facilities program includes the funding needed to “operate NNSA facilities in
a safe and secure manner.” It contains, essentially, the operating budgets for each of the eight
NNSA sites, funding such areas as “water and electrical utilities; safety systems; lease
agreements; and activities associated with Federal, state, and local environmental, and worker
safety and health regulations.” NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $1,014 million for
this program area in FY2021. According to its budget documents “the increase … supports pit
production at LANL and additional leased space at Kansas City to meet Life Extension Program
(LEP) schedules.” NNSA also requested, and Congress enacted, $1,014 million for this program
area in FY2022.
Safety and Environmental Operations
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the Safety and Environmental Operations program
supports “safe, efficient operation of the nuclear security enterprise through the provision of
safety data, nuclear material packaging, environmental monitoring, and nuclear material
tracking.” NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $165.4 million for this program area in
FY2021, with a significant portion of the increase over prior years supporting the Long Term

26 The third program in Advanced Manufacturing Development, the Process Technology Development subprogram,
moved to the Production Modernization program area.
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Stewardship program that treats contaminated ground water at a number of facilities. NNSA also
requested, and Congress appropriated, $165.4 million for this program area in FY2022.
Maintenance and Repair of Facilities
The Maintenance and Repair of Facilities program funds the “recurring day-to-day work required
to sustain and preserve NNSA facilities and equipment in a condition suitable for their designated
purpose.” This is the program area that addresses the backlog in deferred maintenance at NNSA
facilities.
NNSA requested and Congress provided $456 million for this program area in its FY2020 budget.
NNSA requested a significant increase to $792 million for Maintenance and Repair of Facilities
in its FY2021 budget. According to NNSA, this “elevates funding above the FY2019 level to
address infrastructure risk and reduce deferred maintenance” at sites across the Nuclear Security
Enterprise. Congress appropriated $667 million for this program area in FY2021. NNSA
requested $670 million for this program area in FY2022. Congress appropriated $700 million in
this program area.
Recapitalization
According to NNSA, the Recapitalization program is key to arresting the declining state of NNSA
infrastructure. The program, which funds three subprograms—Infrastructure and Safety,
Capabilities-Based Investments, and Planning for Programmatic Construction—is intended to
address obsolete support and safety systems, revitalize aging facilities, and improve the
reliability, efficiency, and capability of core infrastructure.
The FY2020 budget included $583 million for Recapitalization. With the realignment of NNSA’s
budget, the comparable amount for FY2020 would be $560.1 million. NNSA requested $903.9
million for this program area in FY2021. Within this total, $84.7 million was allocated to the
Planning for Programmatic Construction subprogram, which is new to the Recapitalization
budget in FY2021. According to NNSA’s budget documents, this subprogram “consolidates the
early planning activities … for a portfolio of project proposals that are under evaluation by the
NNSA.” The budget request also includes $670 million for Infrastructure and Safety, an increase
of nearly 50% over the FY2020 appropriation of $447.7 million. According to NNSA’s budget
documents, this increase supports, among other things, the goal of producing 30 pits per year at
Los Alamos.
Congress appropriated $732.8 million for Recapitalization in the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2021 (H.R. 133). It provided $573.7 for Infrastructure and Safety and only $10 million for
Planning and Programmatic Construction. NNSA has requested $658 million for Recapitalization
in FY2022, with $508.7 million allocated to Infrastructure and Safety. According to NNSA’s
budget documents, the decrease from FY2021 “reflects a realignment to address higher priority
NNSA activities, such as plutonium pit production infrastructure investments.” In H.R. 2471, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Congress appropriated $797.6 million for
Recapitalization, with $600 million allocated to Infrastructure and Safety.
Construction
According to NNSA’s budget documents, the Construction program focuses on two primary
objectives: identifying construction projects that are needed to support the objectives of the
weapons program and developing and executing these projects within approved cost and schedule
baselines. NNSA is currently planning or managing 20 projects through this program area. This
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includes two controversial and expensive projects—the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the
Y-12 National Security Complex (TN) and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement
(CMRR) Project, which deals with plutonium, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM).
NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $1,508.3 million for Construction in its FY2021
budget request, a 30% increase over the $1,152.4 million approved for comparable programs in
FY2020. According to NNSA’s budget documents, the increase in funding supported programs
that include the resumption of funding for the Transuranic Liquid Waste Facility and the
demolition of existing structures at the Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12. The FY2021 budget
request also included $750 million for UPF at Y-12 and $169 million for CMRR.
NNSA requested $1,085.4 million for Construction in FY2022. According to NNSA’s budget
documents, the reduction in funding for FY2022 reflects the completion of funding for several
projects, including the Transuranic Liquid Waste Facility and Exascale Computing Facility
Modernization projects. NNSA also notes that “the reduction reflects the prioritization of funding
for programmatic plutonium construction funded within Production Modernization, the beginning
of the ramp down of funding for the Uranium Processing Facility project, and the use of
carryover balances to fund work within the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement
project.” Congress appropriated $1,183.4 million for this program area.
Other Programs
Weapons Activities has several smaller programs, including the following.
Secure Transportation Asset
This program provides for safe and secure transport of nuclear weapons, components, and
materials. It includes special vehicles for this purpose, communications and other supporting
infrastructure, and threat response. NNSA has sought significant increases in funding in this
program in recent years, although Congress has not always approved the requested amounts.
NNSA requested $390 million for this program area in its FY2021 budget request, an increase of
33% over the amount enacted in FY2020. A significant portion of this funding would have
supported the Operations and Equipment subprogram, with an increase of $81.4 million over the
$185 million enacted in FY2020. NNSA indicated that the increase in funding for FY2020 would
support its staffing requirements, the development and final testing of new specialized vehicles,
and the procurement of replacement aircraft. Congress appropriated $348.7 million, reducing the
request for the Operations and Equipment subprogram to $225 million.
NNSA requested, and Congress appropriated, $330.8 million for Secure Transportation Asset in
FY2022.
Defense Nuclear Security
According to NNSA’s budget documents, this program “provides protection for NNSA personnel,
facilities, and nuclear weapons and materials from a full spectrum of threats, ranging from local
security incidents to terrorism.” It provides operations, maintenance, and construction funds for
protective forces, physical security systems, and personnel security. NNSA requested $826.9
million for this program area in FY2021. According to NNSA, the increase in nearly 7% over the
FY2020 budget is “based on additional security requirements associated with growth across the
NNSA Nuclear Security Enterprise, including Plutonium Pit Production efforts.” Congress
appropriated $789 million.
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NNSA has requested $847.6 million for this program area in FY2022. According to NNSA’s
budget documents, the increases over FY2021 funding “are based on additional security needs
associated with growth across the NNSA NSE [National Security Enterprise], including
Plutonium Pit Production efforts.” Congress appropriated $844 million in this program area.
Information Technology and Cybersecurity
According to NNSA’s budget documents, this program provides funding “to develop information
technology and cybersecurity solutions, including continuous monitoring, and security
technologies to help meet increased proliferation-resistance and security.” It also funds programs
to consolidate NNSA’s IT services. NNSA requested $375.5 million for this program area in
FY2021, an increase of 25% over the amount enacted in FY2020. Within this increase, NNSA
allocated $46.4 million to support cybersecurity modernization efforts at the NNSA sites and $29
million to Information Technology modernization. Congress appropriated $366.2 million. NNSA
requested, and Congress appropriated, $406.5 million in FY2022. This includes a $45.7 million
increase in Cybersecurity, which, according to NNSA’s budget documents, reflects, in part, a
“transfer of responsibility for the Emergency Communications Network (ECN) from the ... the
Nuclear Counterterrorism and Incident Response program.”
Legacy Contractor Pensions
For many decades, the University of California (UC) operated Los Alamos and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratories. Laboratory employees, as UC employees, could participate in
the UC pension plan. When the contracts for the labs’ operations were taken over by private
corporations, the contracts between DOE and the new laboratory operators included provisions
that provided pensions to employees who had worked under the UC contract that mirrored the UC
pension benefits. These pensions were larger than those provided to employees hired after the
contracts were granted to private employers. To make up the difference, NNSA has paid into the
pension plan for those current employees who formerly worked under the UC system. NNSA
requested, and Congress appropriated, $101.7 million for this program area in FY2021. NNSA
requested, and Congress appropriated, $78.7 million for this program area in FY2022.

Author Information

Amy F. Woolf

Specialist in Nuclear Weapons Policy

Acknowledgments
This report revises and updates work prepared by Dr. Jonathan Medalia.
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