Obama Administration proposes $11.8 b for nuclear security

The Obama Administration has proposed $ 11.8 billion for modernisation and security of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Noting that it remains dedicated to modernising America’s nuclear arsenal and the complex that sustains it, the US President, Mr Barack Obama, in his budget sent to the Congress, proposed $11.8 billion for National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

This investment includes $7.6 billion, to maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear arsenal by improving and replacing ageing facilities and infrastructure, continuing nuclear weapon life extension programmes, and sustaining stockpile surveillance and certification activities.

The administration funds $2.5 billion to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons by fully funding efforts to secure and dispose of nuclear material, develop technologies to detect and deter nuclear testing and smuggling, and support international non-proliferation treaties, regulatory controls, and safeguards.

It also proposed $1.2 billion for naval reactors, to include construction of new reactor fuel handling infrastructure and continued reactor development for a new ballistic missile submarine to sustain a robust nuclear deterrent.

The budget also includes $31.8 million for the reorganised chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive consequence management structure, which will be in place prior to the end of 2012.

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