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Summary:
Most current U.S. nuclear warheads were built in the 1980s, and are being retained longer than was planned. Yet warheads deteriorate and must be maintained. To correct problems, a Life Extension Program (LEP) replaces components. Modifying some components would require a nuclear test, but a test moratorium is in effect. Therefore, LEP rebuilds these components as closely as possible to original specifications. Using this approach, the Secretaries of Defense and Energy have certified stockpile safety and reliability for the past nine years without nuclear testing. In the FY2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress provided $9 million to initiate the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. RRW will study trading off key Cold War features such as high yield and low weight to gain features more valuable now, such as lower cost, greater ease of manufacture, and increased long-term confidence. It plans to make these improvements by redesigning warheads without adding military capability. Representative David Hobson, RRW's main sponsor, views RRW as part of a comprehensive plan that would also modernize the nuclear weapons complex, avoid new weapons and nuclear testing, and permit a reduction in non-deployed weapons. The FY2006 budget request was $9.4 million; Congress appropriated $25.0 million. The FY2007 request is $27.7 million. RRW supporters assert LEP will become harder to sustain for the long term as small changes accumulate, making it harder to certify warhead reliability and safety and perhaps requiring nuclear testing. Supporters believe RRW will enable design of replacement components for existing warheads that will be easier to manufacture and certify without nuclear testing, and will permit the military to eliminate many non-deployed warheads it maintains, at high cost, to hedge against potential warhead or geopolitical problems. Skeptics believe LEP and related programs can maintain the stockpile indefinitely. They worry that RRW's changes may reduce confidence and make a return to testing more likely. They question cost savings; even if RRW could lower operations and maintenance cost, its investment cost would be high. They are concerned that RRW could be used to build new weapons that would require testing. They note that there are no military requirements for new weapons. At issue for Congress is which approach -- LEP, RRW, some combination, or something else -- will best maintain the nuclear stockpile indefinitely. RRW also bears on other issues of interest to Congress: new weapons development, nuclear testing, restructuring the nuclear weapons complex, cost of nuclear programs, and nuclear nonproliferation. Congress has supported the RRW program, and NNSA and others have begun to implement it; a competition to design an RRW is underway. New updates to this report include opponents' views of RRW, possible questions for opponents, why DOD procedures to maintain warheads are costly (see "Will RRW Save Money?"), several policy options for Congress, final action on the FY2006 request, the FY2007 request, and details on implementing RRW. This report will be updated.
