WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. government Friday released a new plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.
The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement that its new "Complex 2030" plan "is seeking to transform today's complex into one that is smaller, more efficient, more secure and better able to respond to technical problems in the stockpile and emerging national security needs."
"NNSA's Complex 2030 is built around a comprehensive strategy to transform the nuclear weapons stockpile, reduce the size of and modernize the physical infrastructure of the complex, make the operations of NNSA more efficient, advance science for our mission, and better secure materials and property through consolidation," said Thomas P. D'Agostino, NNSA's acting administrator.
"The report was directed by the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act and it was developed in consultation with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons Council," the agency said.
"A key finding of the report says that the complex's total square footage and the number of employees funded by NNSA's nuclear weapons accounts could each be reduced by as much as one-third in the future. The report also notes that it is NNSA's goal to carry out Complex 2030 within existing funding levels and program structures," the NNSA said.
"By 2012, the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile will be reduced by nearly 50 percent from the 2001 level, making it the smallest stockpile since the Eisenhower administration," the agency said.
"We need to begin now to transform today's Cold War complex and to modernize it so that we have the infrastructure, the people and the business practices in place that are agile, dependable and able to meet tomorrow's national needs -- whatever they may be," D'Agostino said.
