Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 6. April 2006 / Time Line April 6, 2006
Version 3.004/06/2006
Bush Administration Unveils Plans to Produce 125 New Nuclear
Weapons a Year
Seeks Return to Cold War Nuclear Weapons Capabilities
By: David Culp, Friends Committee on National Legislation
(Quakers)
The Bush administration unveiled plans Wednesday to produce 125 new
nuclear weapons a year. The plans include building a new nuclear
bomb plant at an existing weapons site. The multi-billion dollar
proposal was presented at a Capitol Hill hearing by the National
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous federal
agency in charge of nuclear weapons.
NNSA plans to consolidate its plutonium operations into one new
bomb factory with the capacity to produce 125 nuclear weapons per
year. Potential sites for the so-called Consolidated Plutonium
Center include the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, Pantex
Plant in Texas, Nevada Test Site, and Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico.
The agency also announced that it was canceling construction of the
multi-billion dollar Modern Pit Facility at the Savannah River
Site, but would instead include plutonium "pit" production in the
larger new bomb plant. The new bomb factory would also house
plutonium R&D activities now occurring at the Livermore
National Laboratory in California and Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico.
The new facility, slated for completion in 2022, would also be the
national storage site for plutonium. The Oak Ridge Y-12 plant in
Tennessee would be designated as the national storage site for
weapons uranium. Research activities at the two weapons labs not
involving large quantities of weapons material would continue. The
government's program for consolidating nuclear weapons materials is
being driven primarily by security concerns since 9/11.
NNSA deputy administrator Tom D'Agostino told a panel of the House
Armed Services Committee yesterday that the plan "would restore us
to a level of capability comparable to what we had during the Cold
War."
D'Agostino praised the new nuclear weapon called the "Reliable
Replacement Warhead" (RRW) as the "enabler" for the revived nuclear
weapons complex. "RRW, we believe, will provide enormous leverage
for a more efficient and responsive infrastructure ..."
"For all the talk about eliminating weapons of mass destruction,
the administration is proposing that the U.S. return to Cold War
era levels of nuclear weapons production capability," said David
Culp, senior lobbyist at the Friends Committee on National
Legislation. "This is a dangerous step in the wrong direction, and
will spur a new nuclear arms race. The U.S. cannot increase nuclear
weapons production and tell the rest of the world to not build
these weapons."
The NNSA press release and testimony on the proposed plan is on
their web site at: http://www.nnsa.doe.gov
04/06/2006
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solution, Santa Maria,
Calif., has been awarded a $408,000,000 indefinite
delivery/indefinite quantity contract. This contract is basic
ordering period for four years and ten months with five one-year
options. The follow-on engineering and operation services for the
engineering, development, and sustainment, contract. The services
include support for satellite operation complexes at Schriever Air
Force Base, Colo., and Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and will
provide space range systems services at Camp Parks Communication
Annex, Dublin, Calif., and deployed locations around the world.
This notice is intended to cover notification of award for the
basic ID/IQ contract and all task orders issued under the basic
contract. At this time, $687,072 has been obligated. The Air Force
can issue delivery orders totaling up to the maximum amount,
although the actual requirement may be less than that. Solicitation
began September 2005; 24 firms were solicited, three firms
submitted proposals. Negotiations were complete March 2006.
Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air
Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity. PA POC is Jo Adail
Stephenson, (310) 653-2371. (FA8818-06-D-0024-0001)
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a not-to-exceed
$6,899,996 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price
contract (N00019-05-C-0045) to provide persistent intelligence,
surveillance, reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle services for
the USS Trenton (LPD 14) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and
the Global War on Terror. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo.,
and is expected to be completed in October 2006. Contract funds in
the amount of $3,449,998 will expire at the end of the current
fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is
the contracting activity.
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